Sunday, September 28, 2014

‘Celebration of Life’ service held for hot air balloon crash victims

RICHMOND, Va. – More than 100 people came to the Cannon Memorial Chapel at the University of Richmond Saturday morning to remember the lives of Ginny Doyle and Natalie Lewis. Doyle, Lewis and hot air balloon pilot Dan Kirk died when the hot air balloon they were in hit a power line and burst into flames during the Mid-Atlantic Balloon Festival last May. 

Doyle was the associate head women’s basketball coach at the University of Richmond. Lewis was the director of basketball operations.

During Saturday’s memorial friends and family shared their favorite memories of Lewis and Doyle. They were described as people who were devoted to those around them and ones who inspired others to live their lives with love.

“I didn’t know them personally, but I have friends on the swim team who knew Natalie Lewis and they were heavily affected by it,” UR student Fred Stillman said. “Everyone was connected to them in some way.”


Story and Video:   http://wtvr.com

NTSB Identification: ERA14FA231
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Friday, May 09, 2014 in Ruther Glen, VA
Aircraft: EAGLE C-7, registration: N3016Z
Injuries: 3 Fatal.

This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators either traveled in support of this investigation or conducted a significant amount of investigative work without any travel, and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.

On May 9, 2014, about 1940 eastern daylight time, an Eagle C-7 Balloon, N3016Z, was destroyed by fire after a landing attempt to a field and subsequent impact with powerlines near Ruther Glen, Virginia. The commercial pilot and two passengers were fatally injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the local personal flight that departed from Meadow Event Park, Doswell, Virginia, approximately 3.75 miles to the south of the accident location. The flight was conducted under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91.

Multiple eyewitnesses reported that the accident balloon approached a field from the south where another balloon had just landed. As the accident balloon approached the landing site, the pilot engaged the burner; however, the balloon struck powerlines, which resulted in a spark. Subsequently, the balloon basket and a section of the envelope caught fire. The balloon began an accelerated climb and drifted out of sight.

The debris path was approximately 1.75 miles in length and was oriented on a 025 degree heading from the attempted landing field. Two stainless steel propane fuel tanks, a hand-held fire extinguisher, the instrument panel, and various pieces of the charred envelope fabric, associated with the lower portion of the balloon envelope, were recovered along the debris path. Both propane fuel tanks were intact but exhibited thermal and impact damage. The balloon crown, crown ring, deflation port, the burner, and two other propane fuel tanks were not recovered.

The balloon was equipped with four propane tanks, a wicker basket, and a 78,133 cubic foot envelope. The most recent annual inspection on the balloon was performed on August 5, 2013, and at that time it had accumulated 270.4 hours of total time.

A Garmin 12 handheld global positioning system and three cellular phones were located, removed, and sent to the NTSB Recorder Laboratory for download.

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