# NTSB investigations: Balloon Works FIREFLY 7: In flight encounter with weather

NTSB aviation accident and incident investigations since 1962: the probable cause, findings, aircraft, crew, weather and docket of each, linked to the FAA registry and the FAA’s own reports.

## Latest cases

- [NTSB FTW95LA376](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb/FTW95LA376.md): Balloon Works Firefly 7 · Colorado Spgs, CO · Accident · Serious injuries · Limited investigation · Final report · Sep 2, 1995 · N90555 · No damage
  > An encounter with a wind shift during landing.
- [NTSB NYC95LA182](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb/NYC95LA182.md): Balloon Works Firefly 7 · Owego, NY · Accident · Serious injuries · Limited investigation · Final report · Aug 6, 1995 · N3716G · Substantial damage
  > The pilot's inadequate evaluation of weather conditions which resulted in an encounter with a downdraft, inflight loss of control, and a collision with a vehicle.
- [NTSB FTW94FA008](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb/FTW94FA008.md): Balloon Works FIREFLY-7 · Albuquerque, NM · Accident · 2 fatal · Field investigation · Final report · Oct 9, 1993 · N4058A · Destroyed
  > The p[ilot's improper decision to attempt continued flight under the existing wind conditions. The adverse wind was a contributing factor.
- [NTSB NYC88LA189](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb/NYC88LA189.md): Balloon Works Firefly 7 · Saltsburg, PA · Accident · No injuries · Limited investigation · Final report · Jul 18, 1988 · N1534W · Substantial damage
  > The plt launched on a local Balloon sight-seeing flight at 1850 local time with the forecast of thunderstorm activity to commence in the area after midnight. After 40 mins of smooth flt, the temp dropped sharply and shortly thereafter turbulence was…
- [NTSB DEN85LA234](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb/DEN85LA234.md): Balloon Works Firefly 7 · Littleton, CO · Accident · Serious injuries · Limited investigation · Final report · Sep 1, 1985 · N2259H · No damage
  > The plt attempted to land his Balloon in high winds resulting a hard ldg which threw him out of the basket the Balloon then began an immediate asent until a pax pulled the vent line and the Balloon settled rapidly until it hit the grd. Injuries to passengers…
- [NTSB MKC84LA182](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb/MKC84LA182.md): Balloon Works Firefly 7 · Overland Park, KS · Accident · Minor injuries · Limited investigation · Final report · Jun 24, 1984 · N4070W · Substantial damage
  > Prior to a sight-seeing flt, the plt orbained a wx briefing & released test balloons to check the wind spd & drctn. The prevailing wind was in a southerly direction at about 8 KTS. The plt of N4070W initiated his departure from a school yard after another…
- [NTSB CHI84LA268](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb/CHI84LA268.md): Barnes AX-7 · Batavia, IL · Accident · No injuries · Limited investigation · Final report · Jun 24, 1984 · N4048F · Substantial damage
  > The plt received a wx briefing before the flt. The 1950 surface observation reported winds from 090 deg at 4 KTS. During flt, the winds suddenly picked up & the plt attempted a landing. A rapid rate of descent developed & the balloon collided with trees…
- [NTSB DEN83FTE03](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb/DEN83FTE03.md): Balloon Works Firefly 7 · Del Norte, CO · Accident · Serious injuries · Final report · May 30, 1983 · N1516S · No damage
  > While circumnavigating snow showers at night in mountainous terrain the plt elected to make a precautionary landing on a highway. The acft struck trees on a hillside that the plt hadn't seen in the darkness.
- [NTSB MKC82DA109](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb/MKC82DA109.md): Balloon Works Firfly 7 · Ballwin, MO · Accident · No injuries · Final report · Jun 20, 1982 · N1506A · Substantial damage
  > The student pilot was demonstrating his ability to make 3 landings to meet the flight requirements for a private pilot rating. The first 2 landing were without incident. After the third takeoff, an increase in the wind velocity was encountered. For the third…

## The whole list in SQL

Runs in DuckDB 1.2 or later on the release's Parquet files over HTTPS:

```sql
SELECT c."ntsbNumber", c."eventDate", c."eventType", c."eventCity", c."eventStateOrRegion", a.n_number, a."aircraftMake", a."aircraftModel", c."highestInjuryLevel", c."totalFatal", c."completionStatus", c.report_url
FROM 'https://openairdocs.org/data/latest/ntsb_case_detail.parquet' c LEFT JOIN 'https://openairdocs.org/data/latest/ntsb_aircrafts.parquet' a ON a.case_mkey = c."mKey" AND a.position = 1
WHERE c."mKey" IN (SELECT x.case_mkey FROM 'https://openairdocs.org/data/latest/ntsb_aircrafts.parquet' x WHERE x.aircraft_model_code IN ('1050100')
    AND EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM 'https://openairdocs.org/data/latest/ntsb_occurrences.parquet' o WHERE o.case_mkey = x.case_mkey AND o.aircrafts_position = x.position AND o."occurrenceNumber" = 1 AND o."occurrenceCode" = 240))
ORDER BY c."eventDate" DESC, c."ntsbNumber" DESC
```

This list as a web page: https://openairdocs.org/ntsb?model=1050100&occurrence=240

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