- Date
- March 17, 1985, 17:03 local (23:03 UTC)
- Place
- Arlington, TX
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N4065DBalloon Works Firefly 7
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19850317007839A
- Case key
- 21699
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
According to the passenger, a gust of wind caused the balloon to become airborne prematurely and drift toward pwr lines. Aprx 25 ft from the wires the plt attempted to abort the takeoff by deflating the envelope. Just prior to wire contact the passenger jumped about 25 ft to the ground. Electrical arcing and exploding fuel lines caused the basket to separate and fall to the terrain with the plt still aboard. The envelope continued its descent eventually coming to rest in a second set of pwr lines.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4065D
- Reported as
- Balloon Works Firefly 7
- Category
- Balloon
- Serial number
- 10142
- Engine
- unknown
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- William W. Taylor
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
- 38
- Certificate
- Commercial
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 340° at 7 knots, gusting 9
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 66 °F, dew point 36 °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.