Aerostar RXS-8 N7106F

Summary

On 16 July 2001 at about 00:00 local time, a Aerostar RXS-8 registered N7106F was involved in an accident near Flemington, New Jersey, United States. 4 people were on board and 3 were seriously injured. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

16 July 2001 at 00:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Flemington, New Jersey, United States

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Aerostar RXS-8

Registration

N7106F

Category

Balloon

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Other Work Use

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Rarinton → Flemington

Aircraft damage

Not recorded

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

IAD01LA080

3 people were seriously injured.

pilot's continued flight into known adverse weather conditions, which resulted in a hard landing. A factor was the downdrafts.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot checked the weather at 1400 and 1700, and determined that there was no significant weather forecasted along the intended route of flight. He and his passengers departed around 1900 along with several other balloons for the sightseeing flight. The pilot said that clouds began to gather to the northwest during the flight, and "the cell became more ominous" and "apparent that it would overtake us." The pilot said that the wind shifted and increased in speed, and each attempt to land was aborted due to the high vertical wind shear. On the last attempt to land, the pilot said that "violent down drafts" were experienced and he was unable to abort the landing. The balloon made contact with a tree, and was momentarily tangled. Once free, the pilot observed power lines and a cell phone tower, and elected to "pull the top" about 30-feet above the ground. The balloon contacted the ground at a high rate of descent and forward airspeed, which resulted in the balloon being dragged about 70 feet. The pilot reported that the weather was overcast with light rain, and the winds were from the northwest at a speed greater than 10 knots. Examination of a radar summary chart revealed that the primary radar site for New Jersey was not available. However, the surrounding radar sites did deflect echoes in the northern New Jersey area, but only reported level 1 and 2 activity.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.