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Hey mate there's summat wrong with the closed captions Either It's not showing up or there's links that cover the whole screen for the duration of the video
I had a hot air balloon flight in the UK in 2004. Chatting to the pilot about the balloon technology (being an engineer), he he said the life of the basket and envelope are all tightly controlled in the UK, I think he said by the civil aviation authority. But that once they reach the end of that life, they sell, mostly to Africa, where the rules are much more slack. I think he specifically mentioned Egypt.
Every “first world” country does this and then these same countries are the ones outraged by these expected results, even worse in this case because the reason the rules are so lax is because uk and other western powers overthrew the previous government as they bought way less western vehicles
Dang my comments keep getting shadow banned whenever I say the truth, this is a common practice by most western nations and it’s even worse in this instance because you do you think funded the overthrow of the previous government? Yep the same who profit off of selling old tech
This is why you NEVER do risky things in countries with no oversight. No hot air ballooning, no bungee jumping, etc. when you're in a country where anyone can start offering any services without any training or certification.
@@teri2466super rare, I live in NM, where they all congregate to take off at the same place every day for a week… accidents are EXTREMELY rare and do not occur every year or so casually as you present it.
Hindenburg is NOT the deadliest rigid airship disaster, it's just more prominent due to being caught on film. USS Akron is the deadliest, with 73 killed R101 is next with 48 Hindenburg is third at 36 (35 on board, 1 on the ground). Of these three, Hindenburg had the highest survival rate, 64% (62 survivors of 97 people on board) compared to Akron's 4% (3 survivors out of 76) and R101's 11% (6 survivors out of 54).
As a former hot air balloon crew member, you did an excellent job of explaining the operation of the balloon. One safety measure that could have saved everyone would be to have a second crew member onboard capable of operating the balloon. The second crew member could have immediately opened the top vent and prevented the balloon from ascending.
That would mean less profit for the company, needing to double its workforce for same ticket costs to customers. If they increase ticket costs, they lose perhaps the majority of their customers. It's better for the industry to sweep these incidents under the rug.
My parents were in a hot air baloon crash during their honeymoon in Australia. First responders planned to send out a member of the Royal flying doctor service but the company owner refused as they did not want bad press to spread via radio. Some years later the same company owner was involved in another crash with multiple fatalities. Needless to say my direct family has reason to be avoidant of the things.
i worked in alice springs central auastralia in 1988-99. There was a lot of ballooning happening then. Poor cooordination and communication meant that one balloon elevated with the burner and ultimately rose into the balloon above, the basket of the balloon above then tilted and people fell out. I think 6 or 7 people died, the people in the balloon above saw them fall over their ballon to their death! Regulations got a lot tighter after that
How else would you travel in a country like Egypt!? 😉😂 (Don't get me wrong - I feel empathy for the poor people of this forsaken land... ever since they tried to get rid of their incompetent dictator in 2011 things just got worse and worse)
It's all fun and laugh till you see it in real life. I witnessed a poor woman that was wrongly issued with a Tychem suit instead of a Tyvek suit for working in tropical weather. She lasted 5 minutes before collapsing due to heatstroke.
I might, if I knew it was being operated in a safe manner, was well-maintained, and not past its useful life. In a tourist area in a country with lax official oversight? Not a chance.
Rubber gas hoses used to connect home appliances like stoves to gas pipes always have date of manufacturing printed on them, and it is recommended to change them every 5 years because they usually last 5-10 years. And that's 5 years from the date of manufacture, not the date of installation. Rubber is a natural product that deteriorates over time and must be replaced regularly. 8 years falls right into that time frame, the adverse flight conditions and ESPECIALLY the UV light from sun exposure definitely accelerated the process too. If you're using a gas stove, consider this your reminder to check the date printed on the hose.
This is incorrect. Hot air balloon hoses are not the same that you have to connect your stove to low pressure natural gas. Most balloon manufacturers specify a 10-year replacement period, meaning that the hose is good for 10+ years as they definitely put some safety margin into that number. If you're interested, I made a comment that has my speculation on the accident as having worked with hot air balloons for over a decade, I think I know a thing or two.
@@Sashazur"corrugated metal hoses used for most appliances" Where do you live? I only know them from vacuum chambers in the physics department and exhaust pipes.
@@nos9784, my gas stove and gas dryer were new in 2019 and have metal hoses. And, by law, they had to be installed by a plumber. My plumber told me not to move either around or the hoses would have to be replaced professionally. I’m in Minnesota (USA).
When the pilot jumps (or falls out), it's time to leave. Also, after hearings about 2007-2009, then enforcement being erratic on 2011.... I'm not sure I'd go on that balloon.
@@PlainlyDifficult From what I gather from other documentaries on this, the ascent happened so fast after the pilot fell out that the balloon was already at a lethal height by the time most passengers had a chance to react. They had a choice: Jump to their death or burn to death. True nightmare fuel. And as you said in the documentary everyone that either jumped or stayed died. It was a Morton's Fork; they were doomed the moment they got on board that balloon.
@@michaelpapadopoulos6054 There were only 2 survivors. The pilot (badly injured) and one tourist who was right next to him, and had the presence of mind to IMMEDIATELY jump out. The balloon reached a lethal height in a matter of seconds. Seven more people tried to jump. All died. The rest rode the buring balloon up to 300 meters, then the propane tanks exploded and it was all over.
@@michaelpapadopoulos6054 There were only two survivors. The pilot jumped out and was criticially injured due to burns. Two *immediately* followed him, but the balloon was already at a height that they suffered critical injuries as well. One died in hospital. Seven others tried to jump and all died from the fall. The rest burned to death or died when the basket exploded.
I talked to some professional ballooners and they refuse to fly during that time due to the number of irresponsible amateurs and rule-breakers that come for the festival.
ive observed many pilots that only fly during the festival and are very out of practice, its sadly a common thing as many pilots wont burn fuel unless people are watching or paying to be on board.
As the creator of a TH-cam channel that disects disasters (and a visitor to Egypt like me); you will undoubtedly be surprised to learn that in Luxor, there is a small boat (one of those which allows tourists to cross the Nile) bearing the name: “Titanic II”! ! ! ! ! !😮 I admit that I do not know if the pilot and proud owner of this Egyptian Commercial Navy Vessel is aware of what happened to the first.......🤔 The crossing on board is very calm and we arrive at the arrival pier without worries (it is clear that coming across an iceberg in these latitudes is rather rare)😉
I did this flight in 2005. I had always sworn I would never get in a balloon (giant flames and a flimsy nylon canopy never seemed a good mix). Nevertheless, although we had not planned it, we were offered a chance to fly over the Valley of the KIngs. Without hesitation, I said yes - something my husband teases me about to this day! I wouldn't do it at home (Australia) but Egypt? Sign me up! Insanity. Well, obviously we survived, and it was truly a magical once-in-a-lifetime experience. At one point our pilot took us right down and brushed along the top of the sugar cane before going up again (I thought he was doing it deliberately, but who knows?😄) and the sight of the green strip along the Nile banks and then the desert and temples and the other balloons - just breathtaking. So, yes, an incredible experience and memory, but it is tinted to this day with astonishment at my instantaneous agreement (hubby being dragged in my wake) to do something so potentially deadly in a country about whose safety provisions we knew nothing but certainly would not expect to be up to par. As I said, insanity! To be fair, the company we went with (Magic Horizon, I think) seemed perfectly safe and professional - our pilot had actually trained in Australia - and they certainly brought us back to land safely. But we had no idea, we didn't pick them, we were just tagging along with others who had organised it. Our gamble paid off, but when this accident happened, I cannot lie, I felt a shiver of "what ifs" go down my spine. How terrible for such a magical experience to end so horribly.
