- Date
- October 8, 2009, 09:30 local (15:30 UTC)
- Place
- Albuquerque, NM
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N4014JAerostar International RX8
- Defining event
- Landing: Landing area overshoot
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 29, 2009
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA Albuquerque FSDO
- FAA report
- 20091008019999A
- Case key
- 74907
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pilot’s failure to select an adequate landing area.
Findings · 4
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
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.
Factual narrative
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.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4014J
- Reported as
- Aerostar International RX8
- Category
- Balloon
- Serial number
- RX8-3284
- Airframe hours
- 377
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · July 28, 2009
- Departed
- Albuquerque, NM
- Destination
- Albuquerque, NM
- Airport
- KABQ · Albuquerque Intl Sunport
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 57
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Last flight review
- March 21, 2008
- Flight hours
- 57 total · 45 in this make and model · 39 as pilot in command · 10 in the last 90 days · 6 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 330° at 11 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 54 °F, dew point 39 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.96 inHg
- Observed at
- KABQ, 6 nm away
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on October 29, 2009, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 260 KB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.