- Date
- September 24, 1992, 07:30 local (13:30 UTC)
- Place
- Littleton, CO
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 2 uninjured
- Damage
- No damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N7403UCameron V-77
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report October 29, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19920924038829A
- Case key
- 18237
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
Undetermined.
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
According to the pilot, winds were calm when the balloon lifted off. Shortly thereafter, winds increased significantly. She stated that the first landing attempt was aborted because of the high wind. She then briefed her passengers on high wind landing procedures. She levelled off at 40 feet, then pulled the envelope rip cord. The balloon made a hard landing and overturned. Available weather data could not confirm the existence of high wind velocities in the denver area at the time.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7403U
- Reported as
- Cameron V-77
- Category
- Balloon
- Serial number
- 5109
- Airframe hours
- 171
- Engine
- unknown
- Damage
- No damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Payne, Kathie A.
- Registered owner
- Payne, Kathie A.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · February 12, 1992 · 8 hours before
- Departed
- NONE
- Destination
- NONE
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
- 36
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Flight hours
- 179 total · 179 in this make and model · 142 as pilot in command · 4 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 180° at 25 knots, gusting 30
- Visibility
- 60 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 61 °F, dew point 37 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.