Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Deerfield, Massachusetts 01342
Saturday, July 15, 1995 7:30 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot arrived at a balloon festival at 0530 hours and obtained a weather briefing from three other pilots and the balloon meister. He determined that thunderstorms were due in the area at about 1000 hours. He departed with two passengers at 0620 hours. The pilot subsequently encountered a wind shift and strong gusting winds. He reported that the balloon throat closed due to the winds. After that, the balloon began descending and collided with trees. About 25 miles south at Westfield, Ma, the 0645 edt wind was from 090 degrees at 5 knots; at 0745 edt, the wind had changed to 360 degrees at 20 knots with gusts to 40 knots. About 60 miles northwest of the departure point at Albany, severe thunderstorms with heavy rain and wind squalls were reported at 0650 hours. The peak wind at Albany was reorted to be from 310 degrees at 67 knots at 0641.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's inadequate evaluation of the weather, which resulted in an encounter with unfavorable winds and an inflight loss of control. The unfavorable/high winds and sudden wind gusts were related factors.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/15/1995 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 730 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | DEERFIELD |
| Event State | MASSACHUSETTS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 01342 |
| Event Date Year | 1995 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| 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 | 3000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 5 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 24 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 21 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 50 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 3 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1462 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 15 1995 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1250 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 7 2000 4:26PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4214A |
| NTSB Number | NYC95LA160 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | RAVEN |
| Aircraft Model | S-60A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | S-60A |
| Aircraft Serial Number | S60A-228 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1600 |
| 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 1 1994 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 17 |
| Airframe Hours | 395 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | EDWARD KOKOSZKA |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 80 MARBELLA LANE |
| Aircraft Owner City | TOLLAND |
| Aircraft Owner State | CT |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 06084 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| 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) | Business |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | NONE |
| Departure City | GREENFIELD |
| Departure State | MA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 620 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| 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 | Descent |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:34AM |
| 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 | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |