HOT AIR BALLOON OVERFLIES CONGESTED AREA AT 100 FT AGL.

Narrative

I WAS FLYING A 140000 CUBIC FT HOT AIR BALLOON OVER THE N COAST SAN DIEGO AREA (THE FAIRBANKS RANCH COMMUNITY). I WAS FLYING A HDG OF APPROX 360 DEG MAGNETIC. AT ABOUT 12 KTS FROM THE LINDBERGH FSS; THE CLOSEST RPTING STATION (OF MIRAMAR NAS); FORECAST THE SURFACE WINDS TO BECOME VARIABLE AT 3 KTS AT THE TIME OF SUNSET. THE WINDS FOR THIS PARTICULAR EVENING WERE FLOWING ROUGHLY 90 DEG TO NORMAL CONDITIONS (NORMALLY THE WINDS IN THE AFTERNOON FLOW W TO E; NOT S TO N). OUR LAUNCH SITE WAS CHOSEN ON THE FAR S END OF OUR FLT CORRIDOR TO ACCOUNT FOR THIS UNCOMMON DIRECTION; AFTER CONTACTING FSS AND PLOTTING THE FLT PATH WITH HELIUM BALLOONS. ONCE IN FLT; I ASCENDED TO APPROX 1300 FT MSL; AND HEADED N TO THE FAIRBANKS RANCH AREA. FROM OBSERVING THE OTHER BALLOONS IN THE AIR; I DETERMINED THE ANGLES BTWN THE WIND LAYERS WERE VERY SLIGHT; AND THAT THE STEERING WAS POOR. THE SURFACE WINDS AND WINDS UP TO APPROX 200 FT AGL WERE HDG APPROX 350 DEG AT HIGH SPD; TOWARD AN AREA SUITABLE FOR LNDG. BECAUSE THE SURFACE WINDS WERE FASTER THAN NORMAL FLYING CONDITIONS; AND IT WAS CLR THEY WERE NOT GOING TO SLOW DOWN AS FORECAST; I DESIRED A WIND SHELTER FOR A SLOWER AND SAFER LNDG. BY USING THE LOWER WINDS; THE HDG OF 350 DEG WOULD TAKE ME TO A SHELTERED VALLEY JUST N OF FAIRBANKS RANCH. I MADE A LOW (100 FT AGL) APCH OVER A CONGESTED AREA; AND THE APCH BEGAN EARLIER (AND WAS THEREFORE COVERED A GREATER DISTANCE). THE FAR VIOLATION IN QUESTION IS 91.119; WHICH IS MAINTAINING 1000 FT AGL OVER A CONGESTED AREA. I DSNDED DOWN TO 100 FT AGL FOR 2 MAIN REASONS: 1) WAS TO STAY ON COURSE AND LAND IN A KNOWN LNDG AREA WHICH WOULD PROVIDE ME WITH A WIND BREAK; AND 2) WAS NOT TO DEVIATE TOWARDS A SET OF MASSIVE PWRLINES THAT RAN APPROX 350 DEG (THE HIGHER ALT I WOULD REACH; THE CLOSER I WOULD HEAD TOWARD THE PWRLINES). THERE WERE VERY FEW LNDG SITES BEYOND THE SHELTERED VALLEY I WAS TARGETING AND I DID NOT WISH TO RUN OUT OF LNDG SITES WHEN APCHING SUNSET TIME. I ALSO DID NOT WANT TO HAVE TO LAND CLOSE TO THE PWRLINES; OR MAKE AN APCH CLOSE TO THE PWRLINES; AS THE SURFACE WINDS WERE FLOWING ALMOST EXACTLY PARALLEL TO THEIR DIRECTION OF CONSTRUCTION. MY DECISION TO MAKE A LOW APCH FOR LNDG WAS BASED ON THE FACT THAT I KNEW THE TARGET SITE WELL (FROM PREVIOUS LNDGS). I DESIRED A WIND BREAK TO AVOID A ROUGH LNDG; I DID NOT WISH TO FLY ON TO UNFAMILIAR TERRAIN; AND I WISHED TO KEEP SAFE DISTANCE FROM THE PWRLINES. ONCE I CLRED FAIRBANKS RANCH; I DSNDED DOWN INTO THE VALLEY; AND ALTHOUGH IT WAS A WIND BREAK; I TURNED APPROX 90 DEG TO THE W TOWARD TREES AND OTHER OBSTACLES. I THEN ASCENDED BACK TO 100 AGL TO TRAVEL 350 DEG MAGNETIC AGAIN AND LANDED AT HIGH SPD AT THE N END OF THE VALLEY; ROUGHLY 1/4 OF A MI FROM THE ORIGINAL LNDG TARGET SITE.