Cameron Balloons Us A-180 N65059

Summary

On 25 July 2014 at about 13:40 local time, a Cameron Balloons Us A-180 registered N65059 was involved in an accident near Questa, New Mexico, United States. 9 people were on board and 2 were seriously injured. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

25 July 2014 at 13:40

Classification

Accident

Location

Questa, New Mexico, United States

Coordinates

36.5333, -105.7167

Aircraft

Cameron Balloons Us A-180

Registration

N65059

Category

Balloon

Year built

2011

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Other Work Use

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Taos → Taos

Aircraft damage

Not recorded

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN14LA397

2 people were seriously injured.

The hard landing after both burner pilot lights extinguished during the landing approach. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's inability to relight the burner pilot lights.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported that he was preparing to land the commercial balloon and was switching the burners' propane tanks when both burner pilot lights extinguished. The pilot tried to reignite a pilot light with the piezoelectric igniter, but, when he pushed the igniter button to generate a spark, it got stuck in the igniter sleeve. The pilot then took out his strikers to manually relight a pilot light, but he still could not relight it. At this point, the balloon was about 150 ft above the ground, and the pilot prepared the passengers for a hard landing. The balloon struck the ground hard, skipped, and traveled about 30 ft before coming to rest. Two passengers sustained leg fractures; the balloon was not damaged. The piezoelectric igniter had an adjustment screw that, if tightened too firmly, can cause the button to stick in the igniter sleeve when actuated. It is likely that the piezoelectric igniter was tightened too firmly, which caused the igniter sleeve to get stuck when the pilot attempted to use it to relight a pilot light. It is also likely that, during the pilot's attempts to manually relight a pilot light with the striker, he positioned the burner such that air moved over it, which prevented the pilot light from relighting.  

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.