a spectator on the ground captures the moment when the smokey balloon is driven off course by a 60-mile-an-hour blast of wind. there s smokey up there. despite bill s desperate efforts, there s no way to avoid a 700-foot radio transmission tower. my first thought was to get over it. i had no option except to go up. can t steer a balloon. bill fires his burners past their safety limit, trying in vain to fight the wind, but he can t rise fast enough to clear the tower. oh, he hit the tower. he s on the tower. when we hit the tower, the balloon exploded. virtually. and it was like hearing an amplified scream of a mad woman and a mountain lion and everything you ve ever heard scream all at once. he tore a hole in him.
launches brand-new smokey balloon in 2005, less than a year after the accident. and in 2009, bill is back in albuquerque to help celebrate smokey bear s 65th anniversary. but no one involved will forget that fateful day in october when a pilot and his passengers were lucky to escape with their lives. you know, with ballooning, the takeoff is optional. landing is a must. and so we just had a landing we didn t expect. all of the people we ve met in this hour have been changed by their experiences in ways, large and small, and whether they were saved by others or they found a way to save themselves, they feel lucky to be alive. if you have a video you d like to send to us, logon to our website, caughtoncamera.msnbc.com. i m contessa brewer. that s all for this edition of caught on camera.
fund-raising effort, bill launches brand-new smokey balloon in 2005, less than a year after the accident. and in 2009, bill is back in albuquerque to help celebrate smokey bear s 65th anniversary. but no one involved will forget that fateful day in october when a pilot and his passengers were lucky to escape with their lives. you know, with ballooning, the takeoff is optional. landing is a must. and so we just had a landing we didn t expect. all of the people we ve met in this hour have been changed by their experiences in ways, large and small, and whether they were saved by others or they found a way to save themselves, they feel lucky to be alive. if you have a video you d like to send to us, logon to our website, caughtoncamera.msnbc.com. i m contessa brewer. that s all for this edition of caught on camera.
a spectator on the ground captures the moment when the smokey balloon is driven off course by a 60-mile-an-hour blast of wind. there s smokey up there. despite bill s desperate efforts, there s no way to avoid a 700-foot radio transmission tower. my first thought was to get over it. i had no option except to go up. can t steer a balloon. bill fires his burners past their safety limit, trying in vain to fight the wind, but he can t rise fast enough to clear the tower. oh, he hit the tower. he s on the tower. when we hit the tower, the balloon exploded. virtually. and it was like hearing an amplified scream of a mad woman and a mountain lion and everything you ve ever heard scream all at once. he tore a hole in him. the fierce winds quickly ripped the balloon to shreds.
fund-raising effort, bill launches brand-new smokey balloon in 2005, less than a year after the accident. and in 2009, bill is back in albuquerque to help celebrate smokey bear s 65th anniversary. but no one involved will forget that fateful day in october when a pilot and his passengers were lucky to escape with their lives. you know, with ballooning, the takeoff is optional. landing is a must. and so we just had a landing we didn t expect. all of the people we ve met in this hour have been changed by their experiences in ways, large and small, and whether they were saved by others or they found a way to save themselves, they feel lucky to be alive. if you have a video you d like to send to us, logon to our website, caughtoncamera.msnbc.com. i m contessa brewer. that s all for this edition of caught on camera.