Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Victor, Idaho 83455
Friday, July 5, 2002 7:20 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot of the Head Balloon AX8-88 hot air balloon reported that about 20 minutes after departure he encountered increasing westerly winds of 10 mph and decided to select an alternate landing site. During the approach one of the passengers called "power lines." The pilot, who was already applying burner, was unable to clear the lines and about 5-10 seconds later the upper supports of the basket contacted the power lines. One of the three wires fell away and the pilot attempted to stabilize the balloon as it remained in contact with the two remaining lines. The basket then came to rest on a highway in an upright attitude. The aviation surface weather observation taken shortly after the accident at Idaho Falls and located 42 nautical miles west-southwest reported winds from 200 degrees magnetic at 11 knots with winds gradually increasing in strength during the morning.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain altitude/clearance from the power lines during the landing resulting in the balloon's impacting the wires. Contributing factors were the power lines and strong winds existent at the time.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/5/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 720 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Victor |
| Event State | IDAHO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 83455 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 433551N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1110732W |
| 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 | 753 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 250 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | IDA |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 4740 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 42 |
| 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) | 17 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 6 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 200 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 11 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.05 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 13269 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA SLC FSDO |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 5 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 725 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 23 2003 12:26PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FAA SALT LAKE CITY FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4522E |
| NTSB Number | SEA02LA122 |
| 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 | Head Balloons, Inc. |
| Aircraft Model | AX8-88 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 183 |
| 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 | -- |
| Number of Engines | 0 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 22 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 48 |
| Airframe Hours | 233 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Miller, David O. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Pineville |
| Aircraft Owner State | LA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 71360 |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Victor |
| Departure State | ID |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 700 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Victor |
| Destination State | ID |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 11 2003 3:43PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |