Hot air balloon carrying 13 makes emergency landing in family’s backyard

Travel
21 Apr 2026 • 2:59 PM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

Hot air balloon carrying 13 makes emergency landing in family’s backyard

A hot air balloon with 13 aboard made an emergency landing in a Southern California backyard.

Homeowner Hunter Perrin posted footage to his YouTube channel showing the balloon filled with anxious passengers after it landed on a small patch of grass at his Temecula home on Saturday (18 April).

He told AP: “I was watching TV and my wife was doing yoga. There was a man standing in front of my door saying, ‘They just landed.’ What? I was very confused.”

The pilot disembarked the passengers, returned aloft and then landed the balloon nearby in the street, where it was dismantled.