- Date
- November 25, 1989, 09:00 local (16:00 UTC)
- Place
- Sun City, AZ
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N4058FBarnes AX-7
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 5, 1991
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19891125050159A
- Case key
- 26693
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
Inadequate visual lookout by the student pilot (his failure to see & avoid). The transmission line and the student's lack of familiarity with the area were related factors.
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 pilot was late to visually acquire a second set of power lines during a normal approach to land in a river bed. When he did see the second set of lines, he attempted to fly over them, but the balloon collided with the highest wire. The plt then made a successful landing, except he & the balloon had received flash burns.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4058F
- Reported as
- Barnes AX-7
- Category
- Balloon
- Serial number
- 10118
- Engine
- Unknown UNKNOWN, unknown
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Fire
- In-Flight
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Hutson, Robert
- Registered owner
- Unknown
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
- 41
- Certificate
- Student
- Flight hours
- 16 total · 16 in this make and model · 2 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 20° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 35 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 75 °F, dew point -0 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.