Hot air balloon crash: 2 victims from Colorado Springs

KRDO NewsChannel 13 is hearing from the family of two Southern Colorado women who were killed in the the deadliest hot-air balloon crash in history. The accident in Texas left 16 people dead.

Lorilee Brabson and her daughter Paige captured their last moments together in pictures and videos. They had no idea they were documenting their last adventure.

“She’s at peace and she’s with God now,” said Jason Pino, the brother and uncle of Lorilee and Paige Brabson.
“They were both so excited for this trip. Lorilee’s last post was a picture of her and Page, a selfie. She wrote, “It’s so peaceful up here.” That was it, that was the last post we saw,” said Pino.
Pino said the trip was Lorilee’s Mother’s Day gift from her daughter Paige.
“It was on my sister’s bucket list to go up there,” Pino said.

Pino and his family have questions about what happened that day.

“I heard there were three other companies that opted not to go up that day, but their pilot did,” Pino said.

KRDO NewsChannel 13 spoke with a Colorado Springs hot-air balloon pilot, Greg Wellens of Adventures Out West. Wellens said he doesn’t fly if he has any doubts.

“If I’m wondering where I might land I don’t go,” Wellens said.

Wellen has been flying for 15 years. He says he’s curious to know what happened that Saturday morning in Central Texas.

“The balloon system themselves are simple. It’s not the equipment failure, it’s the pilot making the wrong decision generally,” Wellens said.

As the investigation continues Pino and his family, along with families across the country, have to wait for answers.

“We all want answers, we want to know. Most of all we want to know that they didn’t suffer,” said Pino.

The family set up a GoFundMe page for Paige’s daughter Marilee, who’s 11 month’s old.