Balloon
Flight Crew Commercial
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 110; Flight Crew Total 2291; Flight Crew Type 132
Communication Breakdown; Situational Awareness; Training / Qualification
Airspace Violation All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR
Flight Crew Exited Penetrated Airspace
Procedure; Weather; Human Factors
I piloted a hot air balloon on a cross-country flight as an entry in a competition. The flight was planned the evening prior to the morning launch; and on the morning of the flight; the weather looked ideal for the attempt. Top ground speed attained was 72 mph as measured by GPS during the flight. Most of the flight was flown near or below 12;500 feet MSL with an average speed aloft of 65 mph. Upon nearing the ZZZ area; a descent was initiated from approximately 13;000 feet in order to remain underneath the floor of the ZZZ Class B airspace. However; the lightly loaded balloon (which could not descend as quickly as normal); coupled with the high rate of speed (65 mph); caused me to misjudge the descent angle; causing the balloon to overshoot my intended target area/altitude by a few miles.The balloon continued over the top of the Class B airspace at approximately 10;100 feet MSL and into/through the airspace while descending from 9000 feet to 6000 feet MSL until approximately 2.5 miles from the western edge. I used my handheld aircraft radio to contact Approach but received no response; likely owing to limited transmission range. The goal of the flight was to cover the farthest distance; and that meant climbing to and maintaining a high altitude to take advantage of the fast winds aloft. At high altitude; there is reduced perception of ground speed. As well; hot air balloons rarely fly at speeds of higher than 30 mph. My relative inexperience with such high speeds caused me to overestimate the ability of the balloon to descend in time to clear the Class B. This airspace incursion would have been prevented with better situational awareness. Beginning the descent 3 minutes sooner would have kept us clear of Class B.
Balloon pilot reported an airspace violation due to unanticipated wind speeds.