OCEANSIDE, Calif. — The family and friends of a California woman who fell 70 feet to her death when the hot air balloon she was riding in became entangled in power lines in October 2007 have agreed to a $1.4 million settlement.

A sister of the victim filed a wrongful death lawsuit in district court shortly after the accident that killed 60-year-old Rosemary Wooley Phillips of Oceanside. The suit named the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, pilot Tom Reyes and his two employers, Star Trail Inc. and Rainbow Ryders of Albuquerque, as defendants.

The balloon accident happened during the annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. The balloon, which was named "Heavenly Ride, got tangled in powerlines after it took off for a sightseeing excursion.

Phillips' partner Cheri Dias, two friends and two of Phillips' siblings settled for $1.4 million Monday, Dias' attorney, Greg Patton, said.

Patton said the $1.4 million was the limit of what the Fiesta was insured to cover. Patton said the pilot, Reyes, recently died.

Gary Dewey, merchandising manager for the Balloon Fiesta, confirmed Thursday that a settlement was reached, but declined to provide further details.

It was unclear whether Star Trail or Rainbow Ryders contributed to the settlement. Lawyers for the companies did not immediately return telephone calls Thursday. Star Trail Inc. had employed Reyes and Rainbow Ryders was the company Reyes was contracting with during the fiesta. The women had booked the flight with Rainbow Ryders.

Dias, 71, recalled watching Phillips slip through a hole in the balloon's gondola during the accident. A subsequent crash left her with a broken ankle and a friend with a broken back. The fourth woman in the balloon suffered minor injuries.

According to a National Transportation Safety Board report, the pilot became distracted when he saw another balloon crash into a house. It was then that his balloon hit the power lines.

"When we hit the wires, it almost threw us out," Dias said.

She and Phillips clung to the edge of the gondola as it began tipped, she said.

Reyes then tossed a tether to the ground, and his crew attached it to a pickup truck to tug the balloon free of the power lines, the report stated.

But the power wire had wrapped around a fuel tank handle on the balloon and sawed a hole into the basket, the NTSB reported.

The fuel tank slipped through. Seconds later, so did Phillips.

Dias said she doesn't remember the specifics, but she said a friend in the balloon told her Dias and Phillips exchanged a final "I love you" just before Phillips fell.

After Phillips fell, the balloon shot like a rocket from the power lines, drifted east and crashed onto a road.

"I was jarred unbelievably," Dias said. "I bounced."

Dias said that after they pay their attorney fees, the remainder of the money will be split four ways among Phillips' two siblings and the three women who survived the crash.

The money will never replace Phillips, who was the executive director of the famed Iditarod sled dog race in Alaska nearly two decades ago and had lived with Dias for 14 years, Dias said.

"Everybody loved Rosemary," Dias said. "I could never figure out how come she chose me. I felt very lucky and very blessed. She was absolutely the love of my life."  




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