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u/DesertHeatSweatyFeet 1d ago
I live out in the country, and we have an old farmer with his own hot air balloon. You’ll see him in the evenings for whatever reason just floating around weirdly low above the land. The story goes that he uses it to snoop on the other farmers and one day, something went wrong with the flamethrower in the hot air balloon. But don’t worry because he had his parachute. So he had to jump out, but I don’t know if it was the altitude or whatever wasn’t right so the parachute didn’t really save him and when he hit the ground, he broke both of his legs. Well, AnyWho, I guess he managed to recover the hot air balloon because he still floats around in it sometimes. I assume his legs work again now.
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u/Salihe6677 2d ago
I've always wanted to ride a hot air balloon, tho I would also feel compelled to wear a parachute just in case.
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u/davehaslanded 2d ago
Hot air balloons fascinate me. The way they control the direction using different winds at different altitudes is amazing. But there is not a chance in hell you would get me in one. I have seen far too many videos on Reddit of people burning to death, or falling to their death, for me to ever get in one of those wicker death traps.
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u/Ratsyinc 2d ago
I had to fact check this nonsense... 70 deaths since 1964 in the US is a far cry from a Deathtrap.
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u/i---m 2d ago
chance of dying as a passenger is one in a million but if you pilot balloon tours for 5 years the chance of someone dying on your watch is about one in a thousand. make a career out of it and you have a 1% chance of killing someone. not great odds!
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u/granadesnhorseshoes 2d ago
Have you met people? 1% sounds low for pretty much any career involving flamethrowers and wicker baskets. I'm kinda impressed its not way higher.
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u/I_like_flowers_ 2d ago
also accounts for some people just being dumb as rocks, like that passenger who tried to flip switches in a helicopter.
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u/i---m 2d ago
how would you feel about planes if a dozen 737s fatally crashed every day?
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u/granadesnhorseshoes 1d ago
If more random passengers were hanging out in the cockpit with the pilots, I bet they would...
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u/Haunt_Fox 1d ago
Before 9/11 started causing the door to be locked, they used to invite kids up to look at stuff.
But you were strongly lectured about keeping your hands to yourself, first. 😸
Of course, kids are more used to doing what they're told ...
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u/avanross 1d ago
Right wingers have a completely backwards understanding of statistics.
They’ll spend thousands on lottery tickets throughout their lives, eat raw meat, drink raw milk, and leave loaded guns unattended around their kids, but will say that hot air balloons are too “dangerous”.
Same with masks, seatbelts, airbags, vaccines, etc
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u/Ratsyinc 1d ago
How in the world did you find a reason to bring politics into this?
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u/avanross 1d ago
The belief in science and the validity of statistics is directly political in america.
I specifically mentioned how it in my comment in very simple to understand terms, with examples…..
If you cant see the obvious relevance, it just shows youre offended because youre one of those people…..
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u/davehaslanded 1d ago
What the hell led you to believe I was right wing, because I wouldn’t get in a hot air balloon?? Stupid post. I’ve been a labour voter for 20 years. My dislike is based on the amount of videos on failarmy & YouTube in general, of them hitting power lines or crashing on landing. There’s also been several filmed cases of them burning up & killing everyone.
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u/Hour-South-9540 1d ago
Holy Molly there is something deeply wrong with you
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u/avanross 1d ago
It’s sad that you have to tell yourself that because youre not allowed to listen to any “rhetoric against the state or conservatism”
Im sure most north koreans would have to say theres “something deeply wrong” with anyone who’d criticize their country, culture or dear leader as well….
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u/Hour-South-9540 1d ago
There is something deeply wrong with you because you start to talk about politics under a Reddit Post about Hot ballon’s..
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u/avanross 1d ago
Where as educated people think there’s “something deeply wrong” with the ignorance of anti-education / anti-science / anti-statistics people 🤷♂️
But rather than accept/admit that you could be uneducated/uninformed on a topic, you just get offended and angry at the very concept of education…..
Just because you dont understand how risk assessment / danger / statistics relate to balloon accidents, it doesnt mean there’s “something deeply wrong” with people who do
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u/Hour-South-9540 1d ago
Im starting to get really interested in your thoughts process.
I mean I was never offended in the slightest I’m just always surprised about how People from the US can make every discussion about Politics and surprisingly it always comes from one side of the Political spectrum.
Again I’m not from the US I couldn’t care less what Clown you collectively decide to be your President but seeing comments like that I see how he managed to win.-1
u/avanross 1d ago
Youre still posting from the same account…… i can clearly see youre offended, otherwise you wouldnt have commented and gotten upset 🤦♂️ lol
You cant just rewrite reality
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u/Hour-South-9540 1d ago
I’m just bored and love to discuss things.
Especially with people on a different spectrum of my own believe system. Makes it more interesting.
But it seems your reflect your own reaction right now on me instead of answering why it always need to get Political for you guys? Is it all what you think the whole day ? Once tried to go out and maybe enjoy the sun ?→ More replies (0)1
u/Firewolf06 1d ago
im more likely to die at my job than a hot air balloon. (all usa stats) theres about 32,000 people in my position with around 5 deaths a year, compared to just over 900,000 balloon flights a year with just 1-2 deaths per year. and both are significantly safer than my commute to work on a highway
the more immediately dangerous something is the more its regulated and controlled for, usually. i work near running jet engines, and the main risk factor for death at my job is getting run over by a truck
the main risk on a balloon isnt death, its minir injuries (most commonly sprained ankles) from eating shit on hard landings
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u/StarStuffSister 1d ago
One of my favorite tweets of all time; after one of the times it went viral here, a bunch of people with experience with hot air balloons posted and convinced me to give up my dream of riding one lol.
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u/InterestingBlue 1d ago
Convinced you to give it up? Why? (Hi, person with experience here)
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u/StarStuffSister 23h ago
Literally everything in the tweet and the evidence backing that up.
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u/mako591 21h ago
Hot air balloons have fewer fatalities than general aviation, which is already far safer than travel by car. There's a massive balloon event in Albuquerque every year. 100s of balloons go up every day for 10 days. Its been happening for over 40 years. There have been 15 total deaths in hot air balloons in Albuquerque, ever. Both during the festival and outside of the festival dates. Realistically, the only thing that might happen is a rough landing, and even that generally doesn't cause injury. I've been up in a balloon twice, had a hard landing once, and it was just a bit jarring. They are really an amazing experience, and I wouldn't let a tweet talk you out of taking a ride some day.
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u/StarStuffSister 20h ago
I'm not talking about dying, I'm talking about having to hike down something weird or being unable to control the craft in case of emergency. A plane can choose where to land if someone has a heart attack.
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u/burntothepowerofer 9h ago
How many ppl are genuinely going on hot air balloons in the first place tho. Compared to constant travel
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u/MoveDifficult1908 1d ago
Hey, I survived my outing. We could even see the place we wanted to go, once we’d gained a thousand feet or so. And we had champagne for breakfast and landed in a pickup, how cool is that?
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u/OfficeNinja8 1d ago
Unless you are somewhere with a nice view, hot air balloons are a waste of time and money. They move so slow it feels like you aren't moving at all. My whole group got bored pretty quickly. Then the landing is like a skipping stone rather than a smooth set down like you imagine.
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u/avanross 1d ago
The belief in science and the validity of statistics is directly political in america.
I specifically mentioned how it in my comment in very simple to understand terms, with examples…..
If you cant see the obvious relevance, it just shows youre offended because youre one of those people…..
The right are the ones who made believing in science a “political” stance lol
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u/err404 2d ago
Not really steer, but they can broadly control direction by using maps of air currents at different altitudes.