Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Gallup, New Mexico 87301
Saturday, December 6, 1997 9:25 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot landed his hot air balloon several times to allow passengers to disembark and other passengers to board. On the last landing, he vented heat from the envelope to insure loss of buoyancy, then instructed one of the passengers to step out but to keep his weight on the basket. The passenger complied. The second passenger exited before the pilot could give similar instructions, and the balloon began to ascend. Unable to hold the balloon down, ground personnel released their weight from the basket. The pilot immediately pulled the vent line, but the balloon continued to ascend at a 'moderate rate.' The pilot then noticed a shadow hanging from the balloon and saw one of his ground crew members holding on to one of the rope handles, located along the bottom edge of the basket. The balloon was 15 to 20 feet in the air and continuing to ascend. The pilot continued to vent the envelope. The balloon reached a maximum altitude of 75 to 80 feet before it began to descend. When it was approximately 40 feet above the ground, the ground crew member said she couldn't hold on anymore. She fell to the ground, sustaining fatal injuries.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
failure of the ground crewman to follow proper procedures. A factor relating to the accident was: the passenger failed to follow the pilot's verbal instructions.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/6/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 925 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | GALLUP |
| Event State | NEW MEXICO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 87301 |
| Event Date Year | 1997 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| 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 | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 925 Mountain Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | GUP |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 6469 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 1 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MST |
| 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) | -12 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -13 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 4528 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 1 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 977 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 6 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1230 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 12:42PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N1063V |
| NTSB Number | FTW98LA064 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | None |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Adams |
| Aircraft Model | A55S |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | A55S |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 099 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1500 |
| 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 | Jan 8 1997 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 28 |
| Airframe Hours | 51 |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | ROBERT A. WOODALL |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 5408 MARIPOSA DR., N.W. |
| Aircraft Owner City | ALBUQUERQUE |
| Aircraft Owner State | NM |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 87120 |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | NONE |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 805 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| 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 | -- |