- Date
- March 21, 1987, 11:00 local (18:00 UTC)
- Place
- Park City, UT
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 8 serious
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N40968Raven S-77A
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 10, 1988
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Case key
- 17100
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
While on a commercial pax sightseeing flt, the plt allowed a non-rated student plt to fly the balloon until it nearly collided with buildings. The plt took over the controls and applied maximum burner heating to avoid impact with the buildings, which resulted in rapid ascent to approximately 3,000 feet AGL. Winds at that altitude blew the balloon out of the small open valley where the flts were normally conducted. It crossed a ridgeline and was flying over mountainous/hilly terrain where the plt initiated a descent for landing. The balloon impacted transmission power lines at approximately 50 feet above the ground. The gondola was severed from the balloon by electrical arcing and fell to the ground. The natural gas fuel tanks exploded and burned, destroying the gondola.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N40968
- Reported as
- Raven S-77A
- Category
- Balloon
- Serial number
- S77A-107
- Airframe hours
- 280
- Engine
- unknown
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Part 91
- Registered owner
- Michael C. Bauwens
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · August 25, 1986 · 70 hours before
- Departed
- Park City, UT
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
- 28
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Flight hours
- 318 total · 318 in this make and model · 278 as pilot in command · 70 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 170° at 14 knots
- Visibility
- 40 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 20,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 39 °F, dew point 18 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- SLC, 16 nm away