DRAG LNDG WITH A LARGE HOT AIR 'RIDE' BALLOON.

Narrative

LAUNCH WAS IN LESS THAN 5 KTS. WINDS INCREASED TO ABOUT 10 KTS AT ABOUT MONTANO AND RIO GRANDE. I PROCEEDED TO A MORE OPEN AREA IN THE RIO RANCHO AREA. KNOWING THAT WINDS INCREASE BEYOND THIS AREA TYPICALLY; I CHOSE AN OPEN FIELD BEYOND A FACTORY TO LAND. APCH WAS OVER FACTORY. APCH WAS TOO STEEP BEYOND BUILDINGS AND TREES TO OPEN FIELD. GND WAS VERY UNEVEN. WE DRAGGED ACROSS THE ROUGH TERRAIN AND HAD A RATHER BUMPY LNDG. THE 211000 CUBIC FT HOT AIR BALLOON BASKET TIPPED OVER DURING THE 10 KT DRAG LNDG. ALL PAX EXCEPT 1 WERE FINE AS WELL AS THE BALLOON. 1 PAX SAID THE LNDG AGGRAVATED HER SEVERE ARTHRITIS; BUT ALSO STATED SHE HAD A WONDERFUL TIME. I FEEL A MORE GRADUAL APCH AND HAVING TOUCHDOWN BEYOND THE ROUGH TERRAIN COULD HAVE MADE FOR A MORE GENTLE; SMOOTH LNDG. IN ANY EVENT; WITH WINDS OF 10 KTS; THE BASKET WOULD HAVE TIPPED OVER NO MATTER WHAT THE TERRAIN WAS. THE COMPLAINING PAX HAS NOT CALLED WITH ANY FURTHER INFO AS TO HER CONDITION. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: THE RPTR FLIES A VERY LARGE 'RIDE BALLOON' FOR A MAJOR OPERATOR IN ABQ; A CAMERON AX- 10. SHE HAS NOT HEARD FURTHER FROM THE PAX THAT COMPLAINED ABOUT AGGRAVATING HER ARTHRITIS; AND HAS NOT HEARD FROM THE FAA.