In a list of things you don’t expect to find behind your house, a hot air balloon full of people making an emergency landing is near the top.
On Saturday, April 18, homeowner Hunter Perrin shared footage of the moment he and his wife, Jenna Perrin, stepped outside to find the aircraft sitting in their yard.
The balloon, carrying a pilot and passengers, descended onto a small plot of grass at the Temecula home. Perrin said he had no idea he had visitors until a neighbor alerted him.
You can watch the video here:
- YouTubeHunter Perrin
Passengers were seen smiling from the gondola after the pilot safely brought the aircraft down. “Hi everybody,” the homeowner told the group as they laughed and took photos of the bizarre encounter.
The homeowner told the Associated Press:
“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 hot air balloon carrying a party of 13 people had arrived around 8:30 a.m., according to reports from KABC and CBS News. A neighbor knocked on the door, prompting him and his wife to go outside and see what was happening in their backyard.
He described stepping outside to the unexpected scene:
"I open the sliding glass door, and there's a basket full of thirteen people in my backyard! The pilot, he was masterful. He got it right down inside, like directly into the backyard, where there was nothing. The balloon didn't catch on anything. No one was injured."
The pair was told by the hot-air balloon pilot that he had to make an emergency landing when the wind died.
Hunter Perrin explained how the descent looked on approach:
"You can kind of see in the video of how they came in. He kind of plopped straight down and was moving very slowly."
The blue balloon, decorated with gold stars and a crescent moon, towered over the home as it came to rest in the backyard. The pilot disembarked the passengers, returned aloft, and then landed the balloon nearby in the street, where it was dismantled.
Jenna Perrin compared the scene to something out of a storybook:
“It was unbelievable, like something out of a Disney fairy tale. The balloon didn’t hit our house or our trees. It was kissing the fence.”
KABC confirmed there were no reports of damage or injuries. Hot-air ballooning is one of the more distinctive attractions in Temecula, with flights typically operating at sunrise due to afternoon and evening winds.
Brianna Avalos and her husband were among the passengers, riding in the balloon to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary. She said the pilot informed passengers that he needed to make an emergency landing due to low fuel and shifting wind conditions.
Avalos recalled the moment the pilot made the call:
"[The pilot] said there's not enough wind, because the wind kind of, like, stopped a little bit. And he was like, 'We're going to land.' And we only had a little bit of fuel left."
"He was trying to get us to the street, but we couldn't get to the street in time, so we landed in the people's backyard safe and sound, like no one's hurt, everyone's great. He was an amazing pilot!"
Social media had plenty to say about the unexpected landing, with many joking that Perrin handled the surprise more calmly than most would. Others praised the pilot’s precision, while some compared the backyard touchdown to something out of a movie.
You can view the reactions below:
Visitors can take in panoramic views of Southern California’s unique topography, estates, and surrounding scenery on sunrise flights, which operate year-round, weather permitting.
Denni Barrett, owner of Magical Adventure, the company that provides the balloon rides, declined to identify the pilot but said he had “exercised great judgment” and “done the right thing.”
But Barrett did address the unusual landing:
“Most of our landings are in wine country… Usually they’re bigger backyards.”
In this case, the landing spot just happened to come with a house—and a homeowner who now has a story most backyard barbecues won’t top.
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