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DEN85LA127 · Raven S77A

5 May 1985 · Fort Collins, CO, United States

Raven S77A · Accident: in flight collision with object during landing

From Fort Collins, CO to an unrecorded destination

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Event

NTSB case
DEN85LA127
Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Accident
InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
Completed
API-reported fatalities
0 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
0
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
General aviation
WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
Visual Meteorological Cond

Raven S77A

Aircraft type
Raven S77
Category
Balloon
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
N4199G
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Fort Collins, COTo not recorded
Aircraft age
Not recorded
Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
Part 91: General Aviation
Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
Landing
First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
In flight collision with object
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
None

Cause areas

  • Balloon equipment, basket › Inadequate
  • Miscellaneous eqpt/furnishings, seat belt › Lack of
  • Miscellaneous eqpt/furnishings, shoulder harness › Lack of
  • Pilot in command › Aborted landing, exceeded
  • Pilot in command › Clearance, not maintained
  • Pilot in command › Inadequate transition/upgrade training
  • Pilot in command › Judgment, inaccurate
  • Pilot in command › Lack of recent experience in type operation
  • Pilot in command › Remedial action, attempted
  • Pilot in command › Unsuitable terrain or takeoff/landing/taxi area, selected
  • Pilot in command › Wind information, misjudged

Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Fort Collins, CO, the place the record names. Not the accident site.

NTSB narrative

THE BALLOON BASKET CONTAINING 8 PASS'G & 2 CREWMEMBERS BRUSHED ALONGSIDE A FENCE DURING LNDG. ONE PASS'G WHO HAD BEEN JOSTLED BY THE LANDING BECAME A VICTIM OF 1ACERATIONS & A BROKEN ARM FROM CONTACT WITH BARBED WIRE FENCE. THE PLT STATED THAT THE WIND WAS GUSTING AND SHIFTED DIRECTIONS JUST BEFORE TOUCHDOWN WHICH DRIFTED THE BALLOON TOWARD THE FENCE. THE WIND WAS 180 DEGREES AT 10 KTS, GUSTING TO 15 KTS. THE PLT STATED THAT HE TRIED TO CLIMB OVER THE FENCE, BUT THE BALLOONS RESPONSE WAS TOO SLOW. THIS LED TO THE VICTIMS INJUUIES BY BEING CAUGHT BETWEEN FENCE ANC BASKET. THE EVLUATION OF THE WX BEFORE TAKE OFF SHOWED THE WX STABLE ENOUGH FOR INFLATION & TAKEOFF. NO MENTION WAS MADE OF POTENTIAL FOR LNDG. IMMEDIATELY AFTER TAKEOFF THE BALLOON WAS DRIFTING NORTH AT 15 MPH. THIS SPEED DID NOT DECREASE AS THE ACFT DESCENDED FOR LNDG AFTER ABOUT 45 MINUTES OF FREE FLT. THE PLT HAD ABOUT 25 FLT HRS IN THIS MAKE & MODEL OF BALLOON OF WHICH 2 WAS DUAL (INSTRUCTIONAL).

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record DEN85LA127
Event ID
20001214X36432
Case number
DEN85LA127
Dataset
historical-pre2008
Source SHA-256
89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
  • Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
  • Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status, damage. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 89a26e6d93037720ebb790d5958c0e632a7dcc8f16c5f8167208360f61a0fb88; retrieved 2026-09-21T17:17:49.655Z.