A hot air balloon on its maiden flight with 12 people on board made an emergency landing in a Melbourne street.
Emergency services were called to an Elwood property about 7.20am on Wednesday to find a balloon draped over two rooftops and the basket in the yard and car park.
Fire Rescue Victoria’s high angle rescue technicians were brought in to remove the deflated balloon. Police and SES volunteers were also at the scene.
No one was injured.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating, interviewing the pilot and passengers and taking the balloon for examination.
Nick Brau, the chief pilot for Liberty Balloon Flights, told radio 3AW the balloon was on its maiden journey. It flew for about half an hour but struggled to get in the air properly.
He said the incident was “a bit embarrassing” and there was a malfunction he could not explain.
“The valve that releases hot air from the top, which we use to manoeuvre the balloon, didn’t seal properly,” Brau told 3AW.
“So I was losing a lot of heat and it was difficult to keep the balloon up in the air so that’s why I was flying low and I was aiming for the beach but we didn’t make it for about 200 metres.”
Karen, a passenger, was on board with her family for her daughter’s birthday and said the basket bumped the tops of a few buildings on the way down.
She told ABC radio Brau did an amazing job landing the balloon on the small suburban street.
“He missed the powerlines, he missed the cars, some big elm trees that [were] buffeted at our fall, so we didn’t come down too aggressively, although it was, you know, quite a thud,” Karen said.
“But nobody was hurt, he was incredibly calm. He did an amazing job, really.”
Chris Kessaris, the owner of the pet grooming store Petiquette by Caroline, was two doors down from where the hot air balloon eventually touched down. While Kessaris didn’t see the incident directly, he was surprised to find a sizeable amount of straw in the backyard when he arrived this morning to work.
“There’ve been heaps of people gathering around,” he said.
Despite being in the balloon’s flight path, Kessaris wasn’t surprised by the affair. He said there were “always dramas” with hot air balloons in the area.
“Chris from Petiquette definitely won’t be getting his arse in a hot air balloon, and you can quote me on that,” he said of the incident.
“We’ve seen them two metres above the water out where they do the kite surfing in St Kilda.”
“There are always dramas with them, they’re always flying low to the floor, I’ve had it on my Instagram a few times.”
