RIO RANCHO, N.M. (KRQE) – It was a rough morning for some Balloon Fiesta pilots after winds took a lot of balloons to westside Albuquerque and Rio Rancho where one person was hospitalized after crashing into a tree.
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Video showed a hot air balloon hitting a towering old cottonwood tree at the former Club Rio Rancho Golf Course. Two people were inside that balloon when it was hung up about 25 feet off the ground. “Oh he hit the tree, he hit the tree,” said one neighbor along the old Rio Rancho Golf Course Wednesday morning in cell phone footage.
Emergency crews got to the scene around 8 a.m. finding the gondola tangled in branches with a pilot and a passenger inside. Rio Rancho Fire Department crews eventually pulled down the pilot who was riding with another person. One of the two people inside the balloon were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
A lot of balloons were blown onto the westside Wednesday with several crews landing near Coors and Ellison.
Fiesta organizers said they only had one report of a crash or hard landing Wednesday morning.
The Rio Rancho Police Department said crews worked into Wednesday afternoon to get that balloon out of the tree safely. The FAA and New Mexico State Police also responded to the crash.
