ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 215783
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| Date: | Sunday 15 April 2018 |
| Time: | 08:20 LT |
| Type: |  Ultramagic T-180 |
| Owner/operator: | Ballons du Léman |
| Registration: | HB-QPY |
| MSN: | 180/112 |
| Year of manufacture: | 2012 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 8 |
| Aircraft damage: | None |
| Category: | Serious incident |
| Location: | 10 NM NE of Saint-Prex (SPR) -
 Switzerland
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Passenger - Non-Scheduled/charter/Air Taxi |
| Departure airport: | Sullens |
| Boussens | |
| Investigating agency: | STSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information verified through data from accident investigation authorities |
On 15 April 2018, the pilot of an Ultramagic T-180 hot-air balloon, registration HB-QPY, took off at 07:35 from Sullens, located 8 km north of Lausanne, Switzerland for a flight with seven passengers.
Given that the weather indicated a light northeast wind of less than 10 km/h and that forecasts predicted a wind from the southwestern sector of 10 to 20 km/h from 800 m (2630 ft AMSL), the pilot decided to take off with the strategy of descending for 10 minutes and then make an ascent back towards Echallens, 7 km northwest of the place of departure. After a few minutes of flight, the pilot noticed the wind to be stronger than expected and that the batteries of the instruments, of which a GPS as well as the VHF radio, were almost empty and stopped during the flight.
Convinced that he would find the necessary wind, the pilot continued the climb according to the indications of his laptop equipped with a flight program with barometric altimeter. He therefore decided to start a climb fairly quickly in order to head northwest again.
Since the pilot considered himself below the lower ceiling of the 7500 ft AMSL Terminal Control Area (TMA), he did not see the need to call the pilot of another balloon from the same operator.
After a smooth flight from Zurich (LSZH), an Airbus A321 passenger aircraft, with call sign SWR28GR and registration HB-IOC, was on approach to Geneva (LSGG) under radar guidance. The flight crew was invited by the approach control to fly directly to the Saint-Prex beacon (SPR). At the same time when ordered to descend to 7000 ft AMSL, the crew also received the approach clearance under the instrument flight rules for runway 23. At 08:19, the crew of the SWR83GR reported having a hot air balloon in their field of vision in front. The pilot reported his intention to deviate by about 10 degrees to the right. Soon after that, the crew reported that they had bypassed the hot air balloon to the west at a distance of 500 m and at the same altitude.
At about 08:20, the occupants of the HB-QPY saw a Swiss aircraft slightly above their altitude and initiating a turn.
The two aircraft approached over the locality of Sullens, about 10 NM northeast of the Saint-Prex beacon (SPR), at the same altitude and up to a distance of 0.3 NM (550 m). Then the two aircraft proceeded without further incident.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
STSB
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 28-Sep-2018 17:07 | harro | Added |
| 15-Nov-2021 10:25 | BEAVERSPOTTER | Updated [Cn] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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