2012 Ljubljana Marshes hot air balloon crash
Lindstrand LBL 600C · Collision with trees and fire on landing
Event
- 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
- Event fatalities
- 6 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 32
- Survivors
- 26
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 26
- 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
- Charter & commuter
Lindstrand LBL 600C
- Aircraft type
- Lindstrand LBL-600
- Category
- Balloon · from aircraft type
- 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
- S5-OLO
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- 6
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Task performance
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
On 23 August 2012, a hot air balloon on a commercial sightseeing flight crashed in stormy weather on the Ljubljana Marsh in central Slovenia, killing 6 of the 32 people on board.
Accident
On 23 August at 7:54 am CEST (05:54 UTC), a hot air balloon carrying 32 passengers, mostly tourists, crashed and caught fire during a thunderstorm on the Ljubljana Marsh, in the Municipality of Ig, 7 km south of Ljubljana. A sudden weather change caused the pilot to try to land immediately. However, the emergency landing was thwarted by wind shear and the balloon hit nearby trees. A fire then broke out.
Investigation and cause
Investigation and trial
The investigation by the Slovenian Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission found that the main cause of the accident was the "improper technique used in operating balloon type LBL 600C in the landing phase." Contributory factors were "insufficient meteorological planning" and lack of consideration for the weather conditions at the time of the flight.
In a preliminary hearing, the pilot denied all these statements, pleading not guilty to the charge of causing general danger. The court trial began in November 2016. Two years later, the district court exonerated the defendant, based on an opinion of a foreign expert.
Text from the Wikipedia article “2012 Ljubljana Marshes hot air balloon crash” (revision 1371052364, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: 2012 Ljubljana Marshes hot air balloon crash
- Revision
- 1371052364 · 2026-08-24 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q4626051
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "2012 Ljubljana Marshes hot air balloon crash" (page 36806874, revision 1371052364)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- Reviewed correction (2026-09-26): A balloon carrying 32 paying passengers, mostly tourists, on a commercial sightseeing flight: a commercial tour flight. The article: "a hot air balloon on a commercial sightseeing flight"
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.