A balloon pilot reported striking a power line that was not initially visible. He took evasive actio...

Attributes
ACN	1477028
Time
Date	201708
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Balloon
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Landing
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial
Events
Anomaly	Inflight Event / Encounter Object

Narrative:

Slow descent to land a hot air balloon in a golf course parking lot. A power pole hidden in a tree prevented me from determining there was a power line in the area. I had briefed my crew member as an observer. He shouted power line to our left but in our path. I hit both blast valves but balloon did not respond quickly enough. We struck the line with the suspension cables above the basket and were hung up for about 5 seconds when the line snapped with a very small electric arc. We then proceeded to a gentle landing on the golf course.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A balloon pilot reported striking a power line that was not initially visible. He took evasive action; which snapped the power line; and was able to land safely.

Narrative: Slow descent to land a hot air balloon in a golf course parking lot. A power pole hidden in a tree prevented me from determining there was a power line in the area. I had briefed my crew member as an observer. He shouted power line to our left but in our path. I hit both blast valves but balloon did not respond quickly enough. We struck the line with the suspension cables above the basket and were hung up for about 5 seconds when the line snapped with a very small electric arc. We then proceeded to a gentle landing on the golf course.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.