Hot Air Balloon Driver was High on Cocaine When He Crashed and Killed Five People

The hot air balloon driver just needed…. a little pick-me-up.

AP:

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.

I want to write a play about this story.

In fact, I want HBO to contract me to write and direct a mini-series like The White Lotus about this hot air balloon crash.

Hot air balloons crashing is just funny no matter what. Because like, it’s moving so slowly.

Right? 

It makes it so much funnier that he was on coke.

Anyway, if I wouldn’t have become the world’s top advocate for forced child marriage, I would have liked to have been a hot air balloon driver.