Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Flemington, New Jersey 08822
Sunday, July 15, 2001 20:00 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot checked the weather at 1400 and 1700, and determined that there was no significant weather forecasted along the intended route of flight. He and his passengers departed around 1900 along with several other balloons for the sightseeing flight. The pilot said that clouds began to gather to the northwest during the flight, and "the cell became more ominous" and "apparent that it would overtake us." The pilot said that the wind shifted and increased in speed, and each attempt to land was aborted due to the high vertical wind shear. On the last attempt to land, the pilot said that "violent down drafts" were experienced and he was unable to abort the landing. The balloon made contact with a tree, and was momentarily tangled. Once free, the pilot observed power lines and a cell phone tower, and elected to "pull the top" about 30-feet above the ground. The balloon contacted the ground at a high rate of descent and forward airspeed, which resulted in the balloon being dragged about 70 feet. The pilot reported that the weather was overcast with light rain, and the winds were from the northwest at a speed greater than 10 knots. Examination of a radar summary chart revealed that the primary radar site for New Jersey was not available. However, the surrounding radar sites did deflect echoes in the northern New Jersey area, but only reported level 1 and 2 activity.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
pilot's continued flight into known adverse weather conditions, which resulted in a hard landing. A factor was the downdrafts.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/15/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 2000 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | FLEMINGTON |
| Event State | NEW JERSEY |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 08822 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| 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 | Abbreviated |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1954 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 30 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | 12N |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 583 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 20 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 21 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 14 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.98 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 1580 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | 3 |
| Injury Total All | 3 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 12414 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Teterboro FSDO |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 15 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2110 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 23 2002 10:24AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | ALLENTOWN FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N7106F |
| NTSB Number | IAD01LA080 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | None |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Aerostar International Inc |
| Aircraft Model | RXS-8 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | RZS8-3054 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2000 |
| 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 | Jan 26 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 10 |
| Airframe Hours | 269 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | SUNNY DAY ESCAPES, INC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | WHITEHOUSE |
| Aircraft Owner State | NJ |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 08889 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| 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? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| 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) | Other Work Use |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | NONE |
| Departure City | RARINTON |
| Departure State | NJ |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1900 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | NONE |
| Destination City | FLEMINGTON |
| Destination State | NJ |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 20 2002 1:10PM |
| User who most recently changed record | PEAR |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | Yes |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |