Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
East Hampstead, New Hampshire 03826
Monday, October 15, 2007 8:45 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The balloon impacted trees and terrain during a hard landing. Two passengers sustained serious injuries, and one passenger sustained minor injuries. The remaining passenger and the pilot were not injured. The pilot reported that the flight departed with three other balloons in light winds. He noted the wind was forecast to increase about one hour after the flight was scheduled to land. However, about halfway through the flight, the wind increased to approximately 11 miles-per-hour, with some gusts. He elected to land when he noticed the increase in the wind speed. He executed three approaches, each time electing to go-around due to adverse winds. On the accident approach, he intentionally brushed the top of a tree in order to slow the balloon. He briefed the passengers for a hard landing and descended toward an open field. After the initial impact, the basket became airborne again briefly before coming to rest. The pilot stated that he did not use the burner to reduce the descent rate due to the possibility of drifting past the selected landing area and striking power lines adjacent to the field.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's excessive descent rate on approach, which resulted in a hard landing. Contributing factors were the adverse winds encountered during the flight, and the presence of the trees and power lines near the landing area.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/15/2007 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 845 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | East Hampstead |
| Event State | NEW HAMPSHIRE |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 03826 |
| Event Date Year | 2007 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 425327N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0710741W |
| 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 | 853 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 280 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MHT |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 266 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 10 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| 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) | 8 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 4 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 210 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.1 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | METAR KMHT 151253Z 21005KT 10SM CLR 08/04 A3010 |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | 2 |
| Injury Total All | 3 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 22576 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 16 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 | FAA-Portland FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N7408G |
| NTSB Number | CHI08CA017 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | None |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Balloon Works |
| Aircraft Model | Firefly 7 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | F7-278 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| 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 | 51.6 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | -- |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | -- |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Jason D. Boucher |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Derry |
| Aircraft Owner State | NH |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 03038 |
| 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) | Aerial Observation |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | PVT |
| Departure City | Derry |
| Departure State | NH |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 745 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | PVT |
| Destination City | Hampstead |
| Destination State | NH |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 2 2007 5:01PM |
| User who most recently changed record | DINC |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | Yes |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |