Commercial hot air balloons like the one destroyed in a fireball in Texas this weekend often carry more passengers than airplane and helicopter tours, but have long received less government scrutiny, according to aviation experts.
The Federal Aviation Administration's oversight of commercial balloon operations amounts to "essentially none," said Mark Dombroff, a former FAA attorney.
Balloon companies, unlike other commercial aircraft operators, aren't required to have FAA operating certificates and don't receive safety inspections. Other commercial tour operators must have their operation plans, safety procedures and training approved by the FAA in order to obtain a certificate. And the FAA estimates how much attention it will devote to safety inspections and oversight of the tour operators in its national work plan.
The main way the FAA regulates commercial balloon operations is that the pilots have to be licensed, but the licensing requirements are less stringent than those for other commercial pilots.
Unlike other pilots, balloon pilots don't have to get regular medical exams from FAA-certified examiners. Instead, they're required to write a statement certifying that they "have no medical defect that would make you unable to pilot a balloon," according to the agency's website.