Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87106
Thursday, October 9, 2003 9:20 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
According to the pilot, he prepared for landing and descended the balloon to check the winds. He noticed that the winds had increased to "16 to 22 mph," so he decided to climb back up and look for a larger area in which to land. He briefed his passengers and prepared them for a high-wind landing. As the balloon descended, it came out of the "12 to 14 mph winds into 16 to 20 mph winds." The pilot said he had to "burn hard" to control the balloon as it came into the faster winds. When the balloon leveled out at approximately 2 feet off the ground, he pulled hard on the vent line. However, at that time, he "didn't turn off the pilot lights, because I [he] knew that with all the extra heat, it was going to bounce up." When the balloon struck the ground, it bounced approximately 20 feet into the air. On the second touchdown, the pilot turned off the pilot light. As the balloon slid across the ground, the basket rotated approximately 90 degrees and then tumbled on its side. When the basket tumbled, the pilot felt a "flash back from the burner." At that point, the pilot noticed that two passengers had been thrown from the basket. One of them had caught her foot on the basket and the balloon was dragging her across the ground. The balloon came to a stop approximately 800 feet from the first touchdown point. The pilot stated that when he went back to the balloon, he identified that "both pilot lights were off" and he found a "jacket wrapped around the blast valve handle." Although three passengers were not injured, the pilot, and one passenger received minor injuries, and six passengers were seriously injured.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control during a high-wind landing, resulting in a hard landing, the subsequent tipping of the balloon's basket, a post impact flash fire, and the ejection of two passengers. Contributing factors include the high wind conditions and the rough/uneven terrain.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/9/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 920 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Albuquerque |
| Event State | NEW MEXICO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 87106 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| 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 | 956 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 170 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ABQ |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 5355 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 10 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 250 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| 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) | 10 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 360 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.14 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 6648 |
| 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 | 6 |
| Injury Total None | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | 2 |
| Injury Total All | 8 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 15469 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Comm Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 9 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1119 |
| 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 | Albuquerque FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N2190S |
| NTSB Number | DEN04LA006 |
| 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 | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | Ground |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Firefly Balloons |
| Aircraft Model | Galaxy 11B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | N/A |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3600 |
| 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 | 11 |
| Number of Engines | -- |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 20 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 19 |
| Airframe Hours | 19 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | David E. Smith |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 216 Dogwood Trail S. E. |
| Aircraft Owner City | Rio Rancho |
| Aircraft Owner State | NM |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 87124 |
| 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) | Business |
| 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 | 930 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Albuquerque |
| Destination State | NM |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 6 2004 1:09PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MCBM |
| 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 | -- |