VANCOUVER - The pilot of a hot-air balloon that caught fire and crashed last week, killing two passengers and injuring 11, had an emotional meeting Wednesday with one of the survivors.

Stephen Pennock paid a visit to the hospital where at least five of the injured crash victims remain and spent time with Diana Rutledge, whose feet were shattered after she was forced to jump from the flaming gondola. "She reached out, grabbed his hand, said thank you for taking most of the heat for me," said John Kageorge, spokesman for Pennock's Fantasy Balloon Charters, who accompanied him on the visit.

"She points to her elbow and says, this is the only burn I got. I know you got severely burned."

Rutledge suffered a slight burn but Kageorge says Pennock has second-degree burns to his back and face from being blown out of the balloon's cockpit and stunned seconds after it caught fire Friday evening.

Earlier, Rutledge had been critical of Pennock's actions after the blaze began.

But she said Wednesday she now understands he could not have come back to help the passengers still stuck in the gondola, which caught fire while still on the ground.

"I didn't know the reason he was not there," she said in an interview after their meeting

"But of course he got completely thrown out of the balloon and 10 feet away on the first explosion.

"I didn't know where he was. I just know that he was out of the balloon. He's all burned. He couldn't get back in because it was already a wall of flame."

Kageorge said he and Pennock hoped to visit another survivor in hospital but she was asleep.

He said as they were leaving Rutledge's room, she told them she would be discharged from the hospital in a couple of days.

"He grabbed her hand and said 'we'll be there for you,' " said Kageorge, his voice quivering with emotion.

A sunset champagne flight Friday evening turned into a fiery horror when an unexplained fire broke out as the 12-passenger balloon was preparing for takeoff.

Several, including Pennock, escaped the gondola before flames burned through its ground tether.

Kageorge said Pennock was clambering out of the central pilot's cockpit to help his passengers when he was blown out of the basket.

Others, including Rutledge, were trapped as the balloon shot into the air.

Rutledge estimated she jumped from an height of five storeys, grabbing a fellow passenger on the way out.

But Shannon Knackstedt and her grown daughter Gemma did not escape and rode the flaming wicker and suede gondola high into the air. When the balloon deflated, it crashed to the ground in a Surrey RV park, destroying three homes in an intense fire.

Kageorge said Pennock told him that after his head cleared - a matter of seconds - he tried to reach the basket to help rescue the remaining passengers.

But by then, the drop in weight as passengers jumped out sent the fully inflated balloon to the end of its four-metre safety tether.

"It was out of his grasp," said Kageorge.

Rutledge claimed earlier that passengers received only a scant briefing on emergency procedures that seemed to focus mainly on ballooning's strong safety record.

"The briefing that we were given as to what to do in any case of emergency was, 'We haven't had any injuries in the last 15 years except a couple of tears on someone's hand or a shoulder when they were holding the tether on the balloon,' " she said.

"'So therefore there's not anything to worry about because none of these balloons have ever had any danger. That was our briefing."

Transport Canada regulations covering paid balloon flights require a safety briefing before takeoff that covers things such as where people should be in the basket, location of emergency gear, smoking and entry and exit procedures.

Balloon pilots must be certified once a year on their level of knowledge about normal and emergency procedures for the specific class of balloon they're operating, said Transport Canada spokesman Rod Nelson.

"Passengers have to be given a safety briefing prior to the commencement of the inflation of the balloon," he said.

Kageorge said the preflight briefing was conducted by a Fantasy Balloons employee before passengers walked to the launch site. It includes launch and landing procedures, the layout of the gondola, including handholds, and where safety equipment and the fire extinguisher is located.

The overriding safety issue that's stressed is to get in and out of the balloon as fast as possible when the pilot requests it, he said.

Pennock could not be reached for comment but issued a statement Wednesday through Kageorge.

"The last few days have been a difficult time for the individuals and families who were affected by Friday's tragic accident," the statement says.

"My thoughts are with the families as they continue the healing process. Since Friday my focus has been on trying to provide support to help everyone affected by this tragedy."

Pennock went on to say Fantasy Balloon Charters is co-operating fully with the safety board's investigation "as we also want to know the cause of Friday's tragic accident."

He said his company is the Vancouver-area's longest operating hot-air balloon company and before Friday's fatal crash had carried tens of thousands of passengers since 1984.

Fantasy's web site says Pennock has personally flown more than 25,000 people without incident.

Neither the website nor Pennock's statement mention a 1985 incident where his balloon lost altitude and dipped its gondola into Elk Lake, near Victoria. During the same flight a 12-year-old boy on the ground grabbed a rope dangling from the balloon and was pulled 20 metres into the air.

Pennock was convicted of two counts of reckless endangerment and fined $750 but the convictions and fines were overturned on appeal.

Rutledge is one of several crash survivors still in hospital. The plunge from the flaming gondola broke all the bones in her feet and shattered her heels.

"The prognosis is my feet will touch the ground in about four months and then I'll learn to walk maybe," she said.