The hot air balloon appears to crash on the Kingswood playing fields

Update: BristolLive has spoken to the pilot of the hot air balloon which an eyewitness is believed to have crashed in Kingswood. Amanda Thompson, who gained her pilot’s license in 2016 and has flown many flights around Bristol and the surrounding areas, explained that her landing was planned, safe and “perfect”. You can read the whole story and see some of the wonderful photos he took by clicking here.

Here’s our original story: A hot air balloon was forced to abandon its journey and crashed on a playing field in Kingswood. According to an eyewitness, he missed the houses because he lost altitude.

The incident happened last night, May 24, at around 8pm, on the Lees Hill playing field. A video shot at the scene shows the hot air balloon at the edge of the playing field very close to a hedge.

It was not confirmed how many people were traveling in the balloon or if they were injured. It is also not known why the balloon had to make a sudden emergency landing.

Read on:

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This year Bristol is set to host the 46th Bristol Balloon Fiesta. It takes place between August 9-11. It is a free and unticketed event open to all.

It sees the rolling hills of Ashton Court on the outskirts of Bristol become host to a temporary entertainment playground, with more than 100 hot air balloons taking flight over the three days.