- Date
- April 2, 2010, 07:50 local (11:50 UTC)
- Place
- Durhamville, NY
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 2 uninjured
- Damage
- No damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N1514GFirefly AX8B
- Defining event
- Landing: Miscellaneous/other
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 12, 2010
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20100402032109A
- Case key
- 75661
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 passenger's failure to adequately brace herself for the landing.
Findings · 1
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
The pilot of the balloon stated that at the conclusion of the 1-hour flight, with two passengers, he conducted a typical landing to a "level, grassy" golf course fairway. During the landing, one of the passengers "lost [her] footing" in the gondola, fell, and slid into the pilot. The pilot then fell onto the passenger, fracturing her ankle. The pilot did not mention if he gave the passengers a prelanding briefing prior to the landing.
Factual narrative
The pilot of the balloon stated that at the conclusion of the 1-hour flight, he conducted a "typical" landing to a "level, grassy" golf course fairway. During the landing, one of the passengers "lost [her] footing" in the gondola, fell, and "slid" into the pilot. The pilot then fell onto the passenger, fracturing her ankle. The pilot did not mention if he gave the passengers a prelanding briefing prior to the landing.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1514G
- Reported as
- Firefly AX8B
- Category
- Balloon
- Serial number
- F8B2024
- Airframe hours
- 350
- Damage
- No damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Steven Kenneth Flanders
- Registered owner
- Steven Kenneth Flanders
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · November 22, 2009
- Departed
- Munnsville, NY
- Destination
- Durhamville, NY
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
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Medical
- Sport pilot
- Last flight review
- July 13, 2009
- Flight hours
- 80 total · 80 in this make and model · 71 as pilot in command · 1 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 140° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 55 °F, dew point 52 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.54 inHg
- Observed at
- RME, 12 nm away
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on June 10, 2010, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 204 KB 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.