Did the same ride last Christmas break. Unbelievably beautiful. Sunrise was awesome! Valley of the kings-spectacular. Climbing mt Sinai 3 days later to watch the sunrise-brutal. Give me the balloon ride any day.
@@acib3491 Certainly an irreplacable experience, and probably indescribable to anyone who hasn't done it, and I am glad we did it. Also glad we survived. 😁
The ad timing this week has been shockingly accurate. "And now, the disaster." Ad interjection: "Google Pixel 8" I don't know if you have any control over when ads insert into the video, but if you do, that was brilliant! 😂
I'm missing the connection between him saying "And now for the disaster" and the phone. Now as I write this, I thought of a connection. 😂 The phone is a disaster too.
Your bingo chips could also cover "cost cutting, " because of the poor maintenance on sketchy equipment. You know they were reluctant to have their profits reduced.
The Hindenburg was far from the worst airship disaster, only that it was the most visible. The R-101 disaster was far, far worse. Forty-six of the fifty-four passengers and crew were killed immediately and two more died in hospital in the days following the crash and fire.
As LPG expands from a liquid state it gets extremely cold. So even a small leak in a fuel hose will cause it to freeze and become brittle where it is leaking.
I played the "plainly difficult" bingo since the late 80s. Gliders, hot air ballons, parachutes, refineries, offshore oil rigs, helicopters, shifty 3rd world airlines, unmarked food stalls by the side of the road.... am I lucky or what?😂
Or possibly ride atop of the trains in India?? I don’t know how people do that as I would be freaking OUT and I love the scariest, death 😳 defying and last rites types of rides 😳 that have made my husband regret ANY rides he accompanies me on!!! Oh the things we do for love 💗💗
Used to consider hot air balloons relatively fine as a means of tourist-y travel, but had no interest to get on one. Then I had an aunt die on one a couple years ago (hard landing, not an explosion, thankfully) and ever since, I absolutely refuse to go anywhere near one. Never have this issue with planes or anything, but the more I learned about the lack of control in balloons, the less I could ever find myself willing to even try it.
@@Robnord1 After I did a lot of skydiving I got real uneasy about getting into any flying contraption without wearing a parachute. These days I refuse to fly in anything.
@@Robnord1helis have wings. Their blades! They're actually much safer than most people think. Autorotation is the key. However these blades can cut u up real good if they're spinning and you're walking around. thats where the real danger is!!
I was in jacksonville florida working with a crew building a couple of houses when we noticed the sky was full of hot air balloons . It was eerie how quiet they were that we didnt even notice them until they were filling the sky over us. Some were very low over us, so they must have been in the process of lifting off.
Hey John: The Hindenburg is definitely the most *famous* airship disaster but it is not the most deadly (Google the Akron). Cheers and thanks (also, no shade with my comment! I know you are a very exacting person, cheers!)
The thing this video brings home to me it that I always considered myself pretty good at keeping up with local and international news but I'm shocked how many of the disasters you cover that I've never heard of.
Hot air balloons are a wonderful thing to see quietly passing by, but there's no way you'd ever get me in one, with the very nature of how they just drift along dependent on the air, there's so much risk of being caught up in something that would spell injury or death, but this incident, the fact they cheaped out on maintenance (as per usual), that just rules them out altogether for me, one screwup and it's a long drop back to the earth below...
@@thing_under_the_stairs That's one of other reasons I'd not go for it, but, it's the "it's a long drop if it all goes wrong" aspect is the greater fear for me...
I'm lucky enough to live in a place where I regularly see them drifting over the city (Melbourne) from my apartment balcony. Didn't realise it at the time we bought the place, just a pleasant surprise when getting up early one morning for work.
great job explaining how the hot air balloon works and the parts of the balloon. most news companies and reporters ive seen just makes up terms and has no idea how it works.
I've been on two hot air balloons. One was local (Marana near Tucson) and was a treat from a visiting friend. The wind came up, and we did have a rough landing, but kudos to the crew for telling us to get into a brace position. Mostly injured dignity, because we ended up on each other in the basket. *Ahem* The second was over the pyramids of Teotihuacan in Mexico. A little dicier, (lots of praying to the Madre) but we did fine. I'm a nervous flier, and have never sought out hot air ballooning, but don't knock it. It's a very special experience being in the air like that...very peaceful, except for the occasional firing of the gas burner. And at the end of a (successful) trip, the tradition is to serve you champagne, in honor of the first balloon trip in 18th century France. So there is that. Post-flight tranquilizers. I'd love to see more on dirigibles. The Hindenburg was the nail in the coffin, but the history and heartbreak of airship development in the early twentieth century is quite a story.
Same thing happens here. 16 tourists were killed in a hot air balloon accident in Texas a few years ago. The pilot was a pretty sketchy character with substance abuse issues. He didn’t even have a driver’s license. They flew right into power lines! The gas tanks blew up! All were killed! And again recently in another ballooning accident in the U.S.
This is the comment I was looking for. I watched this news story unfold from a few hundred miles away. I can’t explain why it captivated my interest. Sad deal.
@@arcburn3364 I live on the Western outskirts of Houston. I recognized one of the victims from the news stories. He was a meat cutter at the local HEB Supermarket. I used to see him in there all the time. He and his wife were killed in that Hot Air Ballon crash. I had been in there about two weeks before the accident. Just coincidentally, we’d both made eye contact briefly and then we both looked away. Two weeks later, he and his wife were dead along with everyone else on that ill fated flight. Weird…
Any time you use LPG it only takes a minute or two to spray some soapy water on your connections and hoses. Also consider replacing the o-rings in the valves every 5 years or the valves themselves because the rubber deteriorates and may cause issues
I would also tick "Time Pressure" on the bingo card. It was a scheduled flight that could only happen in a narrow'ish time slot each day, because of weather and the schedule of the tourists. A delay would most likely mean canceling the flight altogether, loosing income and causing problems for the company (angry tourists, bad online reviews, ...).
This is why baloon flights are quite often canceled in Cappadocia in case of slightly bad weather. It sucks when you only have few days to experience it but far far better than something like this..
I have been working with hot air balloons for the past decade and to me it doesn't sound like hose age was at fault. If properly handled the hoses should last for 10 years which is what most manufacturer's replacement period for hoses are. And of course there's some safety margin built into that period. If I had to speculate, the fact it happened right as the balloon was landing, it sounds like the fuel hose or drop line wasn't properly routed or hooked up and when the ground crew pulled on it, the drop line applied undue stress onto hoses or fittings and that is the cause of the hose failure. Also, with a large balloon like that and an uncontrolled fire in the basket, a few people holding onto the drop line wouldn't prevent the balloon from ascending. If they held onto the drop line the ground crew would have been dangling under the basket as the balloon rose into the air.
@@skylined5534 In a normal landing you don't require any additional weight. However, when possible, having ground crew there to catch the balloon can really smooth out a landing. In the course of the average landing, just as the basket gently touches down, the pilot will release a large amount of hot air through the vent at the top of the balloon. This reduces lift produced by the envelope, allowing the weight of the basket to essentially become an anchor. Any lateral velocity will be lost through dragging the basket along the ground. If ground crew are able to anticipate the landing site and are present, the pilot can bring the basket close to the ground and the ground crew can pull on the basket to smoothly reduce lateral velocity so the basket can touch down with no bumps. If the winds are strong the pilot may elect to do a "lay-down" landing where they'll dump *all* the air out of the envelope and let it lay down on the ground to prevent winds from continuing to blow the large sail that is the envelope around. If a stand up landing is accomplished (probably 98% of flights), the pilot will keep the envelope inflated so that in low winds they can float the balloon just off the ground and the ground crew can push & pull the balloon around to get it to road access. Having to lug hundreds (or in this case thousands for large balloons) of pounds of a balloon piece by piece out of a bad landing site is the worst. Also, "rough" weather shouldn't be a huge concern as pilots are trained to pick and choose flights based on weather as so much of ballooning depends on it. It's like surfing, we're along for the ride, we can't control the waves, so we go out only when we're comfortable with what they're doing.
speculation is just that when it comes to care of equipment in places where literacy is rare , and a guy might have to hire someone to read the use and care instructions to them , if they were willing to spend the money.
I'd be like, the only way I'm getting on one of these things is if u provide me with a emergency base jumping parachute I can wear lol still hate how they have zero ability to control other than turn flame on, turn flame off..
Your comparison to the Hindenburg disaster made me think of a terrible idea for a lighter-than-air craft: The hot hydrogen balloon. Reduce the density (and thus increase the lift) of hydrogen even further by heating it. Well, IF you manage to not set the whole thing on fire in the process.
"Hot air balloons kick ass. Are they safe? Not really. Can you stop if you don't like it? Think again. BUT can you steer? Listen , don't bring that negative energy into this wicker basket, ok I'm gonna light this flamethrower." -Ron Iver
1:24 Do you Brits call the 2000s "the naughties"? Somehow never heard this before. Love it. In the USA it's either "in the early two-thousands" or "in oh-four" etc.
Oof, that’s a bit too close for comfort. Me mum in her 70s took that ride in the late zeroes. She’s 89 now and thriving. Well, you know… But I feel she escaped something here. A bit of a daredevil, me mum. Offroading in Iceland, visiting the pole circle in Norway, Sumatra, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Ireland, Paris, Prague… I only wish. Go, mum! But this one wasn’t safe.
@@eugeneabelow8373 All last year we were supposed to go but high wind each time canceled it. So this year I hope all will go well; I'm looking forward to it, with a little trepidation of course! There's a long list of risky things to do in life so....
Practical drift might be a misnomer when one is working from poverty towards the goal of profitable earnings verses a place where technology and safety might be taken for granted and safe operations have deteriorated , verses a place that never really achieved routine safety .
you know.. of course they are big but seeing that small footage of the people on the ground next to the heating air balloon, i never realized they were quite as big as they are. damn!
I occasionally will see a hot air balloon passing gracefully and almost silently over my 🏡 home from a nearby small local airport. I watch them as they drift over the treetops, and I think to myself....."You couldn't pay me enough to be up there. " And then I smile and wave at the happy passengers.
Yeah I seen a photo of this as they were lifting off and they all seemed so happy and you know it's only seconds from disaster. You literally have a open 🔥 oven right over your head, and you're very high up, so your choices are very, very limited if something goes wrong.
Cave diving is the absolute nightmare out of those for me. Even though statistically I'd be more at risk on the drive to the site. Just the idea of being trapped underwater underground is absolute terror fuel.
I'd add cost cutting (not replacing equipment as frequently as they should), as it was early morningit was quite possible the pilot was fatigued (or maybe hungover?), and it's likely he was under time pressure... Great episode, thankyou!
It's the same old, same old, lack of maintenance, a lazy pilot blaming someone else and not turning the burner off! Surely he should know how and that should have been the first thing he did, and then the ground crew let the rope go to tend to him when he fell out!!! You couldn't make it up. I don't know about sphinx, it's more like stinx!
The pilot may well have been on fire when it happened. Without all the facts, we can't really know if he's to blame or not, i.e. it may have been far easier said than done.
@@Tyrian3k That is probably true. Propane is heavier than air, so any leak would have pooled in the basket. The basket should have had vents in he base, but obviously it did not. Butane is far safer, since it mixes with air and disperses, but it is generally more expensive and has a lower calorific value. For this reason propane is not used for piped gas in the UK. Some years ago, a leaking propane pipe filled the sewers and basements of a town in south America. When the mixture reached a certain point, the whole lot exploded. The town was virtually destroyed and many lives were lost.
This reminds me of a famous family photo,as my father was staring up at the hot air balloon my mother was going up in everything went fine although the anguish on his face is he staring up watching the balloon ascend was truly a "Kodak moment".🙄
@@scrambledmandible Oh dear. Meanwhile an ACTUAL definition from a dictionary: "the period of years between 00 and 10 in any century, usually 2000-2010". Americans seem to like to use the term 'mid 2000s' despite those actually being hundreds of years away. Now that _is_ naughty.
I really enjoy gruesome death stories, especially ones about tourist flying, deep sea diving, cave exploring, solo hiking mountains, climbing the highest mountains, bunji jumping, and doing ridiculously dangerous jobs. They fit in my F around and find out view of life.
Accidents can happen anywhere, even in the US, but the lack of regulations and oversight in some countries, and the resulting disasters.. is hideous. 😓
@@qwertyexp9957 I did mention including the US. Although it’s worth noting that many US disasters are in states with fewer regulations. Ultimately though, greed is the foundation of these disasters.
@@Flying_Fetus You sir, get a face palm P.s. we're talking numbers here so it's 'nought'. P.p.s. 'noughties' quite literally has a dictionary definition.
@@Flying_Fetus Well, 'silly', the rest of the world outside of the USA prefers 'nought'. And you clearly had no idea the term 'the noughties' is correct even via dictionary sources. Take back your well deserved facepalm and also this bonus 'L' you absolutely deserve as well.
This is a high profit accident in Hong Kong, as there's a Hong Kong tour group onboard. After the accident the authority banned all high risk activity to be part of a tour, even as an extra self-paying items
I've been in one and I can't figure out how a hot air balloon explodes, unless the operator somehow filled the bag with unburnt propane? Guess I'll have to watch the video! By purest chance, I was surfing my Subs when John dropped this. Love this guy.
From South African troops in Egypt during WW2, to gyppo ( slang word) something is to repair something to an Egyptian standard, like with used chewing gum and small pieces of frayed string tied together to make a long piece.
@@The-Real-Ando exactly how is that racist? It is an observation. I drive vehicles over half a century old and have gypoed them myself to get home, think replacing broken piece of accelerator cable with fencing wire or using fencing wire instead of a split pin on a castle nut. If you think it's racist what sort of chip do you carry on your shoulder, hmmmm?
@@andrewallen9993 well I’ll break it down for you since you’re clearly dimwitted. Saying that something done improperly and then tying that to a country or race of people is racist. Oh and you claim it is a South African based ‘saying’, a country well known for racial tolerance. It’s clearly a slur and you know it, but you like being racist, it’s clearly what you do, and quite openly. Then play disingenuous ‘oh i didn’t know that saying something is Egyptian meaning badly done is racist, no i cant see that’. I guess you’re ok with the term yarpie or japie if you prefer.
Hindenburg wasn't even close to the worst lighter than air accident. The USS Akron crash killed twice as many people. The akron had a 96% fatality rate to hindenburgs 37%.
I think most people would assume everything was safe because they hadn’t heard of any accidents with hot air balloons in Egypt. Personally I’d never get in one anywhere because the margin for error means if even *one* thing goes wrong you’re finished.
Yeah, I feel like I've heard similar over time. The only people I think would enjoy Egypt are those that just never experienced the desert and want to just experience a fraction of what it's like to have lived in those environments. But I don't imagine it's an especially thrilling. Mind you, I am one of those crazies who would love to see an aerial view of the desert.
Good video, but the introduction is incorrect. Hindenburg wasn’t the deadliest lighter than air disaster, it’s just the most famous one because it was caught on film. I believe there were two even deadlier disasters.
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Hey mate there's summat wrong with the closed captions Either It's not showing up or there's links that cover the whole screen for the duration of the video
I doubt I will be watching many more videos. I'm beyond tired of you pushing your "music".
Why don't you show the bingo card pre-accident ? "pause the video now to look at the bingo card..."
@@thecardboardswordoh? The balloon disaster video? I didn’t have any problems.
I had a hot air balloon flight in the UK in 2004. Chatting to the pilot about the balloon technology (being an engineer), he he said the life of the basket and envelope are all tightly controlled in the UK, I think he said by the civil aviation authority. But that once they reach the end of that life, they sell, mostly to Africa, where the rules are much more slack. I think he specifically mentioned Egypt.
That does not surprise me!
Every “first world” country does this and then these same countries are the ones outraged by these expected results, even worse in this case because the reason the rules are so lax is because uk and other western powers overthrew the previous government as they bought way less western vehicles
😨😨😨
That still shows a continued disregard for life, unfortunately
Dang my comments keep getting shadow banned whenever I say the truth, this is a common practice by most western nations and it’s even worse in this instance because you do you think funded the overthrow of the previous government? Yep the same who profit off of selling old tech
This is why you NEVER do risky things in countries with no oversight. No hot air ballooning, no bungee jumping, etc. when you're in a country where anyone can start offering any services without any training or certification.
Sometimes to scorn extreme danger is to simply keep riding in the taxi that you're sitting in.
Maybe boring, but if ya don't wanna risk, don't do risky things, period.
You assume I actually want to live.
There have been plenty of hot air balloon accidents in the US. The last one happened a few months ago & 4 people died.
@@teri2466super rare, I live in NM, where they all congregate to take off at the same place every day for a week… accidents are EXTREMELY rare and do not occur every year or so casually as you present it.
Hindenburg is NOT the deadliest rigid airship disaster, it's just more prominent due to being caught on film.
USS Akron is the deadliest, with 73 killed
R101 is next with 48
Hindenburg is third at 36 (35 on board, 1 on the ground).
Of these three, Hindenburg had the highest survival rate, 64% (62 survivors of 97 people on board) compared to Akron's 4% (3 survivors out of 76) and R101's 11% (6 survivors out of 54).
Pesky facts win again! Can't believe everything you watch on TH-cam no matter how many subscribers one has.
He didn't say it was the deadliest rigid airship disaster...
@@CarsandCatsis English not your first language?
@@janitorizamped Their comment was perfectly fine English
@@janitorizamped Triggered by words and lashing out? Seek therapy. I'll pay for the first visit.
As a former hot air balloon crew member, you did an excellent job of explaining the operation of the balloon. One safety measure that could have saved everyone would be to have a second crew member onboard capable of operating the balloon. The second crew member could have immediately opened the top vent and prevented the balloon from ascending.
Dont these thing have fire extinguishers aboard or this a dumb question? 😆
@@bricknmotor I don't think that could make a difference because the rapid propagation of fire, but it is a very interesting question though.
That would mean less profit for the company, needing to double its workforce for same ticket costs to customers. If they increase ticket costs, they lose perhaps the majority of their customers. It's better for the industry to sweep these incidents under the rug.
My parents were in a hot air baloon crash during their honeymoon in Australia. First responders planned to send out a member of the Royal flying doctor service but the company owner refused as they did not want bad press to spread via radio. Some years later the same company owner was involved in another crash with multiple fatalities.
Needless to say my direct family has reason to be avoidant of the things.
i worked in alice springs central auastralia in 1988-99. There was a lot of ballooning happening then. Poor cooordination and communication meant that one balloon elevated with the burner and ultimately rose into the balloon above, the basket of the balloon above then tilted and people fell out. I think 6 or 7 people died, the people in the balloon above saw them fall over their ballon to their death! Regulations got a lot tighter after that
i meant the people in the balloon below saw the ones from the balloon above fall to their deaths
The tourist industry: everything's fine, until one day it wasn't.
I can definitely picture John under the desert sun wearing a full hazmat suit
I sweated a lot!
😂@@PlainlyDifficult
The sun is deadly, it gives you cancer, of course you would wear a hazmat suit
How else would you travel in a country like Egypt!? 😉😂
(Don't get me wrong - I feel empathy for the poor people of this forsaken land... ever since they tried to get rid of their incompetent dictator in 2011 things just got worse and worse)
It's all fun and laugh till you see it in real life. I witnessed a poor woman that was wrongly issued with a Tychem suit instead of a Tyvek suit for working in tropical weather. She lasted 5 minutes before collapsing due to heatstroke.
Beyond horrific. RIP to the victims.
You couldn't PAY me to get into one of these.
I might, if I knew it was being operated in a safe manner, was well-maintained, and not past its useful life. In a tourist area in a country with lax official oversight? Not a chance.
What is plan B when things go wrong during a hot air balloon flight. Well, I guess the same could be said about any kind of flying machine.
@@jb-xc4oh I guess a parachute, if you're high enough.
@@dx1450 Good point...!!
Agreed. Even if we're talking about regions which aren't Third World or Developing.... I have no desire to cheat death to take in a few scenic views.
Rubber gas hoses used to connect home appliances like stoves to gas pipes always have date of manufacturing printed on them, and it is recommended to change them every 5 years because they usually last 5-10 years. And that's 5 years from the date of manufacture, not the date of installation. Rubber is a natural product that deteriorates over time and must be replaced regularly. 8 years falls right into that time frame, the adverse flight conditions and ESPECIALLY the UV light from sun exposure definitely accelerated the process too. If you're using a gas stove, consider this your reminder to check the date printed on the hose.
Most modern lines aren't natural rubber but rather a synthetic material.
The semi flexible corrugated metal hoses used for most gas appliances have a roughly 30 year lifetime.
This is incorrect. Hot air balloon hoses are not the same that you have to connect your stove to low pressure natural gas. Most balloon manufacturers specify a 10-year replacement period, meaning that the hose is good for 10+ years as they definitely put some safety margin into that number.
