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Hot Air Balloon Makes Hard Landing In Grafton MBTA Parking Lot, Damages Cars

GRAFTON (CBS) – A hot air balloon pilot with a half dozen passengers on board crashed into a Grafton parking lot this morning – his second mishap in as many years.

"He said the weather fooled him," witness Bob Abair, who spoke to the pilot moments after the incident, told WBZ-TV.

The hard landing landing came in the MBTA Commuter Rail parking lot. None of the seven people on board, or anyone on the ground, were injured, but three vehicles sustained minor damage.

Abair and his wife Mary were driving home when they spotted the low flying balloon and knew immediately it was in trouble.

"Oh, you absolutely knew it was going to crash," said Mary Abair.

The couple scrambled over to help.

"It didn't look windy," Bob Abair said. "But the pilot said there were a lot of down drafts and he just couldn't get up."

grafton-balloon
The hot air balloon that made an unexpected landing in Grafton (Photo credit Grafton News)

Indeed, pilot Deral Young had just taken off from neighboring Shrewsbury with a group celebrating a woman's birthday when things went awry.

He aimed for a field by the Tufts Veterinary School but the squirrely winds caused him to overshoot it.

Instead he wound up in the parking lot of the Grafton commuter rail station – where he snapped a light pole before hitting several cars.

MBTA Police are spearheading the probe because it landed on 'T' property.

"We were very worried he was going to crash onto the train tracks," says Bob Abair.

"It was pretty scary for those passengers," his wife added. "But they're all okay. They're fine."

Investigators are likely to have an array of questions for Young, who flies for "Damn Yankee Balloons."

Young was at the helm in July of 2014, when his balloon hit some power lines in Clinton – a mishap that seriously injured three of his passengers.

The former Navy officer has been flying hot air balloons for almost four decades – and is also a licensed small plane pilot.

"Obviously it is not a fool proof process," says Bob Abair.

Fortunately today's mishap ended with all passengers smiling in a group photo alongside their downed balloon.

"And the guys were taking it kind of casually," Abair explained. "They were saying 'what a bunch of great stories we've got!'"

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