The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) should end a policy that exempts commercial balloon operators from obtaining medical certificates, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Tuesday, citing the July 30, 2016, fatal crash of a hot air balloon in Lockhart, Texas.
The crash killed 15 balloon passengers and the pilot.
The NTSB found Tuesday that the probable cause of the accident was the pilot’s “pattern of poor decision making,” which led to the balloon striking power lines and then crashing to the ground. Contributing factors were the pilot’s “impairing medical conditions and medications that likely affected his decision making,” the NTSB said.
Accident investigators determined that the pilot had depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and was taking several drugs that would have impaired his central nervous system and probably affected his decision-making ability, the NTSB said.
NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt added, “…
