- Date
- January 18, 1988, 08:00 local (14:00 UTC)
- Place
- Austin, TX
- Injuries
- 3 serious, 1 uninjured
- Damage
- No damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N9811NAdams A-60
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 11, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Case key
- 22685
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 balloon was deflated by the passenger when he pulled the crown line. Contributing to this was the pilot's poor judgement in relinquishing the line to the passenger.
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
The commercial balloon pilot relinquished control of the crown line to one of the four passengers during a high wind landing to a pasture. The pilot activated the burner just prior to landing, which resulted in the balloon climbing to approximately 60 feet. The passenger inadvertently pulled the line which released the air from the envelope, resulting in a rapid descent to a hard landing.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9811N
- Reported as
- Adams A-60
- Category
- Balloon
- Serial number
- 190
- Airframe hours
- 27
- Engine
- unknown
- Damage
- No damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Terrell W. Hendrix
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 22, 1987 · 27 hours before
- Departed
- NONE · Austin, TX
- Flight plan
- VFR
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
- 47
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Flight hours
- 477 total · 447 as pilot in command · 21 in the last 90 days · 8 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 290° at 20 knots
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
Other investigations on N9811N · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.