No one was hurt when a hot air balloon made what was described as a routine precautionary landing in Langley City Monday night (July 28).
The Sundance Balloons balloon, with at least 10 people on board, came in low over Langley City around 9:30 p.m. heading northeast over apartment and townhouse complexes in the downtown area.
It had taken off from the Langley airport earlier that evening around 7 p.m.
Sundance Balloons spokesperson Jeff Chatterton told the Times the pilot of the balloon decided to set down because there wasn't enough of a breeze to make it back to the airport.
"The winds were light," Chatterton said.
"He [the pilot] had an opportunity to put the balloon down safely … it was a completely routine precautionary landing."
The pilot of the balloon managed to set it down in a vacant lot next to a gas station on the Langley Bypass near the Glover Road intersection, across the street from the Kwantlen Polytechnic University campus.
RCMP were on the scene.
The balloon was quickly deflated and removed.
Sundance Balloons is an Ontario-based company that describes itself on its website as "one of the world’s largest operators of commercial hot air balloons, flying over 12,000 passengers each year in 12 cities across Canada."