STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo.—A passenger on a hot-air balloon ride plummeted 700 feet to his death Tuesday, police said.
Police Capt. Joel Rae said the incident was being investigated as an accident or a suicide.
Routt County Coroner Rob Ryg told the Steamboat Pilot & Today the victim was John Lippincott, 54, of Boulder.
“I was on the radio to one of my crew members, and as I glanced back at him, his head was going down, his feet were coming up, and he was off the edge of the basket,” balloon pilot Ian Cox told the paper. “And that was the last I saw of him.”
Lippincott landed in an open field southwest of the Steamboat Springs Christian Center, near U.S. 40.
Rae said the balloon carried four other passengers and a pilot.
Rae would not comment on whether alcohol or drugs were involved.
The balloon was operated by Wild West Balloon Adventures in Steamboat Springs.
Wild West’s Web site says Cox passed a Federal Aviation Administration balloon flight exam in 1982 and has logged more than 3,500 flights.
“My confidence remains high, because I did nothing wrong,” Cox said, later adding: “I operated the balloon in a normal way.”
Steamboat Springs, known primarily as a ski resort town, is about 100 miles northwest of Denver.
