IAD01LA080

On July 15, 2001, at 2000 eastern daylight time, an Aerostar International, Inc. RXS-8 balloon, N7106F, was not damaged during a hard landing to a dry pond bed in Flemington, New Jersey. The certificated commercial pilot was not injured and the three passengers sustained serious injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed for the sightseeing flight conducted under 14 CFR Part 91.

In preparation for the flight, the pilot checked the weather conditions at 1400 and 1700, and reported that there was no significant weather forecasted along the intended route of flight. He gave a pre-flight briefing to his passengers, which included a landing scenario in high wind conditions. The balloon was launched about 1900, and the winds were out of the west-northwest at about 5 mph. In a written statement, the pilot said:

"Climbed to around 2,000 feet mol to take advantage of the NW breeze. During the flight, clouds began to gather to the NW. As time progressed the cell became more ominous and it became apparent that it would overtake us. At this time (apex. 07:40), dropped down to tree top to again get the WNW breeze. This would bring us into numerous housing developments where we were going to land. At about 07:50, wind direction changed to NW and speed increased significantly. Several attempts to land in this wind were met with severe vertical wind shear which pushed the balloon down at a high rate of speed. Each approach had to be aborted."

"The same violent downdrafts were experienced on the last attempt to land however, attempts to abort this approach failed. The balloon made contact with a tree, went through the tree, and continued down. Route 31, which is lined with power lines, borders the landing site to the east. There is also a cell tower just to the east of Rt. 31. Fearing a rebound into either one of these, the top was pulled around 30 feet (est.). Once landed, the balloon was dragged approximately 70 feet. Rate of descent was high. Forward speed was greater than 10 mph (est.)."

"The hard landing resulted in 3 passengers being injured."

The pilot reported that at the time of the accident, the weather was overcast with light rain. The winds were from the northwest greater than 10 knots.

In a telephone conversation, a passenger said that she and her parents were given a "quick briefing" by the pilot prior to the flight. This briefing included instruction on how to prepare for three possible landing scenarios.

The passenger said that approximately 15 balloons had launched that afternoon, and her balloon was one of the last to depart. She said the flight was uneventful until it was time to land.

Toward the end of the flight, the passenger observed the other balloons land, but her balloon continued to fly over "suitable landing spots". She reported that the pilot never made any real attempts to land. They then crossed over a ridge, where she saw "miles of open farm land."

As the flight continued, the passenger said the pilot's demeanor changed. The pilot then asked the passengers, "Do you remember what the #3 landing is?" He told the passengers to put their heads down and face the direction of travel. The balloon then got momentarily snagged in a tree. As the balloon got clear of the tree, the pilot told the passengers that they were going to hit hard, and he counted down to when they would impact the ground.

When the balloon landed, the passenger was thrown from the basket as it tumbled. She then heard the pilot say, "There was a storm and I had to do what I had to do." However, she did not recall the pilot talking about a storm prior to the landing.

The passenger said that there was a storm on the horizon, but it was not "right on top of them."

The pilot reported a total of 249 flight hours, and that there were no mechanical deficiencies with the balloon.

A radar summary chart was issued on July 15, 2001, at 2015. Examination of the chart revealed that the primary radar site for New Jersey was not available. However, the surrounding radar sites did deflect echoes in the northern New Jersey area, but only reported level 1 and 2 activity.