Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Albuquerque Intl Sunport Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87107
Thursday, October 8, 2009 9:30 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
After a morning balloon flight of more than one hour the private pilot was making her third attempt at landing. On the previous attempts a slight wind shift to the left was taking the balloon away from the target area and into unacceptable obstructions. The pilot said she was aware that “fuel was an issue” and she knew she did not have enough fuel to cross the congested downtown metropolitan area ahead. She picked a parking lot with one end empty of vehicles as her landing area. After crossing the wires on the edge of the parking lot she “ripped out pulling the vent line as far as (she) could”. The pilot joined her passengers at the bottom of the balloon's basket for the expected hard landing as balloon skidded across the parking lot and struck a concrete barrier. Becoming airborne again, the basket then struck and damaged a building and fell approximately six feet to the ground. One passenger sustained a fractured ankle. The other occupants were not injured and the balloon sustained minor damage.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot’s failure to select an adequate landing area.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/8/2009 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 930 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Albuquerque |
| Event State | NEW MEXICO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 87107 |
| Event Date Year | 2009 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 350719N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1063911W |
| Event Location Airport | Albuquerque Intl Sunport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | KABQ |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 6 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 5355 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 856 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 148 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KABQ |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 5355 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 6 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 9000 |
| 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) | 12 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 4 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 330 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 11 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.97 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | KABQ 081356Z 29004KT 10SM FEW090 SCT120 11/06 A299 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 26205 |
| NTSB Notification Source | SW Regional Communications Cen |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 29 2009 1:55PM |
| User who most recently changed record | bowl |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4014J |
| NTSB Number | CEN10CA015 |
| 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 INTERNATIONAL |
| Aircraft Model | RX8 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | RX8-3284 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1650 |
| 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 | Jul 28 2009 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 377 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | OLDENBURG SUSAN K |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 2120 ETON AVE SE |
| Aircraft Owner City | ALBUQUERQUE |
| Aircraft Owner State | NM |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 87106 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | OLDENBURG SUSAN K |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | 2120 ETON AVE SE |
| Operator City | ALBUQUERQUE |
| Operator State | NM |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 87106 |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Albuquerque |
| Departure State | NM |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 805 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Albuquerque |
| Destination State | NM |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 28 2009 4:59PM |
| User who most recently changed record | latt |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |