your insurance company will be very pleased to  pay for envelope damage as opposed to  passenger liability.  c. There is a chance that there could be injury  to the pilot or passengers. Properly prepared  for a heavy landing there is really very little  chance of serious injury. A balloon ripped from  150  feet cannot exceed  1500  feet per minute  descent rate. Landing at  1500  feet per minute is  a hard jolt that can be successfully handled  without injury.  d. Like any hard landing the fuel should be  secured and the pilot light extinguished before  ground contact.  There are other possible problems such as  rebound that could occur. Thinking out the  problem in advance of a real power line colli› sion threat will give the pilot more confidence  to make the correct decision.  For safe flying .....  Bob Ruppenthal  b. The balloon envelope may sustain damage  from the power lines. Consider the fact that  pening. Regardless, each deals a severe blow  to the safety record of the entire ballo.oning  community. For this reason, if for no other, it is  paramount that all pilots take steps to avoid  collision with powerlines. Towards this goal,  some advice and discussion is offered through  this newsletter media.  Recently, two Colorado pilots were forced to  jump from their balloon just before it plowed  into powerlines. They were not injured, but the  balloon received extenstve damage. Also  recently, a balloon hit a powerline in Kansas  City. It was damaged. but there were no injuries  to the balloonists. And in east Texas, a balloon  recently deflated across powerlines at sun•  down. The pilot received minor burns and so  did the balloon, but the two passengers  escaped uninjured. ,Again in east Texas, a  balloon was caught in the wind shear du.ring a  landing in a new subdivision and became en› tangled in some wires that fortunately were not  alive with electricity. There were no damages or  mjuries. A balloonist and h1s• passenger were  not so lucky m Wichita last month. They were  killed when the" superpressurized balloon  broke 1ts tether and sailed off into powerlines.  When a long electncal cord hanging down from  the •basket contacted 69 KV lines, the two  occupants suffered severe electrical burns,  became unconscious, fell out of’ the basket,  and were pronounced dead by electrocution.  Just what can happen? If a balloon coniacts  powerlines at the basket, it is possible that the  occupants touchtng any part of the metal  superstructure or fuel system can be elec› trocuted. Such contact could also result in fire  and explosion if hot wires penetrate a tank or  fuel line. If a balloon makes contact with its  suspension cables, the resultant arcing can  sever the_cables. The occupants are left in free  fall, either with the basket or on their own. Con•  tact at the envelope may cause fabric melting,  partial deflation and some electrical power  transmission to the basket by way of the rip  line, damp load tapes. or the pyrometer cable.  All of these accidents can be avoided if proper  care and precautions are taken.  During launct1ing, powerlines are avoidable  simply by launching downwind of the wires or  at a safe distance upwind of the wires. This is  Each of the.se powerline a•ccidents h.as its  own set of circumstances and causes for hap- Powerline Safety  5 