Picture this: You’re watching TV. Your wife is doing yoga. Everything is perfectly normal. Then a neighbor pounds on your door to tell you a hot air balloon just landed in your backyard.
That’s exactly what happened to one Southern California family last weekend, and the whole thing was caught on video that’s now going viral on TikTok.
Hunter Perrin was having a quiet morning at his Temecula home in Riverside County when the universe decided to shake things up. A hot air balloon — decorated with yellow stars and a moon like something straight out of a storybook — descended into his backyard at around 8:30 a.m. with 13 people on board.
The wildest part? He didn’t even notice at first.
“I was watching TV and my wife was doing yoga,” Perrin told the Associated Press. “There was a man standing in front of my door saying: ‘They just landed.’ What? I was very confused.”
He gave a similar account to Eyewitness News: “I go and answer the door. This guy’s like, ‘They just landed in your backyard!’” Perrin said. “And I’m like, ‘What!?’”
How the Family Reacted to Seeing a Hot Air Balloon in Their Backyard
When Hunter opened his sliding glass door, the scene waiting for him was almost too surreal to process.
“I open the sliding glass door, and there’s a basket full of 13 people in my backyard!” he said. “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.”
His wife, Jenna Perrin, had the kind of reaction most of us would.
“It was unbelievable, like something out of a Disney fairy tale,” Jenna said. “The balloon didn’t hit our house or our trees. It was kissing the fence.”
And then there was the greeting committee.
“And I run to the backyard, and there’s a whole group of people that are just waving at me,” Jenna said. “And I’m like, ‘Oh my God. So the sound I heard was the flames?!’ And I’m like … ‘Hi!’”
What Happened Up in the Air Before the Emergency Landing?
So how did a balloon full of people end up in a suburban backyard? The weather. There simply wasn’t enough wind to keep the balloon moving.
One of the passengers, Brianna Avalos, was on the ride with her husband to celebrate their 10-year anniversary. She recalled the moment things shifted.
“He 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,” Avalos told Eyewitness News.
The pilot had initially aimed for a different landing spot.
“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!” Avalos said.
Her first reaction on landing? Pure disbelief.
“At first I was like, ‘Oh my God! We’re in a backyard! This is crazy!’” she said.
The Hot Air Balloon Pilot Was Praised for the Safe Landing
Denni Barrett, the owner of Magical Adventure, which provides the balloon excursions, declined to provide the name of the pilot but said he had “exercised great judgment” and “done the right thing,” per PBS.
“Most of our landings are in wine country,” Barrett said, referring to the abundant vineyards in Riverside County. “Usually they’re bigger backyards.”
Wind speed is the most important factor in hot air ballooning because balloons travel entirely with the wind and cannot be steered directly. Pilots prefer very light, steady winds — generally under about 6 knots, around 7 mph, for takeoff. Anything above roughly 10-12 knots is often considered too risky depending on conditions. Calm conditions near the ground are crucial for safe takeoff and landing, which is why hot air balloons usually fly in the early morning or evening when the atmosphere is calmest.
