- Date
- July 2, 1984, 20:00 local (Jul 3, 1984, 00:00 UTC)
- Place
- North Lebannon, ME
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N5568ARaven RX 6
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19840702033069A
- Case key
- 35415
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
Student balloon pilot was on third supervised solo flt with his flt instructor acting as member of the chase crew. Plt was controlling descent with short bursts of propane burner. Ground contact was hard enough to cause the balloon skirt to continue downward motion to the ground. As envelope rebounded the gondola filled with propane which ignited. Instructor assisted plt in evacuating as balloon became airborne, ascended to aprx 1500 ft with gondola in flames and exploded.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5568A
- Reported as
- Raven RX 6
- Category
- Balloon
- Serial number
- RX6-366
- Airframe hours
- 186
- Engine
- unknown
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Edward Cardinali
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 30, 1984 · 2 hours before
- Departed
- South Lebanon, ME
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
- 40
- Certificate
- Student
- Flight hours
- 18 total · 14 in this make and model · 2 as pilot in command · 10 in the last 90 days · 3 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 230° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 70 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.