The granddaughter of a couple killed in a hot air balloon crash says the balloon's pilot tried frantically to free the basket from power lines shortly before it crashed to the ground in flames.
Aimee Brewster, whose grandparents Desmond and Ann Dean perished in the balloon disaster, along with nine others, gave evidence on watching the flight with her mother, Bronwyn. "We saw them drop pretty dramatically to about the height of the surrounding trees," Ms Brewster said of the moments before the crash. "I sped up [in the car] when I saw them get caught in the wire."
She then described seeing pilot Lance Hopping, 53, "moving frantically" and trying to get the tangled power line off the balloon basket.
Ms Brewster said in her second statement, that she saw Mr Hopping smoking something shortly before the ill-fated flight departed.
