- Date
- April 15, 1984, 08:00 local (15:00 UTC)
- Place
- Glendale, AZ
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 1 minor, 1 uninjured
- Damage
- No damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N5717HRaven S-55A-707
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19840415013789A
- Case key
- 24234
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
During a sight-seeing flt, the winds, outside air temp & propane gas burner temp began increasing, so the plt elected to land. He notified the chase crew, started a descent & anticipated making a 'drop line' landing. As the balloon began crossing over a dry river at about 200 ft AGL, it was descending at aprx 75 ft/min. The plt stated that at about that time, a downdraft forced the balloon to the river bed, then the wind dragged it into the river bank. Observers said the top of the balloon was suddenly distorted from downdraft. The plt stated everything was normal, then 'the wind hit the balloon' & there were 'no trees, flags, smoke or dust to anticipate the wind shear.'
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5717H
- Reported as
- Raven S-55A-707
- Category
- Balloon
- Serial number
- S-55A-707
- Airframe hours
- 352
- Engine
- unknown
- Damage
- No damage
- Flight
- Part 91
- Registered owner
- Diane Thomas
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · November 18, 1984 · 91 hours before
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
- 67
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Medical
- Unknown
- Seat
- Center
- Flight hours
- 309 total · 309 in this make and model · 291 as pilot in command · 21 in the last 90 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 225° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 25 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 75 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.