# Balloon crash in Texas **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 30, 2016, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/balloon-crash-in-texas/761297 "2016-07-30T16:13:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2016, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/balloon-crash-in-texas/761297/21 "2016-07-31T13:45:30Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > I’ve never heard of 16 people in a hot air balloon before, so maybe they were overloaded and pilot couldn’t clear the lines quickly enough. The world record for deaths in a balloon crash is 19 in Egypt a few years ago. ---
**Author:** ![BeeGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@BeeGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeGee)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2016, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/balloon-crash-in-texas/761297/22 "2016-07-31T15:21:41Z")
Since you can’t get on board a commercial boat around here without signing a waiver, i imagine they know exactly who has died. Traditionally, names of the deceased are not released until the next of kin are notified. I wouldn’t read anything sinister into it yet. It does sound like a horrible death. Chances are pretty good some friends and family were watching this from the ground as well. There’s a picture of the basket on the KXAN website. It doesn’t appear damaged at all. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2016, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/balloon-crash-in-texas/761297/23 "2016-07-31T19:14:23Z")
> [@Eliahna](#): > > Is a $399/pp balloon flight a common activity for shelter kids? Now that I know how much it costs, I would imagine not, unless the pilot was volunteering his services. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2016, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/balloon-crash-in-texas/761297/24 "2016-07-31T22:11:30Z")
> [@Turek](#): > > Releases are signed. So the passengers’ heirs won’t be able to collect damages for these deaths? ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2016, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/balloon-crash-in-texas/761297/25 "2016-07-31T23:36:44Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > The world record for deaths in a balloon crash is 19 in Egypt a few years ago. That explains to me the “Secretary Of Interior Takes Presidential Oath Of Office” article on The Onion. I’d always thought that a ballon took up 3 or 4 – maybe 6 max. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2016, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/balloon-crash-in-texas/761297/26 "2016-07-31T23:40:08Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > So the passengers’ heirs won’t be able to collect damages for these deaths? Every tragedy doesn’t need to be a payday. For that matter every tragedy can’t be a payday. The math won’t work. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2016, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/balloon-crash-in-texas/761297/27 "2016-08-01T01:10:15Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > So the passengers’ heirs won’t be able to collect damages for these deaths? That will be up to the insurance companies and, possibly, the courts to decide. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2016, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/balloon-crash-in-texas/761297/28 "2016-08-01T04:42:01Z")
> [@Turek](#): > > That will be up to the insurance companies and, possibly, the courts to decide. And they’ll have to adjust for inflation. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2016, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/balloon-crash-in-texas/761297/29 "2016-08-01T05:58:51Z")
> [@Penfeather](#): > > they’ll have to adjust for inflation. I’m a big fan of that. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2016, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/balloon-crash-in-texas/761297/30 "2016-08-01T08:37:42Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I wonder if the reason we aren’t hearing much about the victims is because most of them were not only children, they may have been in foster care or living in a shelter. > [@kambuckta](#): > > Huh? How do you get from ‘no information is available at the moment’ to ‘the passengers are kids in care’? > [@Eliahna](#): > > Is a $399/pp balloon flight a common activity for shelter kids? > [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Now that I know how much it costs, I would imagine not, unless the pilot was volunteering his services. I’m still curious as to why you would suggest the victims were kids in care NWH. I’m not on this board 24/7, but you do seem to have a hard-on for posting about ‘dysfunctionality’ esp with regards to families…I mean, all the message-boards you post on (that you cite here so regularly) all seem to revolve around single parenthood and the issues that might arise from bringing up kids alone. Given that you’re a self-professed single person sans kids, I wonder why you’re a) hanging out on those boards, and b) thinking that the mores expressed on those boards have ANY BLOODY RELEVANCE TO A HOT AIR BALLOON CRASH IN TEXAS. Or maybe I’m just reading too much into this. :dubious: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/balloon-crash-in-texas/761297.md?page=1)