Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Acton, California 93510
Sunday, June 5, 1994 9:30 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
THE PILOT LAUNCHED SEVERAL PIBALS TO EVALUATE THE WIND DIRECTION AND SPEED PRIOR TO HIS INITIAL FLIGHT OF THE MORNING. HE THEN TOOK OFF WITH THE FIRST OF SEVERAL GROUPS OF PASSENGERS AND FLEW WITH THEM UNEVENTFULLY FOR ABOUT 1/2 HOUR. THE ACCIDENT PASSENGERS BOARDED THE BALLOON NEXT, AND THEIR INITIAL 1/2-HOUR-LONG FLIGHT WAS UNEVENTFUL. THEY LANDED, SEVERAL PASSENGERS EXITED THE BALLOON, ONE NEW PASSENGER CLIMBED IN, AND THEY TOOK OFF. DURING THIS FLIGHT, THE PILOT REPORTED OBSERVING THE WIND SPEED INCREASE AND RUNNING LOW ON FUEL. BY THE TIME THE PILOT COMMENCED LANDING EFFORTS, AVAILABLE SITES WERE LIMITED. SEVERAL INITIAL ATTEMPTS WERE ABORTED. FINALLY, WITH ONE FUEL TANK EMPTY AND THE SECOND TANK DOWN TO 25 PERCENT, AND WITH THE WIND SPEED INCREASING, THE PILOT RECOGNIZED THAT HE WAS RUNNING OUT OF OPTIONS. HE ELECTED TO LAND AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. THE PILOT LANDED THE BALLOON HARD, ON ROUGH TERRAIN, AND IN GUSTY WIND CONDITIONS. THE BALLOON TOUCHED DOWN SHORT OF THE PLANNED SITE AND IMPACTED THE SIDE OF A RAVINE.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's improper in-flight planning and his misjudging the wind speed information. Contributing factors were the gusty winds and the lack of suitable terrain.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/5/1994 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 930 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | ACTON |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 93510 |
| Event Date Year | 1994 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | 0 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 24 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 225 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 35 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 3 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 4 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 933 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 10 1994 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1100 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 6 2000 11:29AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9084D |
| NTSB Number | LAX94LA244 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | BALLOON WORKS |
| Aircraft Model | FIREFLY 8 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | FIREFLY 8 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | F8-376 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1940 |
| Aircraft Category | Balloon |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 0 |
| Number of Engines | -- |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Sep 17 1993 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 52 |
| Airframe Hours | 253 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | DEAN DAVEY |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1466-3 RANCH ROAD |
| Aircraft Owner City | DUARTE |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 91010 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 17812 SIERRA HIGHWAY, UNIT I |
| Operator City | CANYON COUNTRY |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 91351 |
| Operator Code | |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | NONE |
| Departure City | CANYON COUNTRY |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 800 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 22 2001 3:51PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | Yes |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |