Hot air balloon travelling 'too fast to stop' damaged Essex house

The hot air balloon (pictured here in 2015) caused the damaged when it deflated on to a house

A house was damaged when a hot air balloon travelling "too fast to stop" deflated over it, a report found.

No-one was injured when the balloon landed "too close" to the property in Little Sampford, Essex on 30 April 2019.

A rapid deflation system might not have been fully working, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) found.

The AAIB said this could have contributed to the incident but could not have been detected.

The hot air balloon (pictured here in 2018) might not have had a fully operational rapid deflation system, the AAIB said

The balloon took off at 18:25 BST with 14 passengers and 35 minutes into the flight the pilot attempted to find somewhere to land.

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Two landings were aborted due to changes in wind direction and another due to power lines in the field.

By 20:00 BST and with light fading, the pilot became concerned the balloon might run out of fuel.

The incident happened in the village of Little Sampford, 11 miles (17km) from Braintree

Five minutes later the balloon landed in a field but the basket did not stop as quickly as expected and dragged across the field.

It stopped on its side just before a tree and deflated over the roof of a house and garage.

No-one was injured and the basket and envelope were not damaged but there was some "minor damage" to the property.

In its conclusion, the AAIB said: "The balloon... stopped too close to a house because it was travelling too fast to stop in the space available."

The hot air balloon company involved has been contacted for comment.