- Date
- November 2, 1992, 09:00 local (16:00 UTC)
- Place
- Green River, UT
- Injuries
- 4 serious, 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N57139Raven AX-9
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 14, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19921102045559A
- Case key
- 42959
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 inadequate preflt planning/preparation by the pilot resulting in inflt encounter with weather and his failure to maintain proper rate of descent during an emergency forced landing. A factor relating to the accident was the turbulent weather conditions.
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 took off from a remote site without obtaining a weather briefing, encountered fcst turb during the initial climb, which pitched the balloon into an unusual attitude and partially deflated the envelope. The pilot initiated an emergency forced landing, activated the deflation line at 40 ft. AGL, and the basket impacted the ground at 400 to 600 fpm. An advisory was in effect for ocnl MDT to isold svr turb.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N57139
- Reported as
- Raven AX-9
- Category
- Balloon
- Serial number
- S66A-111
- Airframe hours
- 588
- Engine
- unknown
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Markle, John R.
- Registered owner
- Sunset Balloon Flights, Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 17, 1992 · 14 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
- 39
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Medical
- Unknown
- Flight hours
- 514 total · 54 in this make and model · 364 as pilot in command · 52 in the last 90 days · 12 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 60 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 8,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 34 °F, dew point 28 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- HVE, 15 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.