ATLANTA (AP) — As the hot-air balloon rose into the blue Georgia sky, skydiver Dennis Valdez remembers seeing a thunderstorm brewing in the distance. Pilot Edward Ristaino seemed concerned but not panicked as he maneuvered the balloon above a field and told the five skydivers to jump.
It wasn’t until Valdez was in midair that he realized how dangerous the weather had become. He looked up and saw Ristaino’s balloon rising into a treacherouslooking storm cloud.
“ I thought this wasn’t a good situation for him,” the 36-year-old former Navy officer said, “but there was nothing I can do.”
As lightning spidered across the sky and wind buffeted their parachutes, the five skydivers floated safely to the ground. Ristaino’s balloon, meanwhile, was sucked into the clouds and then sent crashing to the earth about eight miles away. His body was found at the bottom of his gondola Monday, nearly three days after the flight.
“ If we would have left a minute later, we would have been sucked into the storm,” skydiver Dan Eaton said.
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