DUBAI // A hot air balloon company has been grounded until an investigation into how a pilot and several passengers were injured by a misfiring burner is complete.
The General Civil Aviation Authority has asked Balloon Adventures Emirates to suspend its flights, the company’s co-partner Adam McEwan said.
There have been no flights since the incident on January 14 when Dutch pilot Jelke Haven, 41, was hurt after fire from the burner was blown in his face as he was landing the balloon.
The father-of-two suffered severe burns and also fractured his jaw as he tried to leap out of the way of the flames.
Five tourists on board, including a nine-year-old Chinese girl, also suffered burns. They were treated at Al Dhaid hospital in Sharjah but have since been discharged.
Mr Haven is still recovering at Al Qassimi hospital. His family, including his wife Karin, have flown from The Netherlands to be with him.
“The poor guy did unfortunately get a face full of flash,” said Balloon Adventures co-partner Adam McEwan.
“After landing there was a technical malfunction with the burner. Instead of switching off, it flashed in the direction of the pilot at the conclusion of the flight.
“He stood up to say to everyone: ‘That is it, congratulations, start to exit the balloon’ and that is when it happened. He stood up and it misfired and unfortunately hit him.”
Mr Haven was trying to land after an hour-long flight over the desert near Dubai.
The balloon set off from Margham and was at Al Madam 60 kilometres from the city.
It was said to have bounced on the ground three times before being blown on its side and dragged 24 feet by high winds.
As it tipped over, the burner emitted a flash of fire in the pilot’s face.
Mr McEwan said managers had been studying a video of the flight to figure out what happened.
“We can’t actually see on the video but when the burner flashed, he did what every other human being does and tried to move out of the way and hit his jaw on something.
“All the doctors are saying he is stable but are keeping him under observation before they release him in about a week.”
He said the wind had been measured at five knots in the desert that day.
“You can barely feel that on your face. It is a very different weather system [in the desert].”
Mr Haven became the youngest balloon pilot in Holland when he received his commercial licence in 1992 at the age of 17.
His father was one of the first balloonists in Holland when he started flying in the 1980s.
Mr Haven, who has completed more than 2,200 flights, became known for a stunt in which he attached a lifeboat instead of a basket to his hot air balloon in 2004.
In June 2006, nine passengers on board his balloon suffered injuries, including broken limbs, after a hard landing in a meadow.
He said at the time he was trying to avoid power cables when his fuel ran out and the wind shifted suddenly.
He was a former owner of A3 Ballon in Holland, he left that company and moved to the UAE several years ago to work for ballooning companies in the Middle East.
Fellow Dutch pilot Erik Bosman, who works for Dubai firm Sindbad Balloons and has known Mr Haven for 30 years, described him as “a very experienced balloonist”.
“I do not know what happened exactly but a burner misfiring is a very unusual thing to happen. I have spoken to Karin and she is keeping calm.”
Mr McEwan said the pilot had decided to return home once he was discharged from hospital. Mr Haven, he said, acted heroically by ensuring all his passengers left the balloon safely.
The GCAA was unavailable to comment.
newsdesk@thenational.ae
*This article has been amended to reflect that Jelke Haven was not the founder of A3 Ballon.
