Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
N/A Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Taos, New Mexico
Friday, July 25, 2014 7:40 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On July 25, 2014 about 0740 mountain daylight time (MDT), a Cameron A-180 hot air balloon, N65059, made a hard landing near Questa, New Mexico. Two of the eight passengers on board sustained serious injuries. The pilot and the other six passengers were not injured. The balloon was not damaged. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the local commercial flight which was being conducted under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 without a flight plan. The flight originated at Taos, New Mexico at 0700.
The pilot reported that he was preparing to land and was switching propane tanks to the burners when the burner pilot lights went out. The pilot tried to re-ignite a burner with the Piezoelectric igniter, but when he pushed it in to spark, the igniter failed to light the pilot light and the igniter button got stuck in the igniter sleeve. The pilot got his strikers to re-light the pilot but could not get it lit. The balloon was about 150 feet above the ground. The pilot prepared the passengers for a hard landing. The balloon struck the ground, skipped and traveled about 30 feet before coming to rest.
At 0735, the Routine Aviation Weather Report for the Taos Regional Airport, about 7 miles south of the accident site, was wind calm, 10 miles visibility, clear skies, temperature 62 degrees Fahrenheit (F), dew point 43 degrees F, and altimeter 30.36 inches of Mercury.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/25/2014 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 740 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Taos |
| Event State | NEW MEXICO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | -- |
| Event Date Year | 2014 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | N/A |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | -- |
| 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 | 735 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 160 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KSKX |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 7669 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 7 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| 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) | -- |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 17 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 6 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.36 |
| 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 | 7 |
| Injury Total Serious | 2 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | -- |
| NTSB Notification Source | CEN Region Duty Officer Lemish |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 12 2014 4:20PM |
| User who most recently changed record | bowl |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N65059 |
| NTSB Number | CEN14LA397 |
| 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 | CAMERON BALLOONS US |
| Aircraft Model | A-180 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 6624 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3000 |
| Aircraft Category | Balloon |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | 1 |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | 10 |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 11 |
| Number of Engines | -- |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 10 2014 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 481 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | WILBUR KEVIN M |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3079 W AVENIDA CRESTA |
| Aircraft Owner City | TUCSON |
| Aircraft Owner State | AZ |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 857451023 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | WILBUR KEVIN M |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | 3079 W AVENIDA CRESTA |
| Operator City | TUCSON |
| Operator State | AZ |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 857451023 |
| 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) | Business |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Taos |
| Departure State | NM |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 700 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Taos |
| Destination State | NM |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 12 2014 4:26PM |
| User who most recently changed record | bowl |
| 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 | -- |