A balloonist and passenger participating in the Casper Balloon Roundup sustained injuries in a hard landing on the east side of Casper on Saturday morning.
Casper Police Department spokesperson Amber Freestone reported that officers responded to a field near Newport Road and Elkhorn Valley Drive just before 7 a.m. for the report of an injury related to a hot air balloon.
“Two adult female occupants were at the scene with the hot air balloon having landed in a field to the east,” Freestone said. “The balloon pilot had been ejected from the basket and was treated on scene before being transported to Banner Wyoming Medical Center for further treatment. The second occupant was not transported by EMS.”
Freestone said she had no update on the pilot’s condition. The police department notified the NationalTransportation Safety Board (NTSB) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) who assumed investigation of the incident.
The FAA did not immediately return a phone call from Cowboy State Daily.
Tamie Shrum, Casper Balloon Roundup’s event coordinator, said winds on Saturday morning were not a factor in the incident.
Eyewitness Jeremy Bott said he and his daughter were heading home on Newport Road after watching other balloons when they noticed one particular balloon because it didn’t look “filled up.”
“It came down and hit the ground kind of close to the Elkhorn Village sign and then it went back up in the air and … I saw one of the ground crew running for the balloon and so I started running east through that field,” he said.
Another balloon landed nearby. The pilot asked where the pilot of the crashed balloon was, and he was told the person was about 500 yards back, Bott said.
Bott said the pilot who had stopped to help took control of the vacant, crashed balloon, securing it and turning off the fuel.
Shrum said reports that the balloon was having inflation issues were inaccurate. The balloon was in the midst of landing. Vents that help release air and bring the craft down made it appear as if it was not fully inflated, Shrum said.
“I can tell you that it was a hard landing but that the wind was not an issue,” she said. Shrum declined to release the name of the pilot.
Ten balloons participated in the event on Saturday, Shrum said. One pilot inflated his balloon but stayed moored at the park and did not fly.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
