NTSB: Balloon crash pilot was as impaired as a drunk driver

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The pilot in the deadliest hot air balloon crash in U.S. history was probably impaired by Valium, opioids and cold and allergy medicine when he ignored weather warnings and flew the ride into a power line, investigators said Tuesday.
Besides Valium and oxycodone, there was enough of the over-the-counter antihistamine Benadryl in Alfred “Skip” Nichols’ system to mimic “the impairing effect of a blood-alcohol level” of a drunken dr