CHI85FEE02 · Balloon Works FIREFLY AX-7 FIREFLY AX
Balloon Works FIREFLY AX-7 FIREFLY AX · Accident: loss of control on ground/water during takeoff
From Somonauk, IL to C48 · Sandwich, IL
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's injuries. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI85FEE02
- 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
Balloon Works FIREFLY AX-7 FIREFLY AX
- Aircraft type
- Balloon Works FIREFLY AX-7
- 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
- N40532
- Operator
- Ronald W. Pierce · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Somonauk, ILTo C48 · Sandwich, IL
- 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
- Takeoff
- 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
- Loss of control on ground/water
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Clearance, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Compensation for wind conditions, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Proper climb rate, not attained
- Pilot in command › Weather evaluation, misjudged
- Pilot in command › Wind information, disregarded
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE BALLOON COLLIDED WITH POWERLINES DURING TAKEOFF. THE WIND WAS REPORTED AS 10-15 MPH WITH GUSTS. THE OPERATION WAS CANCELED DUE TO THE WIND AFTER 6 SUCCESSFUL LAUNCHES. THE LAST PLT WAS REPORTEDLY PRESSURED TO GO BY HIS PASS'G AND A GUST OF WIND BLEW THEM INTO THE WIRES. ONE PERSON WAS THROWN FROM THE BASKET DURING THE COLLISION AND SUFFERED BROKEN BONES IN HIS ARMS AND RIBS. THE OTHER 3 HAD JUMPED AS INSTRUCTED BY THE PLT AND ESCAPED INJURY.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI85FEE02
- Event ID
- 20001214X36691
- Case number
- CHI85FEE02
- 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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1985-06-18.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 67373b38135267340930adfe10132bd9eb2e8b0936b336124881d0144d4f7d57; retrieved 2026-09-21T17:15:15.954Z.