Pilot Steve Richards was able to land in a private back garden as some of the 14 passengers feared for their lives after the balloon punctured
HOT air balloon passengers feared for their lives on a terror flight before crash-landing in a garden.
The 14 fliers were showered with branches as the basket ploughed into trees which punctured the Virgin balloon.
They watched pilot Steve Richards buzz across an RAF base and abort one landing on a patch of grass.
Eventually, he brought the balloon down in the back garden of a private house.
Passenger Shyam Kakad, 28, said last night: “I thought we were about to die.
“The trip just lurched from one disaster to the next. Virgin advertise as serene and unforgettable — I certainly won’t forget it in a hurry.”
The early morning trip, which cost £100 a head, began serenely as the balloon floated up through the clouds above Alton, Hants.
But 15 minutes in, the pilot struggled to gain height as they headed towards a clump of at least 20 trees.
Bank worker Shyam, of Woking, Surrey, said Mr Richards ordered everyone to take up landing positions.
He said: “There was a tremendous crashing branches snapping and flying everywhere. We were all covered in leaves and twigs.”
Although the balloon was ripped, the pilot ploughed on, flying at 1,200ft over RAF Odiham, a Chinook helicopter base.
After one aborted attempt to land on a patch of grass, he brought the balloon down in Helen Bide’s back garden. No one was injured.
Helen, 71, said: “I think they had had a few scary moments before they got to my garden. They were beginning to get low on fuel.”
Virgin insisted the balloon “was in the full control of our pilot at all times”.
