- Date
- July 15, 1988, 08:00 local (15:00 UTC)
- Place
- Bakersfield, CA
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N2789ZRaven S-60A
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 25, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19880715027659A
- Case key
- 26067
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 sightseeing flight, while on final approach, the balloon collided with power lines. The wires arced starting a fire which damaged the balloon envelope. The plt did not file an acc report. The plts last medical exam was on 7/3/79.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2789Z
- Reported as
- Raven S-60A
- Category
- Balloon
- Serial number
- S60A-375
- Engine
- unknown UNKNOWN, unknown
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Operator
- Hammen, Donald E.
- Registered owner
- Buck Owens Production Co.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
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
- 38
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Medical
- Class 2, Expired
- Flight hours
- 200 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Lowest ceiling
- None
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.