Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
North Las Vegas, Nevada 89124
Saturday, January 26, 2002 8:15 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During a high wind landing in gusty conditions, the balloon impacted a residential block wall, hit the ground hard, and was dragged about 300 yards across rough and uneven terrain. During the initial impact with the block wall, one passenger was ejected from the gondola. The gondola went over the wall and impacted several dirt berms. The pilot was ejected during the ensuing hard touchdown. Thereafter, the gondola was dragged in the open desert terrain until stopping about 300 yards from the block wall. Prior to taking off, the pilot did not provide a safety briefing to the fare-paying passengers, and no safety helmets were carried in the gondola. Initially, the local surface wind was nearly calm, and the flight progressed without incident. However, when the wind speed increased the pilot attempted to land in the open desert terrain. His first touchdown was hard, and he aborted the attempt. Thereafter, the pilot flew for about 2 miles until he again attempted to land. The pilot and at least one passenger's head injuries would have been mitigated if protective helmets had been worn.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's misjudged approach and inadequate obstacle clearance, which resulted in his failure to attain the proper touchdown point. Contributing factors were the high gusty wind condition, and the pilot's failure to provide protective safety equipment.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/26/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 815 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | North Las Vegas |
| Event State | NEVADA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 89124 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 361856N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1152223W |
| 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 | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 753 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 113 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | VGT |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 2205 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 11 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| 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) | 3 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -11 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| 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 | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | 4 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 2 |
| Injury Total All | 7 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 15535 |
| NTSB Notification Source | |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 26 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 903 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 3 2004 1:28PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-FSDO Las Vegas, Nevada |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N8004J |
| NTSB Number | LAX02FA069 |
| 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 | Cameron Balloons US |
| Aircraft Model | N-145 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 6260 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2900 |
| 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 | 0 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Nov 8 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 15 |
| Airframe Hours | 105 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Robert Bowers, Jr. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Las Vegas |
| Aircraft Owner State | NV |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 89128 |
| 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 | -- |
| Departure City | Las Vegas |
| Departure State | NV |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 715 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | North Las Vegas |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 13 2004 4:59PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | Yes |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |