Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Creston, Iowa 50801
Sunday, September 16, 2007 8:15 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During a high-wind landing the balloon landed hard, the pilot was ejected from the basket, and the passenger pulled the envelope deflation line. The balloon came to rest against a barbed-wire fence. The passenger was seriously injured with a broken arm and the balloon's envelope was substantially damaged with several fabric tears and punctures. The accident flight was part of an organized balloon launch in conjunction with a balloon festival. At 0630, the pilot attended a prelaunch pilot meeting that included a weather briefing. At the time of that briefing the surface wind velocity was 4 knots. The surface wind velocity was forecasted to increase to approximately 10 knots by 1000 local time. Upon departure the encountered wind was greater than forecasted. As soon as it was practicable, the pilot performed a high-wind landing to an open hayfield at which time the hard landing was encountered. At 0819, a nearby weather station reported the surface wind was from the south-southeast at 4 knots, gusting to 20 knots. During the subsequent accident investigation, a wind model estimated the wind direction and velocity at approximately 700 feet agl to be from the south at 18 knots.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's inadvertent flight into adverse (high wind) weather conditions, which resulted in a hard landing. Contributing to the accident was the high wind encountered during the balloon flight and the barbed-wire fence.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/16/2007 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 815 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Creston |
| Event State | IOWA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 50801 |
| Event Date Year | 2007 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 410117N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0912447W |
| 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 | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 819 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 360 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | GFZ |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1361 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 12 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| 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) | 12 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 11 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 6 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 147 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 20 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.03 |
| 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 | -- |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 22519 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 18 2007 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 29 2007 8:02AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Federal Aviation Administration - Des Moines |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9539G |
| NTSB Number | CHI07CA300 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cameron Balloons |
| Aircraft Model | O-77 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 5585 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1540 |
| Aircraft Category | Balloon |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| 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 | Jun 1 2007 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | -- |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | -- |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Edward J. Miller |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 18336 Bluegrass Road |
| Aircraft Owner City | Ottumwa |
| Aircraft Owner State | IA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 52501 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | Debra Kay Miller |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 18336 Bluegrass Road |
| Operator City | Ottumwa |
| Operator State | IA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 52501 |
| 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 | Creston |
| Departure State | IA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Creston |
| Destination State | IA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing - flare/touchdown |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 23 2007 3:28PM |
| User who most recently changed record | SULP |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |