- Date
- April 29, 1988, 16:15 local (21:15 UTC)
- Place
- Burlington, IA
- Injuries
- 2 serious, 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N6436URaven S-55
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 26, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19880429012729A
- Case key
- 34565
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
While attempting to land the balloon during a commercial operation, a dust devil was encountered. The balloon and gondola twisted and pitched violently. During a hard landing, the PIC was thrown from the aircraft, and the aircraft continued to bounce along the terrain, until it collided with power lines.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6436U
- Reported as
- Raven S-55
- Category
- Balloon
- Serial number
- S55A 3013
- Airframe hours
- 80
- Engine
- Unknown UNKNOWN, unknown
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Operator
- Balloons Over Burlington
- Registered owner
- Frank Upton
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · September 1, 1987 · 26 hours before
- Departed
- BRL · Burlington, IA
- Destination
- BRL
- Airport
- BRL · Burlington
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
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Medical
- Unknown, Unknown
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 364 total · 364 in this make and model · 350 as pilot in command · 2 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 40° at 6 knots
- 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.