If you're interested, I made a comment that has my speculation on the accident as having worked with hot air balloons for over a decade, I think I know a thing or two.
@@Sashazur"corrugated metal hoses used for most appliances"
Where do you live? I only know them from vacuum chambers in the physics department and exhaust pipes.
@@nos9784, my gas stove and gas dryer were new in 2019 and have metal hoses. And, by law, they had to be installed by a plumber. My plumber told me not to move either around or the hoses would have to be replaced professionally. I’m in Minnesota (USA).
When the pilot jumps (or falls out), it's time to leave.
Also, after hearings about 2007-2009, then enforcement being erratic on 2011.... I'm not sure I'd go on that balloon.
Same!!
@@PlainlyDifficult From what I gather from other documentaries on this, the ascent happened so fast after the pilot fell out that the balloon was already at a lethal height by the time most passengers had a chance to react. They had a choice: Jump to their death or burn to death. True nightmare fuel. And as you said in the documentary everyone that either jumped or stayed died. It was a Morton's Fork; they were doomed the moment they got on board that balloon.
how did the other 4 survive?@@ArchTeryx00
@@michaelpapadopoulos6054 There were only 2 survivors. The pilot (badly injured) and one tourist who was right next to him, and had the presence of mind to IMMEDIATELY jump out. The balloon reached a lethal height in a matter of seconds. Seven more people tried to jump. All died. The rest rode the buring balloon up to 300 meters, then the propane tanks exploded and it was all over.
@@michaelpapadopoulos6054 There were only two survivors. The pilot jumped out and was criticially injured due to burns. Two *immediately* followed him, but the balloon was already at a height that they suffered critical injuries as well. One died in hospital. Seven others tried to jump and all died from the fall. The rest burned to death or died when the basket exploded.
I live within 1/4 mile of Balloon Fiesta Park in Albuquerque. The festival definitely has a body count every few years, it seems .
Probably bodies that don’t watch this channel
I talked to some professional ballooners and they refuse to fly during that time due to the number of irresponsible amateurs and rule-breakers that come for the festival.
@@AN-12345 doesnt help that you literally cant steer the things.
So I counted from a Wikipedia site 18 dead from 1978 to present.
ive observed many pilots that only fly during the festival and are very out of practice, its sadly a common thing as many pilots wont burn fuel unless people are watching or paying to be on board.
These things scare the heck out of me.
Especially falling from a thousand feet after being roasted in that basket smh. Stuff of nightmares for sure 😮
Yh...NO...never gonna get me in one..nope nadda,and the 1000 other fucking versions of NOOOOO!!!🤣😂😜✌️🥃🤟
I've always looked at them and thought, "Nope!"
Yyyeah, I'd stay down here with the camels, personally
Scary, but I've ridden in them twice, and would again. It's a great experience.
You would never get me up in one of those things in any country at any time.
horribly outdated form of entertainment.
As the creator of a TH-cam channel that disects disasters (and a visitor to Egypt like me);
you will undoubtedly be surprised to learn that in Luxor, there is a small boat (one of those which allows tourists to cross the Nile) bearing the name:
“Titanic II”! ! ! ! ! !😮
I admit that I do not know if the pilot and proud owner of this Egyptian Commercial Navy Vessel is aware of what happened to the first.......🤔
The crossing on board is very calm and we arrive at the arrival pier without worries (it is clear that coming across an iceberg in these latitudes is rather rare)😉
The Titanic was more than just a shipwreck. It was a great ship.
That's some serious Titanic De Nile.
@@miroslavhoudek7085I know I shouldn't, but I LOL'd at that one.
I've been on it! We were all pleased to get to the other side, THEN we laughed😎
I did this flight in 2005. I had always sworn I would never get in a balloon (giant flames and a flimsy nylon canopy never seemed a good mix). Nevertheless, although we had not planned it, we were offered a chance to fly over the Valley of the KIngs. Without hesitation, I said yes - something my husband teases me about to this day! I wouldn't do it at home (Australia) but Egypt? Sign me up! Insanity.
Well, obviously we survived, and it was truly a magical once-in-a-lifetime experience. At one point our pilot took us right down and brushed along the top of the sugar cane before going up again (I thought he was doing it deliberately, but who knows?😄) and the sight of the green strip along the Nile banks and then the desert and temples and the other balloons - just breathtaking.
So, yes, an incredible experience and memory, but it is tinted to this day with astonishment at my instantaneous agreement (hubby being dragged in my wake) to do something so potentially deadly in a country about whose safety provisions we knew nothing but certainly would not expect to be up to par. As I said, insanity!
To be fair, the company we went with (Magic Horizon, I think) seemed perfectly safe and professional - our pilot had actually trained in Australia - and they certainly brought us back to land safely. But we had no idea, we didn't pick them, we were just tagging along with others who had organised it.
Our gamble paid off, but when this accident happened, I cannot lie, I felt a shiver of "what ifs" go down my spine. How terrible for such a magical experience to end so horribly.
Did the same ride last Christmas break. Unbelievably beautiful. Sunrise was awesome! Valley of the kings-spectacular. Climbing mt Sinai 3 days later to watch the sunrise-brutal. Give me the balloon ride any day.
@@acib3491 Certainly an irreplacable experience, and probably indescribable to anyone who hasn't done it, and I am glad we did it. Also glad we survived. 😁
I ate a grilled cheese sandwich yesterday.
I remember this was heavily reported in Hong Kong because several of the fatalities came from there.
The ad timing this week has been shockingly accurate.
"And now, the disaster."
Ad interjection: "Google Pixel 8"
I don't know if you have any control over when ads insert into the video, but if you do, that was brilliant! 😂
More relevant if it had been one of those new parts bin specials from Apple assembled in third world countries.
I think the creator has some control of when ads Are placed but not the product (i got "Hello Fresh" )
@@ralach I got Duolingo lmao
I got the Google music app
I'm missing the connection between him saying "And now for the disaster" and the phone. Now as I write this, I thought of a connection. 😂 The phone is a disaster too.
Your bingo chips could also cover "cost cutting, " because of the poor maintenance on sketchy equipment. You know they were reluctant to have their profits reduced.
The Hindenburg was far from the worst airship disaster, only that it was the most visible. The R-101 disaster was far, far worse. Forty-six of the fifty-four passengers and crew were killed immediately and two more died in hospital in the days following the crash and fire.
I live in a tourist destination. If I ever see an orange hazmat suit guy walking around, I'll know its just John.
Or Gordon, especially if a crowbar is in hand.
As LPG expands from a liquid state it gets extremely cold.
So even a small leak in a fuel hose will cause it to freeze and become brittle where it is leaking.
This is narrated by an actual human being!!!! Thank you!!! ♥
Hey PD being a London person, how about doing a video on the Silvertown explosion - possibly the largest explosion ever in London?
I keep on meaning on getting on that!!
@@PlainlyDifficult what about making another video about the Palomares incident for your nuclear disaster series?
My grandfather was there!!! In 1923… a day that still haunts him……..
I played the "plainly difficult" bingo since the late 80s. Gliders, hot air ballons, parachutes, refineries, offshore oil rigs, helicopters, shifty 3rd world airlines, unmarked food stalls by the side of the road.... am I lucky or what?😂
No crazy bus rides in 3rd world countries?
