ERA13LA169 · Cameron Balloons US Z-105
Aarons Balloon Cameron Balloons US Z-105 · Accident: collision during takeoff/landing on approach
From Redland, FL to Miami Homestead General Aviation Airport (X51)
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA13LA169
- 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
- Unknown
- 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
Cameron Balloons US Z-105
- Aircraft type
- Cameron Z-105
- 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
- N4019A
- Operator
- Aarons Balloon
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Redland, FLTo Miami Homestead General Aviation Airport (X51), Homestead, FL
- 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
- Approach
- Defining eventThe 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
- Collision during takeoff/landing
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Wire
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Minor
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
According to the pilot, the sightseeing flight was at an altitude of about 1,000 feet above ground level. However, the passengers said that during the last mile of the flight, the basket brushed the tree tops, and impacted a power line. An eyewitness’s photograph showed the balloon at a low altitude over a nearby farm field. The pilot stated that he was aware of and knew where the power lines were and both passengers stated that the ground crew warned him of the approaching power lines over the radio. The pilot reported that the balloon encountered a downdraft that resulted in the balloon's basket contacting the power line.
A review of several nearby recorded weather observations did not reveal any indication of any abrupt wind changes or formation of any adverse weather conditions. A high-resolution weather observation at the intended landing destination, which was about 1 mile from the accident site indicated a light and variable wind was present. Based on this recorded information, at the time of the accident, it is unlikely that a downdraft or other adverse weather conditions existed at or around the time of the accident.
It is probable that the pilot, who was aware of the power lines, did not maintain adequate vigilance and failed to recognize the impending collision with the power lines.
Probable cause
The pilot’s failure to maintain sufficient altitude to avoid obstructions during the approach to land, which resulted in a collision with power lines.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA13LA169
- Event ID
- 20130316X64509
- Case number
- ERA13LA169
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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: 0337b00c0a3b9891a589ef7eb6d0aa8111d3528ad941ddc032699207762b0561; retrieved 2026-09-15T21:06:42.159Z.