FAA incident report · Semco CHALLENGER · Spokane, WA · September 3, 1982
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.
The FAA’s narrative, in sentence case. The FAA writes it in capitals and removes private details.
Dust storm struck balloon. Occupants were ejected during hard emergency landing. Empty balloon drifted into trees.
DUST STORM STRUCK BALLOON. OCCUPANTS WERE EJECTED DURING HARD EMERGENCY LANDING. EMPTY BALLOON DRIFTED INTO TREES.