- Date
- March 24, 1985, 10:00 local (18:00 UTC)
- Place
- Panamint Valley, CA
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N2614KGeneral Balloon AX-6
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19850324016799A
- Case key
- 24705
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
The plt reported that he was landing on desert terrain in nearly calm air when a 'strong thermal wind pushed the balloon 90 degrees from the direction of track.' Subsequently, the balloon landed hard & was dragged about 150 ft across the desert. While deploying the rip line to expel hot air, the plt fell onto a 68 year old female passenger. During the occurrence, she suffered broken ribs & a fractured wrist. Reportedly, the injured passenger had osteoporosis (calcium depletion of the bones). The plt reported that during the landing, the wind had gusted to 20 KTS.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2614K
- Reported as
- General Balloon AX-6
- Category
- Balloon
- Serial number
- 521
- Airframe hours
- 109
- Engine
- unknown
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Mary Lou Long
- Registered owner
- Mary Lou Long
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · August 20, 1984 · 11 hours before
- Departed
- Panamint, CA
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
- 42
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Flight hours
- 76 total · 76 as pilot in command · 3 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Variable at 2 knots, gusting 20
- Visibility
- 14 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 77 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.