Balloon pilot had drink-driving charge

The pilot of a hot air balloon that crashed in Texas and killed all 16 people aboard was arrested in Missouri in 2000 for driving while intoxicated, and the Better Business Bureau warned consumers about doing business with the balloon company he used to operate in that state.

Authorities haven’t publicly named anyone killed in the crash, saying it could take a while to identify the bodies.

But Alfred ‘Skip’ Nichols, 49, was identified as the pilot by his friend and roommate Alan Lirette, who said that Nichols was a good pilot.

“That’s the only thing I want to talk about, is that he’s a great pilot,” Lirette said, speaking to the Associated Press from a house he shared with Nichols in Kyle, Texas.

“There’s going to be all kinds of reports out in the press and I want a positive image there too.”

Authorities say the balloon, which was operated by Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides, hit power lines before crashing into a pasture Saturday morning near Lockhart, 60 miles northeast of San Antonio.

Margaret Wylie, who lives a quarter-mile from the site, said she heard popping sounds and saw what looked “like a fireball going up”.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators are trying to determine what caused the crash, said board member Robert Sumwalt. He said the pilot was licenced to fly the balloon, but that it was too soon to say whether he had a criminal history.

A Missouri police officer, though, said that Nichols was arrested there in 2000 on a felony driving while intoxicated charge and pleaded guilty to DWI in 2002.

The officer said that based on photographs, he is confident the man arrested in Missouri is the same man who piloted the Texas balloon. Nichols had lived in Missouri before moving to Texas.