Taking to the air in a hot air balloon is a wonderful adventure enjoyed by many enthusiasts around the world. Once airborne and the desired height has been reached a peaceful flight is normally had by all who cannot fail but to enjoy the spectacular scenery.
Of course, finding a suitable landing spot does not always go according to plan especially if the weather changes whilst airborne. However, even if the scheduled landing spot is missed it is usually possible to find somewhere else that is equally as safe to land. For instance, there is normally a farmer’s field to land your hot air balloon in perhaps with the offer of a bottle of whisky or wine as a thank you to the landowner.
Well, you may be interested to read that the landing of a hot air balloon in Florida, USA did not quite go according to plan. Unfortunately, the wind meant that the pilot was unable to land exactly where he had hoped to. Instead, to avoid, power lines, the pilot landed the hot air balloon in a pond resulting in the 16 passengers and the pilot getting rather wet.
Fortunately, the basket landed the right way up in the water but as it drifted towards the bankside the basket turned over. Fortunately, nobody was seriously injured which is perhaps rather lucky as in the pond were a number of alligators but they paid no attention to the hot air balloon or the passengers.
The pilot received a lot of praise for his skill at avoiding the power lines. Apparently, he is an experienced hot air balloon pilot with in excess of 2,000 hours in the sky. Let us hope that his next trip is less traumatic.
If you are in need of airsports insurance why not give us a call at AIB Insurance on 02380 268 351 and speak with a member of our friendly staff who will happily arrange a quotation.
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