Reside in South Africa while white?
Or possibly ride atop of the trains in India?? I don’t know how people do that as I would be freaking OUT and I love the scariest, death 😳 defying and last rites types of rides 😳 that have made my husband regret ANY rides he accompanies me on!!! Oh the things we do for love 💗💗
@@NatureLover-62 I think they do "train surfing" in Brazil, too.
you daredevil, living on the edge^^
Used to consider hot air balloons relatively fine as a means of tourist-y travel, but had no interest to get on one. Then I had an aunt die on one a couple years ago (hard landing, not an explosion, thankfully) and ever since, I absolutely refuse to go anywhere near one. Never have this issue with planes or anything, but the more I learned about the lack of control in balloons, the less I could ever find myself willing to even try it.
I'm with you. No balloons or helicopters. No wings = I'm not going up.
@@Robnord1 After I did a lot of skydiving I got real uneasy about getting into any flying contraption without wearing a parachute. These days I refuse to fly in anything.
@@Robnord1helis have wings. Their blades! They're actually much safer than most people think. Autorotation is the key. However these blades can cut u up real good if they're spinning and you're walking around. thats where the real danger is!!
@@jb-xc4oh even my paraglider has an emergency shute.
@@Unfluencer Won't do you much good if your paraglider folds up 100 feet off the ground.
I was in jacksonville florida working with a crew building a couple of houses when we noticed the sky was full of hot air balloons . It was eerie how quiet they were that we didnt even notice them until they were filling the sky over us. Some were very low over us, so they must have been in the process of lifting off.
makes you wonder how many spy balloons china sent before people noticed them
Everybody at the office chipped in to treat the boss to a hot balloon ride😊
Hey John: The Hindenburg is definitely the most *famous* airship disaster but it is not the most deadly (Google the Akron). Cheers and thanks (also, no shade with my comment! I know you are a very exacting person, cheers!)
infamous could also fit there
The thing this video brings home to me it that I always considered myself pretty good at keeping up with local and international news but I'm shocked how many of the disasters you cover that I've never heard of.
Hot air balloons are a wonderful thing to see quietly passing by, but there's no way you'd ever get me in one, with the very nature of how they just drift along dependent on the air, there's so much risk of being caught up in something that would spell injury or death, but this incident, the fact they cheaped out on maintenance (as per usual), that just rules them out altogether for me, one screwup and it's a long drop back to the earth below...
Yeah, I'd never go on one.
Just because you don’t know how weather works doesn’t mean your pilot doesn’t
I just don't like heights. That nopes me out.
@@thing_under_the_stairs That's one of other reasons I'd not go for it, but, it's the "it's a long drop if it all goes wrong" aspect is the greater fear for me...
I'm lucky enough to live in a place where I regularly see them drifting over the city (Melbourne) from my apartment balcony. Didn't realise it at the time we bought the place, just a pleasant surprise when getting up early one morning for work.
My heart goes out to those lost in that tragic event. My deepest condolences to their families and friends.
great job explaining how the hot air balloon works and the parts of the balloon. most news companies and reporters ive seen just makes up terms and has no idea how it works.
I was in Luxor that day, and have seen the sky full of balloons on several occasions. Shocking and sad accident. RIP the casualties.
I've been on two hot air balloons. One was local (Marana near Tucson) and was a treat from a visiting friend. The wind came up, and we did have a rough landing, but kudos to the crew for telling us to get into a brace position. Mostly injured dignity, because we ended up on each other in the basket. *Ahem* The second was over the pyramids of Teotihuacan in Mexico. A little dicier, (lots of praying to the Madre) but we did fine. I'm a nervous flier, and have never sought out hot air ballooning, but don't knock it. It's a very special experience being in the air like that...very peaceful, except for the occasional firing of the gas burner. And at the end of a (successful) trip, the tradition is to serve you champagne, in honor of the first balloon trip in 18th century France. So there is that. Post-flight tranquilizers.
I'd love to see more on dirigibles. The Hindenburg was the nail in the coffin, but the history and heartbreak of airship development in the early twentieth century is quite a story.
I did 3 hot air baloon rides. I avoided the sketchy landing part, jumped out of them with a parachute. Highly recommend it.
👍
Tour operator: _"Let's all take a hot air balloon tour!"_
Me: _"...balls."_
Me balls?
Absolutely terrifying for those passengers 😭
Definitely wasn't on the ticket
@@DaleDix *'Life Insurance Extra', D?*
Stay free and _grounded_ ... R 🎈= 🤔
@@RHR-221b definitely. Don't fly in a zeppelin, a balloon, or a 737 Max.
Thank you
Thank you!
Same thing happens here. 16 tourists were killed in a hot air balloon accident in Texas a few years ago. The pilot was a pretty sketchy character with substance abuse issues. He didn’t even have a driver’s license. They flew right into power lines! The gas tanks blew up! All were killed! And again recently in another ballooning accident in the U.S.
balloon operators are notorious for late nights and partying!
This is the comment I was looking for. I watched this news story unfold from a few hundred miles away. I can’t explain why it captivated my interest. Sad deal.
@@arcburn3364 I live on the Western outskirts of Houston. I recognized one of the victims from the news stories. He was a meat cutter at the local HEB Supermarket. I used to see him in there all the time. He and his wife were killed in that Hot Air Ballon crash. I had been in there about two weeks before the accident. Just coincidentally, we’d both made eye contact briefly and then we both looked away. Two weeks later, he and his wife were dead along with everyone else on that ill fated flight. Weird…
You could not PAY me to get in one of these things, I don't care how safe they are now.
Any time you use LPG it only takes a minute or two to spray some soapy water on your connections and hoses. Also consider replacing the o-rings in the valves every 5 years or the valves themselves because the rubber deteriorates and may cause issues
Rode a hot air balloon once in the 70s but I jumped out at 10,000 feet
I would also tick "Time Pressure" on the bingo card. It was a scheduled flight that could only happen in a narrow'ish time slot each day, because of weather and the schedule of the tourists. A delay would most likely mean canceling the flight altogether, loosing income and causing problems for the company (angry tourists, bad online reviews, ...).
Certain hours out of every day is not a time crunch, when you say "days" in your theory, it is wrong.
This is why baloon flights are quite often canceled in Cappadocia in case of slightly bad weather. It sucks when you only have few days to experience it but far far better than something like this..
I would never. Ever. Get in a hot air balloon in Egypt. Good lord.
Any chance I could get a clean copy of the bingo card. I'd love to use it at work as an assessment/training aid.
Wow! I don’t know if you work for a safe company or not!!
I have been working with hot air balloons for the past decade and to me it doesn't sound like hose age was at fault.
If properly handled the hoses should last for 10 years which is what most manufacturer's replacement period for hoses are. And of course there's some safety margin built into that period.
If I had to speculate, the fact it happened right as the balloon was landing, it sounds like the fuel hose or drop line wasn't properly routed or hooked up and when the ground crew pulled on it, the drop line applied undue stress onto hoses or fittings and that is the cause of the hose failure.
Also, with a large balloon like that and an uncontrolled fire in the basket, a few people holding onto the drop line wouldn't prevent the balloon from ascending. If they held onto the drop line the ground crew would have been dangling under the basket as the balloon rose into the air.
