11 May 2013: BALLOON WORKS FIREFLY 8B-15 — BALLOONPORT OF OKLAHOMA INC

11 May 2013: BALLOON WORKS FIREFLY 8B-15 — BALLOONPORT OF OKLAHOMA INC

No fatalities • Anthony, KS, United States

Probable cause

The pilot’s failure to monitor the balloon's altitude, which resulted in the balloon impacting an airport rotating beacon tower.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

The balloon had just taken off from the airport as part of a balloon rally. The pilot said that he was about 150 to 200 feet above the ground and was checking his flight instruments when the balloon encountered a false lift condition and it settled on top of the rotating beacon tower on the airport. The balloon envelope was torn open deflating the envelope and the basket settled on the ground. The pilot and the 2 passengers on board exited the basket unharmed. A postaccident examination of the balloon showed substantial damage to the top one-third of the envelope's fabric and load tapes. No other anomalies were found that would have precluded normal operation of the balloon. Weather conditions in the area at the time of the accident were winds out of the west at 6 knots, scattered clouds at 4,700 feet and 10 statute miles visibility.

Contributing factors

  • cause Pilot
  • cause Altitude — Not attained/maintained

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 290/06kt, vis 10sm

Related events

Same aircraft

  • 13 Jan 2024 — BALLOON WORKS Firefly 7-15 (—)
  • 3 Sep 2023 — BALLOON WORKS FIREFLY 7 15 (—)
  • 10 Oct 2018 — Balloon Works FIREFLY 7 15 (—)
  • 15 Jul 2017 — BALLOON WORKS FIREFLY 8B 15 UNDESIGNAT (—)
  • 24 Feb 2017 — BALLOON WORKS FIREFLY 7 UNDESIGNAT (—)

Loading the flight search…

What you can do on Flight Finder

  • Search flights between any two airports with live fares.
  • By aircraft — pick a plane model (e.g. Boeing 787, Airbus A350) and see every route it flies from your origin.
  • Route map — click any airport worldwide to explore its destinations, or draw a radius to find nearby airports.
  • Global aviation safety — aviation accident database, 5,200+ records since 1980, with map and rankings by aircraft and operator.
  • NTSB safety feed — recent U.S. aviation accidents and incidents from the official NTSB CAROL database, updated daily.

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.