In 2016, the deadliest hot air balloon accident in U.S. history occurred in Texas, when a sightseeing balloon filled with 15 passengers and a pilot hit a set of power lines and crashed. All 16 people died. A federal investigation blamed the pilot’s “pattern of poor decision-making” in the crash.

The se’ah or seah (Hebrew: סאה‎), plural se’im is a unit of dry measure of ancient origin found in the Bible and in Halakha (Jewish law), which equals one third of an ephah, or bath. In layman’s terms, it is equal to the capacity of 144 medium-sized eggs, or what is equal in volume to about 9 US quarts (8.5 litres).

Mamre (/ˈmæmri/; Hebrew: מַמְרֵא‎), full Hebrew name Elonei Mamre (“Oaks/Terebinths of Mamre”), refers to an ancient religious site originally focused on a single holy tree, growing “since time immemorial” at Hebron in Canaan. It is known from the biblical story of Abraham and the three visitors.

Usage: Ashpenaz. Literally: I will make prominent the sprinkled.

Hot air ballooning has been recognized by Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) as the safest air sport in aviation, and fatalities in hot air balloon accidents are rare, according to statistics from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

Basically nothing happens when a bird hits a hot air balloon. First of all a balloon is pretty big and pretty slow. So it’s nearly impossible to surprise a bird with a balloon. In the rare case that it happens, the bird will fly into the balloon and bounces right out.

The National Transportation Safety Board began investigating hot air balloon accidents in 1964. Of the 775 reported accidents that have occurred since then, 70 have caused deaths of passengers. 16 of those deaths happened in the past 14 years.

68,986 feet

During the 12-yr period, 78 hot-air balloon tours crashed, involving 518 occupants. There were 91 serious injuries and 5 fatalities; 83% of crashes resulted in one or more serious or fatal outcomes.