Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Ithaca, New York 14850
Saturday, October 25, 2003 8:40 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The hot air balloon pilot reported that he checked the weather the night before, and again on the morning of the flight. At the takeoff site, the pilot released three PIBALS over a period 45 minutes during which time, the winds lessened to the point that the pilot felt he could safely make the flight. The pilot reported that he briefed the passengers to bend their knees at touchdown, and to face in the direction of landing, after which he took off. About 15 minutes after departure, the winds increased, and the pilot looked for a place to land. He aborted his first landing attempt, and then located a grass field. He vented the envelope about 10 feet above the ground, and the balloon struck hard, during which time, the injuries occurred. The basket tipped over and was dragged for over 300 feet prior to coming to rest. A check of terminal forecasts for a nearby airport revealed higher winds were not forecast to be present during the time of the accident flight. However, they were forecast to begin about 2 1/2 hours later. The pilot's total flight experience was 43 hours, all in hot air balloons, including 31 hours in make and model.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's excessive descent rate during the execution of a high wind landing. A factor was the high winds.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/25/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 840 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Ithaca |
| Event State | NEW YORK |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 14850 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 422614N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0763632W |
| 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 | 1373 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 850 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 77 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ITH |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1099 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 7 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 10000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 6 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -1 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 180 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 18 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -51 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | 2 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 16181 |
| NTSB Notification Source | ROC FSDO |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 27 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 920 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 1 2004 7:08AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Rochester, New York |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N3597H |
| NTSB Number | NYC04LA017 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Minor |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Aerostar |
| Aircraft Model | RX-8 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | RX8-3007 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1640 |
| 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 | Dec 8 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 14 |
| Airframe Hours | 176.6 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Glenn D. Horton |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Woodbourne |
| Aircraft Owner State | NY |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 12788 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| 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 | NONE |
| Departure City | Ithaca |
| Departure State | NY |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 807 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | NONE |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 26 2004 2:46PM |
| User who most recently changed record | PEAR |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |