19810815049849A

Accident · Destroyed

FAA accident report · Balwks FIREFLY824 · Barrington Hill, IL · August 15, 1981

Date
August 15, 1981 · 18:40 local
Place
Barrington Hill, IL
Phase of flight
Unauth Low Level Opns
Operating rules
General operating rules (Part 91)
Damage
Destroyed
Aircraft
N4062Z
NTSB investigation
NTSBCHI81FA089
Reported as
Balwks FIREFLY824
People aboard
4
Fatal injuries
4
Pilot’s flight hours
774 total300 in this make and model67 in the last 90 days

From the FAA’s Accident/Incident Data System (AIDS), through its Aviation Safety Information Portal, as reported. The NTSB investigates accidents separately, and its record of an accident is the fuller one. The aircraft is matched to the registry by N-number and event date, checked against the reported make and model; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.

What happened

The FAA’s narrative, in sentence case. The FAA writes it in capitals and removes private details.

Departed in threatening weather. Failed to climb. Windshift and gust drove balloon into powerline. Burned in air.

As the FAA filed it

DEPARTED IN THREATENING WEATHER. FAILED TO CLIMB. WINDSHIFT AND GUST DROVE BALLOON INTO POWERLINE. BURNED IN AIR.

NTSB investigation

The NTSB’s investigation of this event, with its probable cause and findings. Matched to this report by N-number and date.