A mistake made by a hot air balloon pilot who had drugs including cocaine in his system caused a crash in 2021 in New Mexico that killed all five people on board, investigators have determined.
The National Transportation Safety Board said in its final report released this week that pilot Nicholas Meleski did not maintain enough clearance from power lines while trying to land. He hit the power lines and crashed into a busy intersection. The report said investigators found no evidence of mechanical malfunctions or failures.
TLDR: This happened in 2021. Pilot had coke and marijuana in their system from “recent use” and it’s suggested that this impaired their piloting. Best as I can tell, as the article is vague on detail, they hit power lines coming in for landing which separated the balloon from the basket and they crashed onto a street intersection. No indication the basket was hit by any vehicles after crashing.