Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Custer, South Dakota 57730
Tuesady, September 12, 2000 8:15 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
A passenger fractured her leg while exiting the balloon. The passenger reported, "The basket bounced 3 or 4 times hard - one bounce approx 5'. The pilot ordered people to get out - one at a time. Passengers and ground crew were trying to hold the basket down. Everybody got off except me. Then a gust of wind took the balloon and tilted it over and I got out. It was at that point it broke my leg." The pilot reported that the passenger fractured her leg when she tripped after having exited the basket. He reported that after all the passengers were out of the basket, a small gust of wind carried the balloon about 100 feet into some power lines where it received several small holes.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The ground crew's failure to maintain control of the balloon until all passengers were disembarked. A factor related to the accident was the gust of wind.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/12/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 815 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | CUSTER |
| Event State | SOUTH DAKOTA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 57730 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| 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 | 815 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | CUT |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 5602 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| 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) | 64 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 37 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 270 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| 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 | -- |
| Injury Total None | 11 |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 10729 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 13 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 823 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 17 2001 9:02AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9174Z |
| NTSB Number | CHI00LA295 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Minor |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Aerostar |
| Aircraft Model | S-81A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | S-81A |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 581A-3001 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 0 |
| 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 | -- |
| Number of Engines | -- |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Oct 1 1999 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 81 |
| Airframe Hours | 601 |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | BOX CANYON LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 7418 E. CORTEZ ST. |
| Aircraft Owner City | SCOTTSDALE |
| Aircraft Owner State | AZ |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 85260 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | BLACKHILL BALLOONS |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | RT 1, BOX 10, HWY 16 WEST |
| Operator City | CUSTER |
| Operator State | SD |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 57730 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 715 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| 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 | Standing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 1 2001 8:51AM |
| 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 | -- |