This was a rough week for the international event, with several crashes and hard landings and one 60-year-old woman from California falling to her death. Good luck finding any mention of these, er, complications on the official site. "How to Avoid Power Lines" may become required reading for the hundreds of pilots from now on. AP Photo by Bill Birkley
Crash history: A man was killed during the 1998 event when a balloon plowed into power lines before plummeting to the ground at Kirtland Air Force Base on Albuquerque's south side. During the 1993 fiesta, two men were killed when their balloon hit power lines, severing the gondola. Two other men died during the 1990 fiesta when their balloon crashed into power lines and burst into flames. Four people died and five were injured during the 1982 fiesta when propane tanks on a large balloon exploded. However, pilots say these events are rare and maintain that ballooning is not a particularly dangerous sport.
