Editor’s Note: This article by the Valley News was published Aug. 3.
PIERMONT — A hot-air balloon traveled over a mile with the pilot trapped below the basket before his fatal fall last month, according to a report from the National Transportation Safety Board.
The report, released last week on the NTSB website, details the series of events that led to pilot Brian Boland’s death during a balloon flight over Vermont and New Hampshire on July 15.
According to the report, Boland, 72, who was an experienced balloonist, and four passengers left in the hot air balloon around 6:30 p.m. from the Post Mills Airport. The basket and burner of the balloon were professionally made, but the balloon itself was made by Boland, according to the NTSB report, which referred to the entire craft as “amateur-built.”
The balloon flew northeast along the Connecticut River for 45 minutes until the pilot light in the burner went out, causing the balloon to start rapidly descending while Boland looked for a backup ignition device, the report said. He was able to relight the burner but “could not get the balloon to climb before impacting a field,” the report said. The crash caused one passenger to fall clear of the balloon and it caused Boland to fall under the basket, where his foot got trapped between the balloon attach rope and the basket frame, the report said.
Boland managed to untangle his foot but, because the balloon had started rising again, he was hanging under the basket for 1¼ miles before falling to his death in a Bradford, Vt., field, the report said.
The remaining three passengers traveled about 3½ miles from the initial crash before landing safely in a group of trees in Piermont, the report said.
The report appears to line up with the account given to the Valley News by Roger Blake, a Norwich resident who was one of the three passengers remaining in the basket after the initial crash.
The 73-year-old Blake, who had no experience piloting a hot-air balloon, found himself tasked with taking control of the aircraft with his daughter and granddaughter in the basket with him.
All four passengers — Blake’s wife, Ellen, who fell clear in the initial crash, and the three remaining in the basket afterward — survived.
