By Kyle Mooty

LPR Editor

Paige Brabson wanted to see her mother, Lorilee Brabson, cross off one of her bucket list items for Mother’s Day 2016. Although the early May celebration was pushed back for various reasons until late July, Lorilee was nevertheless going to be able to pursue her dream of a hot-air balloon ride, and she would be accompanied by Paige.

It would be their final act on earth as the balloon crashed in a field in Maxwell after hitting a high-tension power line, killing all 16 on board. The catastrophe marked the deadliest commercial balloon crash in U.S. history.

July 30 marks the 8^th anniversary of the tragedy, which occurred at 7:42 a.m. on a Saturday morning at 730 County Road 230 in Maxwell.

* * *

The victims, ranging in age from 23 to 60, and all lived in Texas. Thirteen of the 16 had children. There were six married couples. Almost all of them were celebrating something, either a birthday, an anniversary, or, in Brabson’s case, a belated Mother’s Day.

The dead include:

Lorilee Brabson, 48, of San Antonio.

Paige Brabson, 23, of San Antonio.

Matt and Sunday Rowan of San Antonio. They had married 4 months earlier. Sunday had a 5-year-old son.

Ross and Sandra Chalk, a married couple from Wimberly.

Scott and Laura Douglas, a married couple from Victoria.

Brian and Tressie Neill, a married couple from San Antonio.

John and Stacee Gore, a married couple from Mineral Springs.

Joe and Tresa Owens, a married couple from Katy, along with Tresa’s best friend, Holly Huckabee.

Alfred “Skip” Nichols, the pilot, of Kyle.

* * *

Living in Colorado Springs, Colorado at the time of the accident, Pat Morgan was aware of the adventure her daughter (Lorilee) and granddaughter (Paige) were taking. Paige messaged her grandmother shortly after they departed San Antonio for Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides in San Marcos. “We are headed to the ride,” Paige said. “Wish you were here.”

The balloon was setting off on its journey from a location at the Fentress Airpark in Caldwell County.

The Brabsons and others were aboard the balloon, which launched at 6:58 a.m. All were ready for what was to be about an hour flight.

Paige and Lorilee began posting photos and videos to Facebook. Paige noted, “Haha, the cows look so tiny.” She also said on one video, “It’s peaceful up here.”

Among all the posted photos, Morgan took note of the smiley face and the red, white and blue envelope of the balloon. The envelope is the balloon part filled with the hot air.

Grace Brabson, 16, was taking care of her sister Paige’s baby, 11-month-old Marylee, at their San Antonio home.

Paige was a cosmetologist and a server at a San Antonio restaurant. Lorilee worked for Texas State Law Enforcement in the Parks Department in San Antonio.

Nichols flew the balloon north.

There are contradictory reports regarding the direction the balloon was heading. Morgan understood the one-hour flight was headed back to Fentress.

A photo one of the passenger’s had been taken at 7:38 a.m., showed the balloon flying above an overcast cloud layer. Another photograph, taken at 7:40 a.m., showed the balloon’s shadow in the clouds and reveals a power line tower.

Suddenly, photos and videos from everyone on the balloon stopped. Several hours after the Brabsons were supposed to have returned to their vehicle, about noon Colorado time and 1 p.m. in Texas, Morgan got a call from Grace.

“Nanny, have you heard from the girls?” Grace asked. “I can’t get a hold of them, and I heard there was a balloon crash and everyone was killed.”

Morgan said she thought it couldn’t be the girls because there must be balloon rides all over the country.

Nevertheless, neither Grace nor Morgan was successful after multiple attempts to reach the girls by phone.

“I thought they may have stopped to shop at the Outlet Mall in San Marcos, maybe grabbed a bite to eat,” Morgan said.

Grace was distraught.

“I just feel it, Nanny,” Grace said. “I know it was them.”

Some family and friends took off in their vehicles to Walmart in San Marcos where the Brabsons and other passengers had parked their car to be picked up by two others with Nichols, who could not drive due to a revoked driver’s license. There was no sign of either of the Brabsons.

Morgan had her husband turn on the TV news on the television. A news flash came across the screen in Colorado read “16 people killed in a balloon crash in Maxwell, Texas.”

Then a photo of the balloon’s envelope was shown.

“I knew right then it was them because it had a smiley face on it,” Morgan said.

* * *

The skies had apparently turned foggy during their return flight. According to one expert after the crash, it appeared Nichols knew things were about to get bad because he had his gear in landing mode.

However, at 7:42 a.m. (the time the Lower Colorado River Authority recorded the first power lined being tripped), the balloon descended from a cloud and struck the top wire of a power line. It then dropped onto the high-voltage power lines, and its 340,000 volts of electricity burned through the cables from the envelope to the gondola (or basket) of the balloon. The fuel lines separated from the burner and the gondola plunged to the ground, an estimated 100-foot fall.

It was believed Nichols was likely trying to land the balloon when he hit the power lines after coming downward from a cloud cover.

The fuel lines separated from the burners, spraying liquid propane and igniting a fire.

People living nearby described hearing explosions, then seeing what they believed were car flames.

Propane fuel was ignited as the gondola crashed. It is suspected the fall may have killed the passengers who were not electrocuted to death. Anyone who had survived the electric jolt and the fall burned in the fire, which left all but one or two unrecognizable. Family members had to get dental records to identify who was who.

Responders were confused at first as the bodies looked like mannequins.

Even after firefighters extinguished the fire, the chemically enhanced burn from the propane radiated heat, even on a Saturday when temperatures were already well above 100 degrees.

Then Caldwell County head of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Coordinator, Martin Ritchey, had received a call from the county’s EMS director notifying him of a mass fatality in Maxwell. He thought it was likely a large automobile wreck, but while traveling to the scene he discovered it had been a hot-air balloon crash.

“I immediately responded to the scene and ordered the deployment of the Caldwell County Command Trailer and the airspace closure around the incident’s area,” Ritchey said.

Ritchey notified the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and asked for the airspace over the area to be shut down, to prevent the flyover of commercial aircraft as well as interested media helicopters. The FAA closed the airspace over the accident site for 5 miles.

Ritchey also contacted then-Caldwell County Judge Ken Shawe, who was vacationing at the Gulf Coast. Shawe declared a state of emergency and placed Ritchey in charge of the crash scene.

A command post was placed on Jolly Road near the crash site. Soon, there were dozens of local and state agencies and support personnel on site.

“We activated our county mass fatality plan and opened a family assistance center with the help of Maxwell Fire personnel, the Ebenezer Lutheran Church in Maxwell, and Seton Hospitals,” Ritchey said. “This was done before the accident was made public so we would have a place to direct the family and loved ones of those killed.

“Communication is critical in an event like this. Families’ pain and anguish can only be exacerbated by incorrect information or finding out after something has leaked to social media.”

Ritchey said following the removal of the victims’ remains, crash debris, and investigative materials, arrangements were made for buses to transport family members to the scene.

“This was done before the scene was reopened to the media or the public,” Ritchey said. “Tents, water, councelors, and EMS were on hand to care for those who went to the scene. OEM (Office of Emergency Management) contacted the Lockhart Ministerial Alliance to hold a prayer service at the courthouse square the following weekend.”

Texas Governor Greg Abbott released a statement following the balloon crash, calling it a “heartbreaking tragedy.”

* * *

Morgan and her husband, upon realizing Lorilee and Paige had perished in the crash, immediately loaded their 40-foot RV and headed to Texas. What was normally a two-day drive to San Antonio took just a day and a half, despite driving in a lightning storm, which knocked out the RV’s air conditioning while they traveled.

“We couldn’t even stop to rest,” Morgan said.

While information was limited upon arrival for Morgan and her husband, the following day, the sheriff’s office and Federal Aviation Administration called the families together to explain what had taken place.

Morgan remained in Texas… for a year-and-a-half, taking care of Marylee.

“Since losing the girls, our lives have changed,” Morgan said. “We stopped RVing, which we had done full-time.”

* * *

The pilot of the balloon, Nichols, owned Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides despite a very checkered past.

The son of a Vietnam pilot, friends said Nichols struggled with substance abuse for several decades, but believed he was 100 percent sober by the time of the July 30, 2016 flight.

According to a report in Bloomberg News, the 49-year-old Nichols had binged on a cocktail of drugs before takeoff.

A toxicology report showed he had ingested multiple prescription and over-the-counter drugs such as the opiate painkiller oxycodone and Valium, and Prolev, Ritalin and Benadryl. Six of the pills are forbidden by the FAA because they impair a pilot’s judgment and motor skills.

Nichols had garnered several Driving While Intoxicated convictions (four while living in in Missouri and seven alcohol driving-related citations between 1987-2010), as well as three convictions for drug offenses, according to Bloomberg News and the National Transportation Safety Board.

Nichols reportedly suffered from Type II diabetes, depression, and chronic pain from fibromyalgia, as well as other ailments such as allergies.

Nichols had initially received his commercial pilot certificate in 1993. However, among his criminal records, it was discovered he had served two prison sentences, which were related to drugs and alcohol. In 2008, the Better Business Bureau had even warned consumers for a third time they should strongly consider not doing business with Nichols. He had a history of cancelling flights, problems rescheduling flights, and clients had trouble getting refunds. In 2009, a former passenger had suffered neck and back injuries after a balloon he piloted crash-landed in St. Louis, saying Nichols had run out of fuel.

The cost of the clients on the deadly crash in Maxwell was $200 per ticket, and in some cases even higher. Therefore, he was going to make at least $3,000 for the short flight.

An Austin pilot, David Smuck, told one media outlet he had looked at the weather on the morning of July 30, 2016, and immediately knew weather conditions were unsafe for flying. Winds were higher than his cutoff speed of 19 miles-per-hour. He cancelled four flights that day.

However, Nichols had called Lockheed Martin Flight Service for a local weather report, and even thought it was noted there would be a 1,200-foot cloud ceiling with indication of fog Nichols reportedly told them, “Well, we just fly in between them. We find a hole, and we go.”