How much weight on the ground to prevent a normal landing from ascending in say rough weather?
@@skylined5534 In a normal landing you don't require any additional weight. However, when possible, having ground crew there to catch the balloon can really smooth out a landing.
In the course of the average landing, just as the basket gently touches down, the pilot will release a large amount of hot air through the vent at the top of the balloon. This reduces lift produced by the envelope, allowing the weight of the basket to essentially become an anchor. Any lateral velocity will be lost through dragging the basket along the ground. If ground crew are able to anticipate the landing site and are present, the pilot can bring the basket close to the ground and the ground crew can pull on the basket to smoothly reduce lateral velocity so the basket can touch down with no bumps.
If the winds are strong the pilot may elect to do a "lay-down" landing where they'll dump *all* the air out of the envelope and let it lay down on the ground to prevent winds from continuing to blow the large sail that is the envelope around.
If a stand up landing is accomplished (probably 98% of flights), the pilot will keep the envelope inflated so that in low winds they can float the balloon just off the ground and the ground crew can push & pull the balloon around to get it to road access. Having to lug hundreds (or in this case thousands for large balloons) of pounds of a balloon piece by piece out of a bad landing site is the worst.
Also, "rough" weather shouldn't be a huge concern as pilots are trained to pick and choose flights based on weather as so much of ballooning depends on it. It's like surfing, we're along for the ride, we can't control the waves, so we go out only when we're comfortable with what they're doing.
speculation is just that when it comes to care of equipment in places where literacy is rare , and a guy might have to hire someone to read the use and care instructions to them , if they were willing to spend the money.
I'd be like, the only way I'm getting on one of these things is if u provide me with a emergency base jumping parachute I can wear lol still hate how they have zero ability to control other than turn flame on, turn flame off..
You show the Hindenburg and my brain says "Titanic". I've been listening to Mike Brady over at Oceanliner Designs. Lol
19 of 24 died, but you name three people as survivors. We’re missing 2 people
Your comparison to the Hindenburg disaster made me think of a terrible idea for a lighter-than-air craft: The hot hydrogen balloon. Reduce the density (and thus increase the lift) of hydrogen even further by heating it. Well, IF you manage to not set the whole thing on fire in the process.
I say we take it to market immediately before the competition gets wind of this idea.
Ideally you would heat it in some manner that minimizes the exposure to open flame or sparks.
@@somethingelse4424 Indeed! It's surely gonna blow up up everywhere before you know it!..
"Hot air balloons kick ass. Are they safe? Not really. Can you stop if you don't like it? Think again. BUT can you steer? Listen , don't bring that negative energy into this wicker basket, ok I'm gonna light this flamethrower."
-Ron Iver
You always have the best outtro tracks!
Thank you!!
1:24 Do you Brits call the 2000s "the naughties"? Somehow never heard this before. Love it.
In the USA it's either "in the early two-thousands" or "in oh-four" etc.
I was put off balloons by this disaster, but recently I found out that safety standards are much higher in the UK. That includes fire precautions.
now if the bloody weather would play along nicely maybe or not^^
@@smilingbandit6900
Tis a tad windy currently 😂
I remember when this happened we were so happy for them ❤️
Oof, that’s a bit too close for comfort. Me mum in her 70s took that ride in the late zeroes. She’s 89 now and thriving. Well, you know… But I feel she escaped something here.
A bit of a daredevil, me mum. Offroading in Iceland, visiting the pole circle in Norway, Sumatra, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Ireland, Paris, Prague… I only wish. Go, mum! But this one wasn’t safe.
My Mother did a hot air balloon ride in Turkey. She loved it.
@@eugeneabelow8373 All last year we were supposed to go but high wind each time canceled it. So this year I hope all will go well; I'm looking forward to it, with a little trepidation of course! There's a long list of risky things to do in life so....
The deviation from laws, rules and standards over time has a name - Practical Drift. It happens everywhere.
It has another name - Suicidal Insanity!
Practical drift might be a misnomer when one is working from poverty towards the goal of profitable earnings verses a place where technology and safety might be taken for granted and safe operations have deteriorated , verses a place that never really achieved routine safety .
you know.. of course they are big but seeing that small footage of the people on the ground next to the heating air balloon, i never realized they were quite as big as they are. damn!
I was Best Man at a wedding that took place in a hot air balloon over the Barossa Valley in South Australia, just as the sun came up.
Sounds like a PITA to plan something like that let alone attend one.
A lot of people get engaged during the flight, and losing the ring is so common that it should have a name.
It must have been quite short, I suppose
@@SassyyjuicyMaria no we floated about for probably an hour and then landed in a vineyard for breakfast and bubbly.
I got a G.I.Joe doll on my 11th birthday.
I occasionally will see a hot air balloon passing gracefully and almost silently over my 🏡 home from a nearby small local airport. I watch them as they drift over the treetops, and I think to myself....."You couldn't pay me enough to be up there. " And then I smile and wave at the happy passengers.
Yeah I seen a photo of this as they were lifting off and they all seemed so happy and you know it's only seconds from disaster. You literally have a open 🔥 oven right over your head, and you're very high up, so your choices are very, very limited if something goes wrong.
Even edited still can’t use proper grammar.
@@dbcooper1492 I got my point across grammar Nazi
@grapeshot or, you could learn the language correctly and not sound like an idiot every day.
Those things are freaking LOUD! It's a good thing they don't burn them all the time.
I didn't know that.
True. Even at a good height the noise is perfectly audible from the ground.
I made it early today yay !! Hi Plainly John from Kelemi in Orlando, Florida!
Guardicle article. Love it!
Who is with me, no hot air balloon rides, no cave exploring and definitely no cave diving!
Cave diving is the absolute nightmare out of those for me. Even though statistically I'd be more at risk on the drive to the site. Just the idea of being trapped underwater underground is absolute terror fuel.
Out of all those the caving thing would NEVER appear on my itinerary!
I wouldn't cave dive but There Are Rules to make it safer. Just don't think you can do it with a basic recreational diving certification.
I'd add cost cutting (not replacing equipment as frequently as they should), as it was early morningit was quite possible the pilot was fatigued (or maybe hungover?), and it's likely he was under time pressure...
Great episode, thankyou!
Wow! That's crazy and unfortunate. Moreover they were in trouble before. Also a scary thing to be in if emergency
I like how when you say you've been there, you displayed the hazmat suit. That made me laugh.
It's the same old, same old, lack of maintenance, a lazy pilot blaming someone else and not turning the burner off! Surely he should know how and that should have been the first thing he did, and then the ground crew let the rope go to tend to him when he fell out!!! You couldn't make it up. I don't know about sphinx, it's more like stinx!
I'd think his first thoughts would be, "How do I stop being on fire?"
The pilot may well have been on fire when it happened. Without all the facts, we can't really know if he's to blame or not, i.e. it may have been far easier said than done.
@@Tyrian3k That is probably true. Propane is heavier than air, so any leak would have pooled in the basket. The basket should have had vents in he base, but obviously it did not.
Butane is far safer, since it mixes with air and disperses, but it is generally more expensive and has a lower calorific value.
For this reason propane is not used for piped gas in the UK.
