Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87109
Saturday, October 13, 2001 7:55 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot intended for the flight to be short; however, after takeoff, the wind increased and the balloon over flew the intended landing area. The pilot then selected a field at a school in which to land. The field had wires along its edge. As the balloon was clearing the wires, the pilot vented the balloon, but the balloon continued to float past the field, impacting a wooden telephone post located near a building. The balloon rotated, struck the building, and came to rest with its basket on a fence. The pilot reported that at the time of the accident, the wind had increased to approximately 30 knots with gusts to 35 knots. A weather reporting station located approximately 7 miles southeast of the accident site reported the wind speed at 10 knots.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
inadvertent flight into adverse (high wind) weather conditions, which resulted in an inflight collision with objects while landing. A contributing factor was the high wind weather condition.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/13/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 755 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Albuquerque |
| Event State | NEW MEXICO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 87109 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| 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 | 750 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 150 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ABQ |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 5352 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 7 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 7 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -13 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 10 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.01 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 3 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 12606 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 15 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 700 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 16 2003 4:27PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Albuquerque, New Mexico |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N3636Z |
| NTSB Number | FTW02LA014 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Aerostar |
| Aircraft Model | Raven S57-A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | S57A-3077 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| 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 | 0 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 9 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 66.6 |
| Airframe Hours | 330.6 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Debbie Jo Heckes, Tom Fisher, Bradle Rice |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 9638 Macallan Rd NE |
| Aircraft Owner City | Albuquerque |
| Aircraft Owner State | NM |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 87109 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Bradley S. Rice |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 4436 Rancho Centro NW |
| Operator City | Albuquerque |
| Operator State | NM |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 87120 |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Albuquerque |
| Departure State | NM |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 740 |
| 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 | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 6 2002 3:05PM |
| User who most recently changed record | CASH |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |