- Date
- July 16, 1983, 20:30 local (Jul 17, 1983, 00:30 UTC)
- Place
- Utica, MI
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N1515KBarnes AX-7
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19830716035669A
- Case key
- 12267
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The student pilot made a delayed decision to land and landed within a few ft of wires without seeing them. The ground crew tried to hold him but the balloon still had too much lift. The student then saw the wires and tried to go over thembut the collision occurred. The student jumped from about 30 ft up as the balloon freed itself from the wires, floated about 1/2 mile and crashed.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1515K
- Reported as
- Barnes AX-7
- Category
- Balloon
- Serial number
- 10337
- Airframe hours
- 160
- Engine
- unknown
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Raymond Pini II
- Last inspection
- Unknown · July 1, 1983
- Departed
- Rochester, MI
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
- 23
- Certificate
- Student
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Unknown
- Flight hours
- 15 total · 15 in this make and model · 15 as pilot in command · 15 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 280° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 6 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 90 °F, dew point 64 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- DET, 15 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.