- Date
- August 2, 2024, 07:00 local (13:00 UTC)
- Place
- Colorado Springs, CO
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 8 uninjured
- Damage
- No damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N26464Arbc Inc DBA Lindstrand 260A
- Defining event
- Landing: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA - Denver FSDO
- FAA report
- 20240802011159I
- Case key
- 194847
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 maintain the proper descent rate during the balloon’s approach to landing, which resulted in a hard landing.
Findings · 2
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
Following an uneventful flight, the pilot descended the balloon at a steep angle into a vacant field. The pilot had briefed the passengers on the proper brace position before the flight and then again just before the landing. The basket touched down firmly, bounced several times and came to rest on its side. Following the landing a passenger experienced pain in his leg. It was later determined the passenger had a broken ankle. The pilot stated that there were no mechanical malfunctions with the balloon that would have precluded normal operations.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N26464
- Reported as
- Arbc Inc DBA Lindstrand 260A
- Category
- Balloon
- Serial number
- 5560
- Built
- 2014
- Damage
- No damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Operator
- Marketing Services Inc Of Pueblo, doing business as Adventures Out West
- Registered owner
- Marketing Services Inc Of Pueblo
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Balloon
- Departed
- COS · Colorado Springs, CO
- Airport
- NA
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
- 51
- Injuries
- Minor
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- March 3, 2023
- Seat
- Single
- Restraint
- None
- Flight hours
- 1,300 total · 250 in this make and model · 1,300 as pilot in command · 25 in the last 90 days · 12 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 30° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 61 °F, dew point 52 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.45 inHg
- Observed at
- KCOS, 6 nm away
- METAR
- KCOS 021254Z 03007KT 10SM SCT250 16/11 A3045 RMK AO2 SLP222 T01610111
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on November 8, 2024, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.5 MB 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.