Mind if we drop in? Hot air balloon with 13 aboard makes emergency landing in California backyard

TEMECULA, Calif. — A balloon landed in a Southern California backyard — a balloon with 13 people.

The enormous hot air balloon, with a pilot and passengers in the basket, descended perfectly Saturday on a small area of grass at a home in Temecula. Hunter Perrin said he had no idea that he had visitors until a neighbor alerted him.

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

But there they were, a group of anxious people suddenly relieved to be on solid ground. Perrin's backyard grass is only 10 feet (3.05 meters) wide.

“It was unbelievable, like something out of a Disney fairy tale,” Jenna Perrin said. “The balloon didn't hit our house or our trees. It was kissing the fence.”

Brianna Avalos and her husband were riding in the balloon to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary. She said the pilot informed passengers that he needed to make an emergency landing because of low fuel and weak winds.

"At first I was like, 'Oh my God! We're in a backyard! This is crazy!'" Avalos told KABC-TV.

The blue balloon with gold stars and a crescent moon image was a spectacle as it rested in the yard and towered over Perrin's home. The pilot disembarked the passengers, returned aloft and landed the balloon nearby in the street, where it was dismantled.

“He was an amazing pilot,” Avalos said.

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