- Date
- July 3, 1988, 20:00 local (Jul 4, 1988, 01:00 UTC)
- Place
- Mishawaka, IN
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 1 uninjured
- Damage
- No damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N4186ERaven S55A
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 29, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19880704025969A
- Case key
- 14111
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.
On ground/water encounter with weather
Weather evaluation - inadequateCause
Weather condition - high windFactor
Passenger briefing - inadequateFactor
Balloon equipment,basket - dumpedFactor
Analysis
After short personal flight, the pilot of the balloon made a landing in an open field. The gondola turned over and was dragged through the field. The pax suffered serious injuries.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4186E
- Reported as
- Raven S55A
- Category
- Balloon
- Serial number
- S55A882
- Airframe hours
- 188
- Engine
- unknown
- Damage
- No damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Steele, Larry O.
- Registered owner
- Larry O Steele
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 23, 1988 · 4 hours before
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
- 56
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Medical
- Unknown
- Flight hours
- 164 total · 142 as pilot in command · 2 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 320° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 79 °F, dew point 48 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- SBN, 12 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.