History of the Flight
On 8 June 2019, at about 07:30 local time, a hot air balloon registered F-HGAY was involved in an accident at Vernosc-lès-Annonay (Ardèche). The balloon was operated by a private pilot on a leisure flight during a hot air balloon festival. The pilot and one passenger were on board. The passenger was injured.
The pilot took off shortly after 07:00 from the Parc de Déomas in Annonay with a passenger in her seventies. About 20 minutes into the flight, the pilot landed in a field. During the landing in the "upright" position, the basket hit the ground hard, bounced, and fell onto its side. It then slid for several dozen metres before coming to a stop. The passenger broke her nose and an ankle.
Pilot Information
The 42-year-old pilot had held a hot air balloon pilot licence (BPL) since September 2018. She had logged 57 flight hours, 28 of which as pilot-in-command. She had been on many flights as a passenger for several years. This was the pilot’s first participation in this festival as pilot-in-command; she had previously participated as a passenger. She had also been pilot-in-command at an air exhibition bringing together around ten hot air balloons in India in January 2019.
Information about the Festival
The “L’art de l’envol” festival takes place every year in Annonay on the first weekend in June. Twenty-seven hot air balloons were taking part under the authority of a flight director. It is a festival that is not open to the public and is not regarded as an air exhibition. Such a festival does not require the presence of a flight director.
Statements
The pilot indicated that the day before the flight, the organizer of the festival asked her to take a local councillor as a passenger free of charge. In the morning, the flight director held a preparatory meeting at about 06:30: after observing the windsock, he released a helium balloon, which departed rapidly to the east. After deciding that the meteorological conditions were suitable for flying, he cleared the first take-offs at about 07:00.
On the ground, the pilot briefed the passenger, explaining the safety position to adopt during landing: back turned to the landing direction and legs bent. As the passenger climbed into the basket, the pilot noted that she was not very agile and had difficulty getting in.
The pilot was one of the first hot air balloons to take off. She said that the conditions were good despite a strong wind of 15 to 20 km/h at a height of 100 m. She added that she did not have much experience of flying in strong winds, but the conditions that day were not a concern for her.
Based on her experience in the region, with the wind blowing from the west, she expected the wind to be more northerly at altitude. She soon realised that the wind was still blowing predominantly from the west. The air currents were dragging her towards the Rhone Valley, an area she considered unsuited for landings because of the presence of the river, the A7 motorway and many industrial centres. Crossing the Rhone valley would have entailed a much longer flight: the pilot had the necessary autonomy but, prior to take-off, she had set the Rhone valley as a limit not to be crossed. She therefore decided to abort the flight and informed her passenger. She then reminded her of the safety instructions for landing.
She identified a very high-voltage power line located upstream of the industrial zones and decided to land before them. While at a height she estimated to be 150 m, she identified a landing point in a field about 800 m upstream from the power line and explained to the passenger that she was going to begin the descent. She then began the descent using the burners.
At the end of the descent, the pilot was surprised by strong westerly gusts that got stronger near the ground and were quickly pushing the balloon towards the power line, causing it to miss the field originally intended for landing. Seeing the proximity of the power line, the pilot felt that she did not have time to climb back up and decided to accentuate the descent despite her already high vertical speed in order to land as soon as possible. She observed the passenger and helped her adopt the safety position correctly.
Shortly before ground contact and while activating the balloon valve, the pilot turned off the burners and closed the gas cylinders.
On initial contact with the ground, the pilot observed that the passenger maintained the position. Shortly thereafter, when she saw her passenger’s face covered in blood, she instinctively released her grip on the valve control: this caused the valve to close, delaying the deflation of the balloon. The balloon then bounced and was dragged towards the power line, dragging the basket along the ground: the basket tipped on to its side and came to rest about 150 m upstream of the power line.
After the basket came to rest, the passenger was still in the basket but could not move. The pilot assessed that the risk of fire was under control and kept the passenger in the basket until the rescue team arrived.
The pilot added that she had already flown several times in this balloon with her own burners. On that day, the balloon was equipped with burners of another type, with which she was not yet fully familiar. She believed that this may have hindered her ability to control the “heat bursts” during the descent.
She also stated that the aerological phenomenon near the ground was probably local and of short duration, as other pilots who landed later in the same area had not experienced the phenomenon.
The passenger indicated that the pilot explained her intention to abort the flight because of the direction of the wind. She identified a first field but was unable to land there; she then identified a second field. The descent was rapid with strong gusts of wind.
The flight director explained that he had prepared the meteorological file the day before the festival. In the morning, he contacted Météo-France to confirm the information. He considered that the meteorological conditions were good and suitable for flying, with a north-westerly wind of around 3 to 4 kt. After all the balloons had taken off, he took off himself and did not particularly feel any gusts. Other pilots who were among the first to take off explained that they had felt strong gusts while flying over the accident area. No other incidents were reported during the festival.
Meteorological Information
At the time of the accident, the conditions estimated by Météo-France were: mostly clear sky over the Rhone Valley, becoming cloudy over the more westerly terrain, and a light west-north-westerly, 5 kt wind at FL 20. The wind measured by a meteorological station located 4 km north of the departure point was north-westerly, 3 kt, gusting up to 14 kt. The temperature was increasing from 11°C at 07:00 to 13°C at 08:00.
Another meteorological station located at an altitude of 1,164 m on the slopes of the massif du Pilat, about 15 km north-west of the departure point, recorded a 9 kt wind gusting to 20 kt and a temperature between 7°C and 8°C.
An expert from Météo-France explained that, as the temperatures were colder on the summits of the massif du Pilat and increasing in the valley, a breeze in the direction of the valley could have developed between 07:00 and 08:00. The wind on the summits could have generated local downdraughts in the very low layers of the valley, particularly at the accident site.
Conclusions
The conclusions are solely based on the information which came to the knowledge of the BEA during the investigation. They are not intended to apportion blame or liability.
Scenario
Because the wind was pushing the balloon towards the Rhone Valley, which the pilot did not wish to cross, she decided to abort the flight. She identified a field for landing, located about 800 m upstream from a very high-voltage power line. As the pilot began the descent, a localised aerological phenomenon accelerated the movement of the balloon towards the power line, surprising the pilot, who missed the originally planned landing site. The pilot felt that she no longer had the time or space to climb above the power line and decided to make an emergency landing at high vertical speed. The hard contact with the ground was the cause of the passenger’s injuries.
Contributing factors
The following factors may have contributed to the hard landing:
- The pilot’s lack of experience in strong winds;
- Burners with which the pilot was unfamiliar and which may have negatively affected the precision of her control of the descent.
The following factors may have contributed to the nature of the passenger’s injuries:
- The age and physical condition of the passenger;
- The pilot’s instinctive action to release the valve control, which delayed the deflation of the balloon after initial contact with the ground.
Safety lessons
Hot air balloon flight is characterised by a high degree of inertia when manoeuvring. An ascent requires a significant amount of time, especially when the descent has already been initiated and the air in the envelope is already partially cooled. When confronted with a power line, choosing to climb to try to pass over it is risky and the consequences if part of the basket or the balloon envelope collides with a power line are often catastrophic.
The power line was identified as a major hazard by the pilot. Landing at a high vertical speed certainly resulted in injuries to the passenger, but prevented contact with the very high-voltage power line.
Throughout the landing, the passenger maintained a position that enabled her to stay in the basket, despite the jolts, without being ejected.
This occurrence is a reminder of the safety lessons highlighted by the BEA in the wake of several other occurrences. Ballooning can be perceived by uninformed passengers as an inherently safe activity and it may not necessarily occur to them that it is not.