FTW83FA001 · Thunder Balloons, Ltd. AX9-140
Thunder Balloons, Ltd. AX9-140 · Accident: fire during landing
From Albuquerque, NM to Albuquerque, NM
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW83FA001
- 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
- 4 · 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
Thunder Balloons, Ltd. AX9-140
- Aircraft type
- Thunder AX9
- 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
- N9606A
- Operator
- Joseph A. Gonzales · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Albuquerque, NMTo Albuquerque, NM
- 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 · flare/touchdown
- 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
- Fire
- 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
- Balloon equipment, burner system › Improper
- Fuel system › Fire
- Fuel system, line fitting › Improper
- Fuel system, line fitting › Leak
- Fuel system, line › Improper
- Fuel system, line › Leak
- Pilot in command › Maintenance, major alteration, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
AFTER WHAT WAS DESCRIBED AS A NORMAL LANDING LIQUID PROPANE BEGAN ESCAPING. THE PROPANE VAPORIZED & WAS IGNITED ENGULFING THE GONDOLA IN FLAMES. FOUR PAX EXITED THE GONDOLA WHILE IT WAS STILL ON THE GROUND & THE LAST SURVIVOR EXITEDAT ABOUT 25 FT AS THE BALLOON BEGAN RISING. THE REMAINING 4 PAX BEGAN JUMPING OR FALLING FROM THE GONDOLA AT ABOUT 100 FT WITH THE LAST EXITING AT AN ESTIMATED 600 FT AGL. THE BALLOON CONTINUED TO RISE & AT ABOUT 1,000 FT TWO PROPANE TANKS EXPLODED. THE OWNER/PILOT HAD INSTALLED 6 PROPANE CYLINDERS. A PORTION OF ONE TEE FITTING WAS DETERMINED TO BE BRASS, & ACCORDING TO A METALLURGICAL REPORT THE HOSES USED TO MANIFOLD THE PROPANE CYLINDERS WERE DETERMINED TO BE RUBBER COVERED BY A WOVEN FABRIC. ONLY CADIUM PLATED STEEL FITTINGS & WIRE MESH REINFORCED HOSES WERE RECOMMENDED BY THUNDER BALLOONS,LTD. & AT NO TIME WOULD BRASS FITTINGS & NON-WIRE MESH HOSES BE RECOMMENDED BY THEM.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW83FA001
- Event ID
- 20020917X04636
- Case number
- FTW83FA001
- 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. 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: 2a6185dd57b30cb982296c651b7ef2e43c5a176c0f7fe50cfa4a242a2f550cb2; retrieved 2026-09-21T07:42:21.600Z.