Some years ago, a leaking propane pipe filled the sewers and basements of a town in south America. When the mixture reached a certain point, the whole lot exploded. The town was virtually destroyed and many lives were lost.
@@Tyrian3k He was badly burned - that would tend to indicate that he was, indeed, on fire at some point.
standards are priceless when enforced, pointless when not.
Hey! I’m actually here early! 15 minutes baby!
Happy days!
We might also check off cost cutting and warning signs ignored for the lack of maintenance of the propane components.
Your narrator's voice is wonderful in these videos, and the style of presentation is excellent.
You had me at “explosive propane”. I’m out.
0:13 of course I know what that is, that’s the cover of Led Zeppelin I
0:17 oh yeah, that too
Best debut album ever?
😂
I will never understand people’s willingness to trust these flimsy contraptions! They are horrendously dangerous! JFC!
people think gas stoves are dangerous but not a nylon bubble with a flame inside it.
you left out "cost cutting"
This reminds me of a famous family photo,as my father was staring up at the hot air balloon my mother was going up in everything went fine although the anguish on his face is he staring up watching the balloon ascend was truly a "Kodak moment".🙄
Thank you John!
Please consider taking a look at the Enschede firework storage disaster in the Netherlands.
He has been there in the mid "naughties" LOL!
And? Seems some Americans are really struggling with this. 'noughties' has a dictionary entry.
@@skylined5534 'naughty - to be our do things that are considered not good or unacceptable'
@@skylined5534naughty - to be it do things that are considered but good or unacceptable
@@scrambledmandible
Oh dear. Meanwhile an ACTUAL definition from a dictionary:
"the period of years between 00 and 10 in any century, usually 2000-2010".
Americans seem to like to use the term 'mid 2000s' despite those actually being hundreds of years away. Now that _is_ naughty.
I really enjoy gruesome death stories, especially ones about tourist flying, deep sea diving, cave exploring, solo hiking mountains, climbing the highest mountains, bunji jumping, and doing ridiculously dangerous jobs. They fit in my F around and find out view of life.
Accidents can happen anywhere, even in the US, but the lack of regulations and oversight in some countries, and the resulting disasters.. is hideous. 😓
new to the channel? A lot of disasters here are from the USA
@@qwertyexp9957 I did mention including the US. Although it’s worth noting that many US disasters are in states with fewer regulations. Ultimately though, greed is the foundation of these disasters.
EVEN the US? And there's me thinking nothing bad EVER happened there 😂
@@skylined5534 I’m actually surprised Texas isn’t a giant crater at this point due to the miles and miles of chemical plants there. 😵💫😵💫
Thanks John.
How are you today?
"during the mid to late naughties" 😆
*Noughties. We're talking numbers here.
Why is that funny though?
It's "naught" as in zero, not "naughty", as in a bad girl 😂
@@Flying_Fetus
You sir, get a face palm
P.s. we're talking numbers here so it's 'nought'.
P.p.s. 'noughties' quite literally has a dictionary definition.
@@skylined5534 the word can be spelled both ways silly. I'm aware that it means the 2000s, as in 00, as in naught or nought. You sir get the facepalm.
@@Flying_Fetus
Well, 'silly', the rest of the world outside of the USA prefers 'nought'.
And you clearly had no idea the term 'the noughties' is correct even via dictionary sources. Take back your well deserved facepalm and also this bonus 'L' you absolutely deserve as well.
Aargh!!...If I hear “let’s get ready to rumble” advert again....I’ll explode!!...
This is a high profit accident in Hong Kong, as there's a Hong Kong tour group onboard. After the accident the authority banned all high risk activity to be part of a tour, even as an extra self-paying items
Those things are death-traps in the best of conditions...
I've been in one and I can't figure out how a hot air balloon explodes, unless the operator somehow filled the bag with unburnt propane? Guess I'll have to watch the video! By purest chance, I was surfing my Subs when John dropped this. Love this guy.
It wasn't the actual balloon part that exploded but the gas tank.
Forgot the obligatory "No one was hurt" over the video footage of the Hindenburg. The channel is now in peril...
From South African troops in Egypt during WW2, to gyppo ( slang word) something is to repair something to an Egyptian standard, like with used chewing gum and small pieces of frayed string tied together to make a long piece.
So McGyver, but with the wrong parts? 😂😂
Thats some racist shit right there. The Egyptians also built the pyramids which seem to have lasted fairly well.
@@The-Real-Ando exactly how is that racist? It is an observation. I drive vehicles over half a century old and have gypoed them myself to get home, think replacing broken piece of accelerator cable with fencing wire or using fencing wire instead of a split pin on a castle nut.
If you think it's racist what sort of chip do you carry on your shoulder, hmmmm?
@@PartyOf8Please Exactly! I have done it myself. It won't last very long but it might last a bit.
@@andrewallen9993 well I’ll break it down for you since you’re clearly dimwitted. Saying that something done improperly and then tying that to a country or race of people is racist. Oh and you claim it is a South African based ‘saying’, a country well known for racial tolerance. It’s clearly a slur and you know it, but you like being racist, it’s clearly what you do, and quite openly. Then play disingenuous ‘oh i didn’t know that saying something is Egyptian meaning badly done is racist, no i cant see that’. I guess you’re ok with the term yarpie or japie if you prefer.
Another good video.. thanks John
I guess things really got heated! Ugh, sorry, I'll see myself out... Thanks John!
:D
I’ve never seen a balloon pilot I considered intelligent
I'm sure you have never been around balloon pilots then. They are very talented and some make mistakes. I know because I'm one.
Hindenburg wasn't even close to the worst lighter than air accident. The USS Akron crash killed twice as many people. The akron had a 96% fatality rate to hindenburgs 37%.
And there were worse. However, not close? Ask the passenger's ghosts...
Might have meant worst well known
I went up in a balloon in Luxor in 2004. It was an amazing flight, and I highly recommend it if you ever get the chance.
I hate to point this out, but 62 people *survived* the Hindenburg disaster ... for a 2 in 3 chance ... priddy good if you'uns askin' me ...
What's with the Engrish at the end of your comment?
You ought to ask those who didn't make it how good the odds were.
I think most people would assume everything was safe because they hadn’t heard of any accidents with hot air balloons in Egypt. Personally I’d never get in one anywhere because the margin for error means if even *one* thing goes wrong you’re finished.
Spot on! with you on that one! 😨
I’ve heard from multiple people that Egypt is awful to visit. No thanks.
Definitely not somewhere that I'd want to visit either.
Yeah, I feel like I've heard similar over time. The only people I think would enjoy Egypt are those that just never experienced the desert and want to just experience a fraction of what it's like to have lived in those environments. But I don't imagine it's an especially thrilling. Mind you, I am one of those crazies who would love to see an aerial view of the desert.
I've been there. Great place to visit. Dubai on the other hand... a toilet.
Good video, but the introduction is incorrect. Hindenburg wasn’t the deadliest lighter than air disaster, it’s just the most famous one because it was caught on film. I believe there were two even deadlier disasters.
Hindenburg: 36 dead.
R101: 48 dead.
Dixmude: 52 dead.
USS Akron: 73 dead.
Of these four rigid airship disasters, only the Akron was helium filled.