Adams Balloon AB N895FA

Summary

On 14 July 2023 at about 13:18 local time, a Adams Balloon AB registered N895FA was involved in an accident near Lafayette, Colorado, United States. 5 people were on board and 2 were seriously injured, 3 had minor injuries. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

14 July 2023 at 13:18

Classification

Accident

Location

Lafayette, Colorado, United States

Coordinates

39.9756, -105.0788

Aircraft

Adams Balloon AB

Registration

N895FA

Category

Balloon

Year built

2021

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Erie → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Not recorded

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN23LA305

2 people were seriously injured.

An inadvertent hard landing in high wind conditions resulting in serious injury of two passengers. Contributing to the accident was the increase in prevailing winds prior to the forecast.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

While conducting a sightseeing flight for a balloon festival, the pilot noted wind about 17 miles per hour (mph). He was unable to locate calmer winds at different altitudes. The pilot decided to terminate the flight and briefed the passengers for a high wind landing. During the high wind landing, the basket touched down hard and began to drag. One passenger was ejected from the basket which resulted in the balloon becoming airborne. The pilot was releasing air through the top vent and the balloon settled again to the ground and dragged to a stop. The passenger who was ejected and another passenger that remained in the basket were seriously injured. The pilot and two passengers had minor injuries. There were no mechanical malfunctions with the balloon. Prior to the flight, the pilot obtained a weather brief, and the weather forecast reported a front to pass around 0800. After considering the weather, the pilot decided to launch on a low, short flight between 30 to 45 minutes. The pilot reported that he launched at 0643 and a couple minutes later, he noticed the winds aloft were stronger than expected and attempted to find a suitable landing area. On the pilot’s weather forecast, obtained several hours prior to the flight, the velocity and direction (VAD) winds showed wind at 5,900 ft mean sea level (msl) at 19 kts, which increased to 26 kts at 6,200 ft msl. At 0655, the closest aviation weather reporting facility reported a calm wind. At 0715, the same facility reported wind at 5 knots gusting to 15 knots.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.