Aerostar RAVEN S57-A N3636Z

Summary

On 13 October 2001 at about 13:55 local time, a Aerostar RAVEN S57-A registered N3636Z, operated by Bradley S. Rice, was involved in an accident near Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. 3 people were on board and one was seriously injured, 2 had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

13 October 2001 at 13:55

Classification

Accident

Location

Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States

Coordinates

35.1497, -106.5806

Aircraft

Aerostar RAVEN S57-A

Registration

N3636Z

Category

Balloon

Operator

Bradley S. Rice

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Albuquerque → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

FTW02LA014

1 person was seriously injured.

inadvertent flight into adverse (high wind) weather conditions, which resulted in an inflight collision with objects while landing. A contributing factor was the high wind weather condition.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot intended for the flight to be short; however, after takeoff, the wind increased and the balloon over flew the intended landing area. The pilot then selected a field at a school in which to land. The field had wires along its edge. As the balloon was clearing the wires, the pilot vented the balloon, but the balloon continued to float past the field, impacting a wooden telephone post located near a building. The balloon rotated, struck the building, and came to rest with its basket on a fence. The pilot reported that at the time of the accident, the wind had increased to approximately 30 knots with gusts to 35 knots. A weather reporting station located approximately 7 miles southeast of the accident site reported the wind speed at 10 knots.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.