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Nobody injured after balloon crashes into AM radio tower in North Valley
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A hot air balloon crashed into a radio tower Friday morning west of Balloon Fiesta Park, toppling the tower and knocking a popular AM station off the air.
Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta spokesman Tom Garrity said the pilot and two passengers 鈥渓anded safely and without incident.鈥�
Meanwhile, KKOB 770 AM radio was off the air after its 800-foot tower was reduced to a twisted heap of white and red metal beams in a dirt lot in the North Valley.
鈥淲e鈥檙e obviously happy that no one was injured in the balloon or on the ground,鈥� Jeff Berry, vice president for Cumulus Media Albuquerque, which runs KKOB, told the Journal. 鈥淭hat was our first concern.鈥�
He said Cumulus has a plan in place to possibly have the AM station back on air in the next 24 to 48 hours, but a 鈥渇ew things have to happen between now and then.鈥�
The balloon involved, 鈥淏lue Moon,鈥� is operated by pilot Dan Ewer with Foolish Pleasure Hot Air Balloon Rides based out of Tucson. It is all blue with a crescent-moon emblazoned in the center.
Ewer could not be reached Friday.
It鈥檚 the fourth time a balloon has crashed this week and comes on the seventh day of the nine-day Balloon Fiesta.
On Monday, Balloon Fiesta officials said a balloon pilot flying alone was in a 鈥渋ncident鈥� on Menaul, east of University, but no more details were given. On Wednesday, Rio Rancho police said a pilot crashed into a tree on the golf course of a shuttered country club in Rio Rancho, injuring a passenger. And the following day, according to Bernalillo County Sheriff鈥檚 Office, a pilot struck power lines in the South Valley, leading to a power outage.
Friday鈥檚 crash occurred after the Special Shape Rodeo and balloon launch at sites both on and off Balloon Fiesta Park.
Bernalillo County Fire Rescue spokesman William Harris said crews responded around 8:45 a.m. Friday to reports that a balloon had struck the radio tower between Second and Fourth NW, north of Alameda.
Harris said the balloon was able to keep traveling and landed safely with no injuries reported to those on the balloon and on the ground.
He said the Federal Aviation Administration would investigate the incident.
Linda Shaw said she watched the crash unfold before calling 911.
鈥淚 watched it hit and the gondola tipped, and the people just hung in there; the balloon was hung up on the tower,鈥� Shaw said. 鈥淲hen it snapped, the balloon got loose, and then it didn鈥檛 puncture it or anything, and the breeze took them south, and then the whole antenna came crashing down.鈥�
Shaw was shaken up as she retold the story, standing beside her husband, Odell, and their black and white herding dog.
鈥淗ow it didn鈥檛 tear, I don鈥檛 know, because it was hung, and how it prevented that basket from tipping,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey were so lucky. I was freaking out. I went, 鈥極h my God.鈥� I had 911 on, and I said, 鈥極h my God, they鈥檙e loose. They got loose. They鈥檙e still flying.鈥欌��
A little over an hour after she called the incident in, sheriff鈥檚 deputies, news cameras and yellow tape lined the perimeter of the downed radio tower.
The scene was a little like d茅j脿 vu for those in the area.
鈥淥n the 20th anniversary of Smokey Bear,鈥� Kim Weinberger noted as she rode her horse to the front gate of Shaw Stables.
It was two decades ago that Linda Shaw watched as the Smokey Bear balloon wrapped itself around a radio tower in the same lot, where two towers stand. When the tower was struck on Oct. 10, 2004, it didn鈥檛 come down and the pilot and two passengers had to climb 60 stories down to safety, according to Journal stories.
The Shaws remember that day vividly, recalling a similar sense of fear and anxiety watching a near-disaster occur so close.
鈥淲e watched them come all the way down,鈥� Odell Shaw said. 鈥淭hey were halfway down before the fire department got there.鈥�
And as the red, white and gray rungs of the tower sat in the dirt on Friday, the Shaws said they hope it isn鈥檛 rebuilt.
鈥淎s the balloons are continuing here for Albuquerque, they (the towers) ought to come down,鈥� Linda Shaw said. 鈥淭hey all come through that area. They all get close to the guy wires and everything. It鈥檚 pretty scary.鈥�
