A man in California captured the terrifying moment the hot air balloon he was travelling in came crashing down. It was the first balloon ride for Nicholas McCall but high-speed winds forced the balloon to crash land.
The crash was first posted by Mr McCall on TikTok and subsequently found its way to other social media platforms. The video is going now viral.
“My first hot air balloon experience was going great until the winds picked up,” he captioned the video.
The 24-second footage shows Mr McCall in the basket of the balloon with several others as it flies over the town of Perris, near San Diego, according to Daily Mail.
Suddenly, the video cuts to the crash with high-speed wind slamming the balloon down.
"Here we go!" the guide is heard in the video. "Everybody hang on! Everybody hang on and stay in the basket!" he screams.
In the shaky footage, the guide keeps telling the riders to remain in the balloon's basket at all times. “In the basket with me! Stay on! Stay on! Stay on!” he further says.
The basket then smashes into the ground and is dragged due to high wind. Riders are heard screaming during the harsh landing.
Fortunately, no one was injured in the incident. According to Daily Mail, the clip has been viewed more than 65,000 times on TikTok.
After the video clip went viral, many social media users lauded the guide for remaining calm during the incident.
“I need the calmness that guy has in my life,” one user commented. “Never met a calmer man in my life,” said another.
A third user called the pilot “smart” for communicating with the passengers of the balloon.
