1989 Alice Springs hot air balloon crash
| Accident summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | 13 August 1989 at 6:38 am ACST (UTC+9:30) |
| Summary | Hot-air balloon mid-air collision |
| Site | Near Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia |
| Passengers | 12 |
| Crew | 1 |
| Fatalities | 13 (all) |
| Survivors | 0 |
| Operator | Toddy's Ballooning |
| Flight origin | Alice Springs |
On 13 August 1989, two hot air balloons collided near Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia, causing one to crash to the ground, killing thirteen people. It was the world's deadliest ever ballooning disaster until February 2013, when a balloon accident near Luxor, Egypt killed 19 people. As of July 2016, it remains the deadliest ever ballooning accident in Australia, and the third-deadliest worldwide, surpassed only by the Egypt crash and a balloon accident in Texas in 2016 that left 16 people dead.
The flight took off at Santa Teresa Road, 29 kilometres south east of Alice Springs.
The accident was the result of a mid-air collision at 6:38 am, local time. One balloon ascended, colliding with another balloon above it. The envelope of the lower balloon engulfed the basket of the upper balloon, causing a tear in the envelope. The lower balloon hovered briefly, before rapidly deflating and plunging to the ground at high speed, killing its pilot and all twelve passengers. One body was reportedly thrown clear of the basket. The pilot had turned off the gas burners before impact. The male pilot and ten of the passengers were Australian. Six of the passengers were male and six female. One male passenger was Danish and another male passenger was an Italian who lived in Monaco. All of the passengers were adults.
The descent reportedly lasted 51 seconds. Witness statements said the balloon "folded and fell to earth" and that it "fell to the ground like a streamer". A tourist in another balloon said,
"I could see one of the balloons rising quite fast under another balloon. The lower balloon came up and hit the other one. Its top was touching the basket and it was shaking the passengers around. A rip appeared at the top of the balloon and it started to move away. It wasn't a very rapid movement. It moved away slowly but you knew it was in trouble. The pilot tried frantically to blast hot air into the stricken 'chute as the balloon lost height but there didn't appear to be any panic."
The tear in the stricken balloon's red and black envelope was described as being the size of a bed sheet, and the balloon crashed between two small trees in open scrubland about 16 kilometres from Alice Springs Airport.
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