Because of the convictions, Nichols was unable to drive until applying for a Texas driver’s license in 2020. Nevertheless, his flight qualifications still made him eligible to pilot the balloon.

Texas State Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-Austin), 15 months after the tragedy in Maxwell, wrote the FAA in October 2017 about his concerns for balloon passenger’s safety. Doggett noted he was troubled by the FAA stating the Balloon Federation of America (BFA) was a voluntary program. He also said Nichols was not a member of BFA, and even had he been, he could have still flown on July 30, 2016.

Doggett said the only reason he had waited so long to act was because he “kept hoping the FAA would do its job.”

Taking matters into her own hands, Morgan traveled to Washington D.C. where she met with Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), pleading to get a law, any law, in place to prevent future balloon tragedies.

In 2018, then-President (Donald) Trump signed the Balloon Safety Act, giving the FAA 180 days to edit a federal regulation mandating medical examinations for aircraft pilots and to include language extending the requirement to include commercial balloon pilots. The law was passed by the FAA and Congress,

By May 2019, Doggett sent a letter to the FAA asking why there was a delay, calling the delay “inexcusable.” COVID was the reasoning. The law was eventually implemented in 2022.

Matt Kiely, Justice of the Peace for Caldwell County District 1, said a pilot such as Nichols could have been on a cocktail of drugs with little repercussion. He was on scene at the crash site that evening as bodies were removed. Kiely said truck drivers were put through more difficult testing than balloon pilots.

* * *

The FAA issued its discovery report in April 2017, stating, “The accident pilot/operator (Nichols) demonstrated a long-standing, willful noncompliance with regulations. The investigation did not reveal evidence to indicate that the pilot would have likely complied with a requirement for a medical certificate should one [have] been in effect prior to the accident.”

A plan of a lawsuit ensued, but the balloon company claimed bankruptcy, according to Morgan. Nichols had a policy that paid each victim $100,000, but after funeral expenses, some said there was hardly any remaining.

Even Caldwell County had a $100,000 bill after performing the 16 autopsies, flight passenger identifications, DNA analysis, emergency services, and providing support for the families.

Ritchey said the entire event was painful for so many. He said he had worked a number of wildfires and floods in Caldwell County, but never anything like the balloon tragedy.

Ritchey said the entire event was painful for so many. He said he had worked a number of wildfires and floods in Caldwell County, but never anything like the balloon tragedy.

“My first thought was the families of the victims because what I had observed, I knew there were a lot of individuals that were going to be involved that would have large extended families, children, mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters,” Ritchey said. “So, my heart was immediately broken by seeing the level of fatality there.

“Training never involves a hot air balloon crashing into power lines, catching fire. You know, that’s not part of anybody’s training protocol per say. This is the largest single loss of life in Caldwell County’s history; in fact, in any jurisdiction a loss of life of this magnitude is just enormous and it would strain anyone’s resources.”

* * *

A reunion is held annually on the date of the crash on private land in Maxwell. As many as 60 attended the first year, but Morgan said it has tapered off. Some leave flowers, many pray over hay bales decorated in their honor, and others share memories of the fallen. The families come from all over — San Antonio, College Station, Katy, and other towns.

“We’re trying to do something by the 10-year anniversary like having a monument or a chair at a state park… something in their memory,” Morgan said.

Morgan said she often thinks of what the First Responders went through that day, too.

“I felt badly for the First Responders because they had to be traumatized with what they saw,” she said.

Gov. Abbott sent a letter to Morgan stating he has no authority over the monument.

“We shall not forget our loved ones, and this has been a tough journey for those left behind,” Morgan said in a letter she penned remembering the event. “Today, as I write this letter, I am asking that Caldwell County communities come together to honor and remember our loved ones on July 30, the 8-year anniversary. At 7:42 a.m. some of us will be there, as we have for the past years. For those that can or cannot attend, please help us, somehow, someway to have a ‘10-year’ memorial monument. Something created and dedicated to all the lost loved ones, somewhere in Caldwell County.

“So many were impacted by this historical event, which should not be forgotten, and our loved ones deserve to have a special place to be remembered. If you would like to help and make this possible, please contact us. I believe this could be the season of possibilities. What you see as an impossibility; as a challenge, God sees as a possibility.

“Anyone that would like to help can contact our direct contact, Licia Edwards at (512) 644-8164.”

* * *

Ritchey is now Texas’ Director of Homeland Security with the Capital Area Council of Governments (CAPCOG) for a 10-county region including the Austin Metropolitan Area.

The Centers for Disease Control did a research project about how such a small rural community responded to a mass fatality event and highlighted Caldwell County’s response.

This week, Ritchey did a presentation at the National Homeland Security Conference in Miami Beach, Florida on emergency notification (reverse 911) regarding alerts that would allow public safety organizations to send emergency notifications to people in specific geographic areas.

Lorilee also had a son, Andrew, who was 31 at the time of the crash.

Morgan and her husband have since moved from Colorado to Brownsville, Texas.

After the Lockhart accident, Heart of Texas Balloon Rides ceased operations.

The balloon tragedy in Maxwell was the second largest worldwide only to a 2013 crash that had killed 19 in Luxor, Egypt.