Balloon
Flight Crew Lighter-Than-Air; Flight Crew Commercial
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 11.5; Flight Crew Total 320; Flight Crew Type 320
Situational Awareness
Inflight Event / Encounter Object
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Aircraft; Airport; Human Factors
The events described took place during the landing phase of the evening mass ascension flight at the Festival of Ballooning; in daylight about 50 minutes before sunset. Several dozen balloons were making landing approaches to a neighborhood containing homes with large front and back yards; various common/recreation areas; and wide accessible roads. There were no above-ground power lines or similar hazards or obstructions. Although there was plenty of safe open space for landings; there was limited potential for rapid ascents/descents due to the large amount of balloon traffic heading for landings in this area. I was in level flight at approximately 30 FT AGL crossing over the roof of a house; on final approach to a landing in the road and open area immediately beyond the house; when I encountered a turn to the right; toward the chimney of the house. The balloon was moving extremely slowly; the onboard GPS had been reporting speeds of 0.0 - 0.1 MPH immediately before. I made 'pop' burns to start a gentle ascent to clear the obstruction; not wishing to ascend aggressively given the possibility of balloons immediately above. The ascent was insufficient; and the bottom 6 inches of the balloon's basket (the 'scuff' leather area) came into contact with the top 6 inches of the house's chimney structure. The basket came to rest against the chimney for a few seconds; the brief contact was extremely gentle and there was no damage of any kind. The basket then moved backward away from the chimney as the envelope rebounded slightly; at which point I burned briefly; crossed over the house on the previous trajectory and a minute or so later landed and packed up without incident in the planned landing spot at the other side of the road across from the house. There was no damage to the aircraft or to any property on the ground. There were no injuries to the pilot or passengers; and no injuries to any person on the ground. The momentary contact was due to the pilot's failure to maintain sufficient clearance from the structure in the final phase of the landing approach. Contributing factors were a) the relatively dense balloon traffic in the immediate area which made aggressive burning/ascent unwise and b) likely target fixation on the planned landing spot on the part of the pilot. A better procedure for this landing would have been to conduct the final approach at a slightly higher altitude; particularly given the high-traffic situation.
Balloon pilot reports contact between the baskets scuff and a residential chimney; during landing approach; at very low ground speed. A short burn allows the basket to clear the chimney and a normal landing ensues.