- Date
- August 22, 1992, 08:48 local (12:48 UTC)
- Place
- Hopkinton, MA
- Injuries
- 8 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Uncontrolled descent
- Aircraft
- N28267Aerostar AX-9
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 31, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19920822032819A
- Case key
- 37219
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 pilot's inflight planning which resulted in a forced landing in unsuitable terrain due to fuel exhaustion.
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
Due to the lack of a suitable landing area, the pilot continued flight until he experienced fuel exhaustion. The balloon settled into trees where two passengers were offloaded. The pilot said he thought with two passenger out of the basket, there would be enough residual lift to lift the balloon clear of the trees; however, the balloon only moved about 20 feet and settled back into the trees. While settling to the ground several side panels of the balloon were ripped.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N28267
- Reported as
- Aerostar AX-9
- Category
- Balloon
- Serial number
- S66A-3001
- Engine
- unknown
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Aerial observation · Part 91
- Operator
- Mario Distefano, doing business as Bellavia Balloon Company
- Registered owner
- Mario Distefano
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 2, 1900
- Departed
- Westboro, MA
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
- 49
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Flight hours
- 602 total · 270 in this make and model · 602 as pilot in command · 50 in the last 90 days · 23 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 20 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.