NTSB CAROL · Event
Event CEN23LA293
Registry · N9184D
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
AEROSTAR INTERNATIONAL INC RX 8
Year of manufacture
1994 · 29 years old at event
Engine
NONE NONE
Seats / Engines
1 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19940606
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S ACB74B
Registrant of record
LIVADAS GREG
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot’s failure to maintain the proper descent rate during the balloon’s approach to landing, which resulted in a hard landing, the passenger’s leg hitting the gas tank, and serious injury.
Factual narrative
Following an uneventful flight, the pilot descended the balloon at a steep angle into a field lined with trees. The pilot had briefed the passengers on the proper brace position before the flight and then again just before the landing. The basket touched down firmly, slid about 15 ft, and stopped upright. The passenger reported that the hard landing pushed her knee into the gas tank that she was standing next to. The passenger stated that after the first hard landing the balloon bounced again and then tipped over. Following the landing the passenger experienced pain in her leg. It was later determined the passenger had a broken left tibia. The pilot stated that there were no mechanical malfunctions with the balloon that would have precluded normal operations. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12
NTSB Findings
Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).
- — Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot
- — Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Descent rate-Not attained/maintained
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2023_CEN23LA293.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
Beyond the agency record
Search this event elsewhere.
Pre-filled searches into the sources where news + community discussion of aviation events lives. External sources are reported, not agency. Treat them as signal that something happened, not as fact about what happened.
Entity-clustered aviation events in the press — last 24 hr + 30-day archive.
Official agency record + docket.
Investigative docket: factual reports, photos, transcripts.
Long-running aviation incident database (Flight Safety Foundation).
Community NTSB synthesis blog — often has photos and witness reports.
Gold-standard aviation incident blog.
Aviation industry news search.
GA pilot forum — informed but rumor-prone.
GA pilot subreddit search.
Tail-number page — flight history (free tier limited).
AOPA Air Safety Institute search.
Mainstream press coverage. Recent events only.
Privacy-preserving news search.
External links open in a new tab. We don't ingest their content; we deep-link search queries.