On the heels of the worst-of-it's-kind balloon tragedy in Luxor, Egypt it naturally begs the question in many of our minds about the safety of hot air balloon flying. While our knee-jerk reaction is to breathe a sigh of relief that we're on the ground, the fact is you're actually more likely to get hit by a car walking to your next destination than you are to be an unlucky passenger on a doomed balloon flight.

 

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I actually have an upcoming balloon flight with my girlfriend and being a former airplane pilot myself, I am undeterred (although after she reads this she may cancel it!) As I've established in a previous post, it's actually safer to take a ride in the space shuttle than it is to cross the street, and while we didn't talk about balloons, it stands to reason that even though this tragedy happened today and is fresh in our minds, this mode of transportation is nowhere near unsafe.

I mean think about it. When was the last time you heard of a balloon crash? When's the last time you heard of an airplane crash? Now think of the last time you heard of a car crash or someone being hit by one. Without even getting into any numbers, your mental answers speak for themselves, but if you'd like some stats, you can read some here. Otherwise, I'm definitely going to be blogging my balloon flight as it's happening and I hope you'll add this to your bucket list as chances are much better that you'll kick the bucket on your drive to the balloon site than of an extremely rare crash.

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