Thunder & Colt Airborne Amer AX10 180 N709TC

Summary

On 20 February 2017 at about 15:45 local time, a Thunder & Colt Airborne Amer AX10 180 registered N709TC was involved in an accident near Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. 10 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

20 February 2017 at 15:45

Classification

Accident

Location

Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States

Nearest airport

Albuquerque Intl Sunport (ABQ)

Coordinates

35.0647, -106.6281

Aircraft

Thunder & Colt Airborne Amer AX10 180

Registration

N709TC

Category

Balloon

Year built

1993

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Business

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Albuquerque → Albuquerque

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN17LA118

Nobody was injured.

The pilot’s delayed reaction to the balloon’s increased rate of descent during an attempted landing, which resulted in impact with a power line.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The commercial pilot of the balloon was performing a local sightseeing flight. The balloon took off from a field, climbed, and drifted southeast. As the balloon approached an interstate, the pilot began a descent to land on a field near a university campus. About 100 to 140 ft above ground level (agl), the balloon entered a rapid descent. The pilot applied maximum fuel to the burner system to arrest the descent; however, the descent continued. The pilot stopped the descent about 50 ft agl and the balloon began to climb again; upon reaching 75 ft agl, the balloon gondola contacted power lines. The contact caused electricity to arc through the gondola, severing two of the four suspension cables. The pilot "hand-removed" the power line from the gondola, applied heat to the burner system, and climbed away from the power lines. The pilot subsequently made an uneventful landing on a soccer field at the university about a mile away from the power lines. The National Weather Service (NWS) surface analysis chart depicted a cold front, which was located immediately south of the area at the time of the accident and moving across the state. The front resulted in a shift of the prevailing wind to the north-northwest with an increasing pressure gradient behind the front. Some lifting would be associated ahead of the front and then would subside but wouldn't be classified as strong downdrafts near the accident site. Though not conclusive, it is possible that the shifting wind and changing weather conditions could have affected the performance of the balloon, causing an increase in its descent rate during the pilot's landing approach.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.