- Date
- December 26, 1992, 09:00 local (16:00 UTC)
- Place
- Peoria, AZ
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 2 uninjured
- Damage
- No damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N2815SRaven S-55A
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 28, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19921226053399A
- Case key
- 27899
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
The balloon's encounter with a gusty wind shear condition during the final descent for landing at an altitude insufficient for the pilot to take corrective action to prevent a hard landing.
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 pilot said that after takeoff the balloon drifted in a northwest direction until it reached a large field the pilot had selected for landing. At about 50 feet above ground level the pilot said the balloon encountered a large gust of wind and a windshear which pushed it into the ground and caused a hard landing. The pilot noted that he had observed two other balloons make soft landings in the same field about 10 minutes prior to his landing attempt. A passenger sustained a fractured foot and vertebrae during the hard landing.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2815S
- Reported as
- Raven S-55A
- Category
- Balloon
- Serial number
- S55A-1108
- Airframe hours
- 230
- Engine
- unknown
- Damage
- No damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Larry E. Davidson
- Registered owner
- Robert Hu& Diane Hutson
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 20, 1992 · 19 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
- 46
- Certificate
- Private
- Flight hours
- 92 total · 7 in this make and model · 92 as pilot in command · 7 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 360° at 20 knots, gusting 30
- Visibility
- 35 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 61 °F, dew point 30 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.