Hemet police had their hands full Wednesday morning, dragging on ropes and tugging to help Bill Dobbs, of Utah, make an emergency landing of his hot air balloon near Johnston Avenue and Arbor Parkway.
The balloon had apparently ran out of fuel, and its operator was trying to land on nearby Mary Henley Park but overshot the park by about a block because of strong winds, Cpl. Dan Reinbolt said.
Hemet police officers pull down a rope attached to a hot air balloon that made an emergency landing in a residential area in Hemet Wednesday morning. Strong winds blew the balloon about a block away from the operator's intended landing spot.
As police officers and other city workers saw the balloon descend into the residential area, about 20 of them gave assistance by tugging and dragging on ropes to keep the balloon from hitting nearby homes or causing injury, Reinbolt said.
"With everybody's help, we were able to bring it down safely," he said.
Dobbs could not be reached to comment.
Reinbolt said the incident occurred about 8:30 a.m. He said Dobbs, who took off from Perris Airport, had taken two groups of skydivers for jumps. After the second group made the jump, Reinbolt said, Dobbs had planned to descend on an open field, but the strong winds blew him to Hemet, and he soon found himself dangerously low on fuel.
"He was heading for Mary Henley Park, but as he landed, he overshot the park," he said.
The roadway was shut down for about 40 minutes while the balloon was cleared up, Reinbolt said. He said Dobbs and his crew drove off with the balloon.
Source
No comments:
Post a Comment