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hot air balloon almost crashed into my house

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radiantquest

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This afternoon I was getting out of the shower and heard a weird noise. I was still nakee so I could not investigate myself so I yelled to DH. I told him that it sounded like something loud was being dragged every few seconds. Then he heard it and said that it was a hot air balloon. He looked outside and there it was! It was obviously in distress because I live in a heavily wooded area and there is no way that the desired landing zone was anywhere near. He said that it was just a couple feet from hitting the house. I didn''t get to see it because I was not in a position to go running. I did get dressed and made it outside to see that it had missed our house, but was clearly trying to land. It was less than half and acre away by the time I got to see it. Off of our property, but so close. I am not sure where it landed, but I can''t imagine it was a soft landing because it was headed into an area that has a stream and a lot of trees. I searched to see if there was info about it on the net yet and there wasn''t. I feel so bad for those people. I can only imagine the tragedy had it hit our house. Those people probably would have died. Arent those things highly flammable? I don''t understand why they didn''t just land in our yard. We have plenty of space. Now that I think about it that is probably what they were trying to do and then realized they wouldn''t hit ground in time and that is why they were so close to the top of the house.

I always wanted to take a balloon ride. I think that I no longer do.
 
What a freak thing.

I don''t think I''d ride in one.
You can''t control the wind.
 
Weird! How random. Glad they were able to land safely. I''ve always like the idea of a hot air balloon ride, but not the reality of what is entailed. I wonder if those poeple will ever go on a ride again.
 
Oh my, those poor people! They must have been terrified!

Glad it didn''t hit your house... Do you carry a hot air balloon clause on your insurance?
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That''s weird! I hope everyone is ok, and I''m glad it didn''t hit your house!

I went on a hot air balloon ride last year and it was easily one of the most amazing things I''ve ever done. The place we landed WAS someone''s yard, apparently they have some sort of deal with hot air balloon companies because I saw other balloons landing there too. I''d do it again in a heartbeat.
 
weird,but made for an interesting post!
 
Yikes!

Glad the adventurers and your house are okay!
 
Yikes! I''m so glad you are ok. I can''t imagine the hassle that would be to work out with the insurance company if it hit your house.

On another note, I was dogsitting for my sister once and a hot air balloon flew low over the house. My sister''s dog started jumping up in the air and trying to catch it. That''s when I knew he was stupid.
 
How odd! lol We live right by a hot air balloon company and there are at least 3-4 floating around EVERY day. I''ve been up close to one and they are HUGE! A lot bigger than one would expect.

Glad you guys are okay.
 
If it makes you feel any safer, I''ve done quite a bit of hot air ballooning. If it had "crashed" into your house it probably would not have done much damage other than rip some shingles, and it''s very unlikely that anyone would have died. No, they are not "highly flammable". They''re filled with air, not gas. Stuff happens, though not often. The biggest danger to ballooning would be power lines, and that is fairly rare. Occasionally you do get off course and have to land in an area that wasn''t planned. All hot air balloonists that I know have a chase car that follows the balloon. The gondola basket doesn''t weigh all that much, and while it might land harder than planned, they don''t really crash per se.
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RQ, this is a really funny coincidence . . . almost the EXACT SAME THING happened to me when I was little!

I was about five years old or so, and I was in the bathtub, when my Mom came running in, grabbed me and wrapped me up in a towel, and carried me to the front door so that I could see a hot air balloon landing on our street! It was VERY cool!
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Date: 10/12/2009 1:09:37 AM
Author: purrfectpear
If it makes you feel any safer, I''ve done quite a bit of hot air ballooning. If it had ''crashed'' into your house it probably would not have done much damage other than rip some shingles, and it''s very unlikely that anyone would have died. No, they are not ''highly flammable''. They''re filled with air, not gas. Stuff happens, though not often. The biggest danger to ballooning would be power lines, and that is fairly rare. Occasionally you do get off course and have to land in an area that wasn''t planned. All hot air balloonists that I know have a chase car that follows the balloon. The gondola basket doesn''t weigh all that much, and while it might land harder than planned, they don''t really crash per se.
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Ditto this! I have never ridden in one, but we have the International Balloon Fiesta where I live (Sunday was it''s last day), and the only time that there is a big problem is when they hit power lines. They have very little control over where they land - they just do their best to touch down in an empty spot, but sometimes that doesn''t work out!

The most they would have done to your house is make a loud noise, maybe some slightly cosmetic damage. They would have been able to stay in the gondola, though, so they would have lived!
 
I wasn''t too concerned about the house I was more concerned about the people riding in it. I don''t know why I thought it was flammable, I just did. I know that hot air will cause lift and that is why they fire the burner. What is the burner filled with to cause the fire to heat the air? At any rate I am so glad that it didn''t hit our house and I never did hear emergency vehicles so it must have landed safely. I have never seen one that close and they are HUGE. Really makes you think that they must be really high up and far away when I typically see them because they don''t look like they would be that big.

There must be somethig going on in our area because I saw another one this morning. In the air where it should be, but it was around 7:30 I think. Early for a fun ride I would think.
 
Date: 10/12/2009 9:37:54 AM
Author: radiantquest
I wasn''t too concerned about the house I was more concerned about the people riding in it. I don''t know why I thought it was flammable, I just did. I know that hot air will cause lift and that is why they fire the burner. What is the burner filled with to cause the fire to heat the air? At any rate I am so glad that it didn''t hit our house and I never did hear emergency vehicles so it must have landed safely. I have never seen one that close and they are HUGE. Really makes you think that they must be really high up and far away when I typically see them because they don''t look like they would be that big.

There must be somethig going on in our area because I saw another one this morning. In the air where it should be, but it was around 7:30 I think. Early for a fun ride I would think.

It''s usually propane firing the burners, but they can use basically anything that burns. All they need is heat!
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And 7:30am is about right for a "fun" ride - they have to do it early enough in the day sp that it''s cool enough to rise with the hot air.
 
i was in a hot air balloon a few years ago and it "crashed" in someones yard...lol...the people looked at us coming down as if we were aliens invading their yard. it was a great experience...lol
 
Yipes! My goodness! Glad it didn''t hit the house.
 
Oh wow, what an experience! And quite a random thing too.

Did you call 911? I would have to let them know there was a hot air balloon in obvious distress so that they could try to find it once it landed.
 
We''ve had a few just graze the treetops, but they can usually land in the street or in the field about 1/2 mile away. It never fails to amaze me that some of the operators have no idea what they are doing. The pain too are the cars that follow when the balloons do come down. They go down people''s driveways and one almost drove through someone''s backyard to get to the fileld.

Yes, the weird noise can be scary! The last time it happened DD was about 10 years old and she rolled up her shade and there were these people waving to her. That is how close and low they came to the house (not to mention knocked a bunch of branches off my trees) Haven''t had any come that close to the house in at aleast 7 years.
 
We had one hit our house many years ago. No damage and they kept on going, but it scared a dog we were babysitting so much she bolted from our yard. That was the worst part--losing someone else''s dog! We eventually caught her though.
 
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