Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Marathon City, Wisconsin 54448
Saturday, June 13, 2009 20:00 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot and four paying passengers departed in a free air balloon. The local area surface weather observations indicated that the winds were consistently from the northwest at 6 – 8 knots. Around the time of the balloon launch, the winds were observed to be 300 degrees at 6 knots. About 3 minutes after liftoff, the balloon was heading 180 degrees at 10 knots about 800 feet above ground level. The winds on the ground suddenly increased to about 25 mph, and the balloon experienced strong wind gusts. The pilot reported that about 9 minutes after takeoff, a big wind gust “caved in” half the balloon and the mouth was “almost shut.” The pilot decided to get the balloon on the ground at the nearest suitable field, and instructed the passengers to prepare for a hard landing. The balloon hit hard, bounced in the air about 30 feet, and traveled about 200 feet before it hit the ground again. The balloon tipped on its side and one of the passengers partially fell out of the basket, but was restrained by the pilot and a passenger. The wind dragged the basket about 125 feet where the passenger fell out the basket and into a ditch. The basket was dragged about another 60 feet before it came to a stop in another field. The passenger was seriously injured. The balloon sustained minor damage.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A hard landing as a result of unexpected high winds and gusts.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/13/2009 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 2000 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Marathon City |
| Event State | WISCONSIN |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 54448 |
| Event Date Year | 2009 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 445832N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0894859W |
| 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 | 1954 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 90 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | AUW |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 10 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 8000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 21 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 9 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 300 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.97 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 4 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 25765 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA-AGL-ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 18 2009 11:37AM |
| User who most recently changed record | johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9116M |
| NTSB Number | CEN09CA358 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Minor |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | AEROSTAR INTERNATIONAL INC |
| Aircraft Model | RX-9 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | RX9-3013 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2225 |
| 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 | May 27 2009 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 348 |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Handcrafted Furniture Balloon Rides LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1616 6TH ST |
| Aircraft Owner City | WAUSAU |
| Aircraft Owner State | WI |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 54403-3429 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Handcrafted Furniture Balloon Rides LLC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | 1616 6TH ST |
| Operator City | Wausau |
| Operator State | WI |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 54403-3429 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| 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 | -- |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Marathon City |
| Departure State | WI |
| 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 | Marathon City |
| Destination State | WI |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 8 2009 3:13PM |
| User who most recently changed record | silj |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | Yes |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |