A racing balloon filled with highly inflammable hydrogen gas made an explosively spectacular landing on a Texas power transformer station. The two pilots were seriously injured and lucky to be alive.
Gordon Bennett Gas Balloon Race
The main idea behind the Gordon Bennett Gas Balloon Race is keeping your craft in the air for as long as possible. The start is timed as part of Albuquerque’s annual Fiesta which began Saturday, October 7.
By Monday evening, one of the Polish team’s entries wasn’t going to make it any further than Crandall, Texas. Things did not go well when it crashed into a power station.
Anyone who’s heard of the Hindenburg disaster knows that hydrogen may be lighter than air but it’s also likely to explode from a single stray spark. A carpet shock could blow everyone aboard to kingdom come.
Tonight, 17 gas balloons each carrying two pilots will launch from Albuquerque, NM in the 66th Gordon Bennett gas balloon race.
Destination is as far as they can fly, possibly to Nova Scotia. Watch their progress here…https://t.co/kAlqROZKJ6 pic.twitter.com/jhrL9dm5Ef
— Kristin sends Tots & Pears (@TinPhx) October 8, 2023
It’s not good for a balloon filled with the stuff to get anywhere near power lines. A transformer step-down station is even worse, as Krzysztof Zapart and Piotr Halas learned around 7:25 p.m.
Both were rushed off to Parkland Hospital in Dallas, where they’re listed in stable condition. Local residents had to make do without power for a few hours while crews cleared away the wreckage and rewired the power station.
Officially called the America’s Challenge Gas Balloon Race, it’s “modeled after the world’s oldest air race, the Coupe Aeronautique Gordon Bennett.” Each gas bag in the race is filled with hydrogen.
Maximize their distance
The challenge of the aerial event is that “each balloon gets 1000 cubic meters of hydrogen gas and teams use different strategies to maximize their distance.” The ones that make it the farthest are “expected to continue for two more days.”
The most common gas in the universe is a whole lot more buoyant than helium, which is likewise much safer to work with. Helium is what’s used in things like the Goodyear Blimp and the radar blimps which guard our southern border.
Helium is also in incredibly short supply. Unlike hydrogen, there’s only a limited amount on planet Earth. Every other balloon taking off from New Mexico were the hot air variety, which is by far the most common.
Poland Team 1, racing in the Gordon Bennett Gas Balloon Race, has crashed into a power line near Crandall, TX. Both pilots sustained injuries, have been transported to the hospital and are in stable condition. The gas balloon race began in Albuquerque Saturday evening. pic.twitter.com/iFOAc8UUlN
— Grant Tosterud (@granttosterudwx) October 10, 2023
Bystanders were stunned by the explosion. “We were kind of just in shock, we couldn’t speak,” relates Jacob Dixon, who wasn’t expecting such spectacular entertainment as he waited in the drive-through line at McDonald’s.
“It was real orange and then the fire kind of went away and then all you could kind of see was the whole balloon turn white,” he exclaims. “White and then all of a sudden it went boom and it flashed orange again and then the balloon went down. It was black smoke pretty much. Going kind of everywhere.”
Race officials posted an update on Tuesday morning, noting “Zapart, the lead pilot, suffered cuts and burns on his legs and arms. They said Halas had burns and broken bones to his legs and mid-section.“
