- Date
- August 23, 1996, 08:20 local (13:20 UTC)
- Place
- Clinton, LA
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N2035CCameron O-65
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 3, 1997
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19960823023859A
- Case key
- 19952
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 instructor pilot's failure to follow recommended procedures to properly brace himself in preparation for landing.
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 balloon instructor reported that he and his student had been practicing touch-and-go landings. When they landed for the third time, the instructor sustained a broken ankle. The instructor stated that the 'approach and landing were normal in my estimation and the landing was not excessively hard. I just must have failed to brace properly.'
Factual narrative
On August 23, 1996, at 0820 central daylight time, a Cameron Balloon O-65, N2035C, registered to and operated by a private owner under Title 14 CFR Part 91, received minor damage during a hard landing near Clinton, Louisiana. The commercial instructor pilot received serious injuries, and the student pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the balloon cross country instructional flight, that originated near Zachary, Louisiana, approximately 45 minutes before the accident. No flight plan was filed.
The balloon instructor reported to the investigator-in-charge that he and his student had been practicing touch-and-go landings. When they landed for the third time, the instructor sustained a broken ankle. The instructor stated that the "approach and landing were normal in my estimation and the landing was not excessively hard. I just must have failed to brace properly."
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2035C
- Reported as
- Cameron O-65
- Category
- Balloon
- Serial number
- 5382
- Engine
- unknown
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Elton H. Mills, Jr.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- NONE · Zachary, LA
- 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
- 60
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Flight hours
- 3,500 total · 5 in this make and model · 3,300 as pilot in command · 22 in the last 90 days · 15 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 60° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 84 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.