AUSTIN, Texas _ As federal investigators try to puzzle together the cause of the deadliest balloon crash in modern American history, they announced Sunday that they had recovered 14 personal electronic devices in the deadly wreckage, including cellphones, cameras and an iPad.
Hot air balloons don't have black boxes and their pilots don't file flight plans with the Federal Aviation Administration, but officials hope to be able to extract photos, video or other data related to the last moments of the balloon's flight.
A day after the crash, officials would not speculate on what caused the Czech-made Kubicek brand hot air balloon, carrying an experienced pilot and 15 other people, to fly into high-voltage power lines near Lockhart. All 16 died in the fiery crash. Caldwell County officials did not release names of the dead.
But authorities began providing more details of the voyage, which began in a San Marcos Wal-Mart parking lot, where customers of Heart of Texas Balloon Rides had gathered before dawn.
National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Robert Sumwalt said that after the group took a van to the Fentress airport, the balloon ride _ scheduled for sunrise at 6:49 a.m. _ was delayed for about 20 minutes. He said investigators plan to speak with members of the company's ground crew Monday in hopes of learning why the ride was delayed.
Investigators will analyze weather records, including cloud cover and visibility at the time of the crash. "It was very foggy here after the accident," Sumwalt said.
Federal investigators also plan to analyze company procedures, including whether customers were weighed beforehand, look into pilot Alfred "Skip" Nichols' flying record and gather maintenance records on the balloon, which Sumwalt said are being held in Houston.
Sumwalt said investigators found the basket carrying the 16 people three-quarters of a mile from the balloon itself, indicating the hot air balloon was severed when it struck high-voltage power lines.
Witnesses have said that they heard a series of pops and that the balloon appeared to have struck power lines before catching fire.
Officials identified the balloon as the Czech-made Balony Kubicek model BB85Z. NTSB records show Kubicek brand balloons have been involved in four crashes investigated by federal authorities in the past five years, all hard landings that resulted in serious injuries but no deaths.
According to FAA records, the balloon was manufactured in 2014 and is registered to Nichols. The balloon had four propane tanks and three burners when it crashed, Sumwalt said.
Sumwalt said 60 ballooning accidents have been investigated by the agency since August 2011, including five that resulted in seven deaths.
The NTSB has called on the FAA, which regulates hot air balloons, to enact stricter safety oversight of the commercial ballooning industry. In 2014, the NTSB warned of a catastrophic balloon crash, capable of killing multiple people, if tougher safety provisions weren't enacted.
The FAA rejected the recommendations in November, saying it would not increase safety, a finding the NTSB has criticized as unacceptable.
The Balloon Federation of America, a trade group that opposed the recommendations, issued a statement urging "everyone to pause, take a deep breath and avoid speculation right now."
Earlier Sunday, two balloon pilots from San Marcos _ Sam and Diana Wiley _ came out to the scene of the crash near Maxwell to survey the area.
"You can see this power line from miles away if you're flying a balloon," Sam Wiley said, pointing to the towering high-voltage power structures and the multiple power lines running through them. "I can't imagine a pilot missing that. There might have been another factor, such as weather, or a technical issue."
John Cook, who lives in Lockhart, also came out to the scene Sunday. Cook said he often sees hot air balloons flying overheard when he's in Maxwell.
Sam Wiley said it's common for hot air balloon pilots to land east of Interstate 35, where there is plenty of open space. The crash happened east of I-35, between that highway and the Texas 130 toll road.
It's unclear whether the field where the balloon crashed is where it was trying to land.
"We've heard of (crash) incidents before," Sam Wiley said. "But we didn't expect it to happen in our backyard."
