Fire Thought To Be Caused By Raw Propane Leak

A balloon pilot competing in an evening flight of the Battle Creek Field of Flight Air Show and Balloon Festival in Battle Creek, MI, sustained burns to both arms Monday when a hot air balloon caught fire after landing.

Gary Moore, 51, of Lake Havasu City, AZ was treated at Battle Creek Health System and was released Tuesday, according to a spokesman.
Todd Leatherman, a passenger in the balloon, was not injured.

Pilots launched from south of W.K. Kellogg Airport and were attempting to fly to the south side of the airport, according to the Battle Creek Enquirer. A wind change forced the pilots to locate alternative landing sites and Moore chose a side yard to a residence and landed without incident.

The fire reportedly began after Moore landed his balloon and he and Leatherman had already exited the basket.

The safety officer of the balloon event, Allen Yost, said a series of photographs taken by witnesses were being studied.

"It shows him (Moore) in the air and the balloon is full of air," Yost said. "One of the next pictures is the balloon on the ground and everything is standing up. And in the next picture he is outside, nobody is in the basket. He is already on the ground and there is no fire."

Yost said the photographs suggesting a routine landing as the basket is in an upright position and the burners were off.

The pictures then show Moore bent over a child's beach ball, presumably to move it out of the way.

"While he is bent over there is a huge ball of flame and you can see it through the foot hole of the basket, about 6 or 8 inches from the bottom," Yost said.

Hs said this is suggestive of raw propane leaking and accumulating in the basket then somehow igniting.

"In the next pictures the fabric (of the envelope) is on fire and the burners are fully on," Yost said.

Moore sustained his burns when he reached back in to turn off the propane tanks as the burning envelope begins to fall next to the basket.

Moore has been a commercial pilot for about 15 years and flew the Gr-r-reat Tony Balloon for the Kellogg Company from 1997 to 2002. He owns and operates Wanderlust Balloons in Arizona.

IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 4021M        Make/Model: R-77      Description: EXP-CAMEROON BALLOON
  Date: 07/03/2007     Time: 0045

  Event Type: Incident   Highest Injury: Minor     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Unknown

LOCATION
  City: BATTLE CREEK   State: MI   Country: US

DESCRIPTION
  DURING LANDING BALLOON CAUGHT FIRE, BATTLE CREEK, MI.

INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   0
                 # Crew:   1     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   1     Unk:   
                 # Pass:   1     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   

WEATHER: VFR

OTHER DATA
  Activity: Pleasure      Phase: Landing      Operation: OTHER

  FAA FSDO: GRAND RAPIDS, MI  (GL09)              Entry date: 07/03/2007

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.wanderlustballoons.com