Colorado Aviation Accidents & Incidents

On June 8, 2013 at 0854 mountain daylight time, an Ultramagic T210 hot air balloon, N201FW, impacted in an open space during a high wind landing near Boulder, Colorado. Two of the passengers on board sustained minor injuries. The commercial rated pilot and 9 remaining passengers were uninjured. The balloon sustained minor damage. The balloon was registered to and operated by Fair Winds, Incorporated under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a business flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight, which operated without a flight plan. The flight originated from Gunbarrel, Colorado, about 0715.

The pilot reported that prior to the flight he checked the weather forecast and received a briefing from Flight Service. He got together with the other balloon pilots flying that day and compared the weather information they had received. They all determined the weather was good enough to fly.

The weather was good when they took off. About 45 minutes into the flight, at 3,000 feet above ground level, the pilot noticed that the other balloons flying nearby were "screaming up and down" and that within 5 minutes, the wind, which had been carrying them easterly at 6 to 8 knots, became a southwest wind of 30 knots or more. The balloon was getting bounced around and the wind was not subsiding, so the pilot made the decision to land immediately.

The pilot briefed the passengers for a high wind landing and got them into the bottom of the basket. He then descended to find a suitable place to land. He leveled off over a lake and flew over a swell. He saw that he was headed toward a windmill farm and needed to get on the ground before reaching it. He pulled on the vent line and the balloon touched down in a conservation area. The wind speed was about "31 to 32 miles per hour". The basket tipped over and began dragging. After being dragged about 50 to 60 yards a gust lifted the balloon about 5 feet above the ground. The pilot continued to pull the in the top vent, which put the balloon back on the ground and finally to a stop.

The National Weather Service (NWS) Surface Analysis Chart at 0600 MDT depicted a low pressure system over North Dakota with an associated occluded front al system extending from the low south-southeast to another low pressure system over South Dakota where the triple point of the front was located. There it split into a warn front to the southeast and a cold front to the southwest across Nebraska and northern Colorado, and then west-northwest back into Wyoming. Two high pressure systems were located over western Colorado and two low pressure systems were located over eastern Colorado with a trough of low pressure extending between the lows into New Mexico. The resultant pressure systems created a light westerly wind component over the region with wind speeds of 10 knots or less, with the cold front oriented in an east-to-west direction over northern Colorado south of the cold front.

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