WASHINGTON – An internal Federal Aviation Administration report urged greater safety oversight of the hot air balloon tour industry three years before the agency’s head rejected similar recommendations from a federal accident investigations board.
The 2012 report by an FAA safety official strongly urges agency officials to impose the same level of oversight to the commercial balloon industry as is applied to airplane and helicopter tour companies.
The report cites a high accident rate and significant economic incentives for balloon companies to take safety risks.
The National Transportation Safety Board made the same recommendations a year later.
Sixteen people were killed Saturday in a fiery balloon-tour crash in Texas.
SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea has fired another ballistic missile into the sea, South Korea’s military said Wednesday.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that the missile was launched toward the waters off the North’s east coast.
North Korea routinely conducts missile and other weapons tests, but Wednesday’s launch came after North Korea made angry threats against a U.S. plan to deploy an advanced missile defense system in South Korea by the end of next year.
Last month, North Korea fired three ballistic missiles into the sea.
Associated Press
