Anaheim to Utah? Flight Wasn’t Planned That Way

A long-range, high-altitude helium balloon launched near Disneyland on Sunday night for a tour of the Los Angeles area was blown 500 miles off course and crashed near this southern Utah town Monday, seriously injuring two men aboard.

Garfield County sheriff’s dispatcher Cathy Holt said the men--Ron Martin, 46, of Long Beach, the balloon’s pilot, and Scott Hendricks, 30, of Chino--suffered broken bones and back injuries. No further details on their conditions were available.

The balloon is registered to Scorpion Productions of Perris in Riverside County. Hajnal Crieg, who along with Martin co-owns the four-passenger, 3,500-cubic-foot balloon, said Martin and Hendricks had intended only to take an aerial tour of the Los Angeles basin after taking off from Anaheim.

“But a storm came in. You can’t really control a helium balloon, so they went wherever the wind takes them,” she said of the trip, which ended about 500 air miles east of Los Angeles.

“They were just on an overnight trip,” Crieg said.

Utah Civil Air Patrol spokesman Jerry Wellman said the wreckage of the balloon was spotted about 9:20 a.m. Pacific time in mountains 5 miles south of here.

Rescuers from Garfield and Piute counties reached the survivors at about 11 a.m. They were taken by ambulance to Garfield Memorial Hospital in nearby Panguitch.

Wellman said the search began about 7:30 a.m. after the balloon’s crew radioed to the Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center that it was losing altitude.

Bob Roth, manager of publicity for Disneyland, said there were reports of a balloon taking off near the park Sunday, but it apparently was not connected with any Disneyland activities.