[fifixx]

Yesterday evening around 7 a balloon skimmed the house - we could see the people in the basket - and my 3 pigs went beserk.  They were so frightened that they went through an 8 ft deer fence, breaking through the wire and as well as some cuts and grazes, we cowering in the ditch at the bottom of the field.

I managed to get some feed to them as they wouldn't come back and were definitely still very stressed even an hour after.  I am absolutely furious - the pilot fired up twice over the farm and there are 43 white goats in the fields - you can't miss the fact there are livestock here - reading the Code of Conduct for balloon pilots, it is a complete no-no to put the burner on near animals.

I've phoned the company, emailed the UK balloon licencing club and await them all to get to work and tell me what they propose to do...

I dread to think how many horses in the village were spooked - lots in paddocks.  funnily enough the goats seemed OK although if they had been in kid, I would be even angrier!

Idiots....

Has anyone else had this problem and what was the outcome?

[ZaktheLad]

Sounds like a very irresponsible pilot.  I have been up in a hot air balloon and the pilot was extremely careful about flying over the fields with animals in it and also commented to us all about how very careful they have to be.  He made sure that he took the balloon high above any fields containing livestock and moved as quickly as possible away from any fields where he saw animals stressed and running about (usually horses).   

I hope your pigs are ok this morning and also that you receive a satisfactory response from the balloon company involved. 

[LouiseG]

We had one come over last night as well, the dog barked furiously at it and the pony who was grazing in the garden at the time went bonkers flew down our narrow side path then back up narrowly missing the greenhouse I had to catch him and hold him reassuring him until it had gone passed, it wasn't as close as yours but I was very glad I wasn't driving my pony at the time. They are beautiful to watch but totally agree that livestock don't like them.

[Steph Hen]

My father-in-law had one land in a cropped field, and 'Virgin' very quickly had 4x4 on the scene to pack everyone and everything up and cart it all back to base.

FiL contacted them and said they'd made a mess of the crop and he would like some compensation and an appology for landing in the field without any permission. They either didn't reply or said no... so he went public, it was before I lived here, but think he sent the story to the local paper, along with photos a neighbour had taken of the huge red ballon with Virgin logo, and photos of the mess after they'd driven over to collect it all.

I think he got his way pretty quickly. 

[Scotsdumpy]

We had a similar incident when we lived in England where a balloon narrowly missed our bungalow roof and landed in the farmers field which had barley in it. Apart from scaring all the animals including a one tonne shire horse, the pilot was extremely offensive when we challenged them. The farmer was quick thinking though and blocked the entrance. He demanded compensation and obviously gotit! I did feel a bit sorry for the passengers who had to help pack theballoon up. The flights arentcheap...

[plumseverywhere]

We regularly have them and because we are nestled in hills, they skim our land. It freaks all of my animals out. Not only air balloons but lately we've had a 'red devil' (idiot) who does loop the loops and dips and dives on our land, it was in the local paper recently and I took the opportunity to write in and complain about the impact on horses etc - he seems to be doing it elsewhere.

[fifixx]

Got the Code of Conduct ready for the phone call! http://www.bbac.org/lor/conduct

[ZaktheLad]

We have 2 x army helicopters and 2 x VERY Large army planes fly extremely low over our fields - almost skimming the roof of the house and so low that you can clearly see the pilots face.   The horse and sheep don;t bat an eyelid now, but it is quite scary when they fly over so low and with such noisy engines.  Luckily you can hear them coming some way in the distance unlike hot air balloons that suddenly appear out of nowhere.

[fifixx]

We are on the flight path from Blandford Camp - doesn't seem to bother the animals at all, possibly because aircraft are fairly constant in their lives from birth so they are used to the noise.  I think the balloons are seen as huge predators, which is why they spook the animals. 

[shygirl]

i remember once as kids,  a hot air balloon dropped near in our village and the men were kind enough to let us have a go in it up to about 30ft, tho they didnt let the rope go 
i imagine it would be quite terrifying for livestock.

[spandit]

Report it to the CAA, assuming you noted the reg?

[fifixx]

I've got the name of the company - but didn't see a reg number.  I've reported it to the BBAC (British Balloon and airship club) and am waiting to see what happens - no reply to my furious message left last night with the company though....

CAA - yes, will do -

[Anke]

WE have the fighter planes going pretty low over our fields, but as they are so fast - they are gone before you actually see them (and often hear them), the animals are ok about them. It's the low flying large (army) transport planes (the ones they use for dropping aid etc) and the double helicopters that you can hear a long time before, that scare the goats quite a lot... (and when I had heifers in for summer-grazing a couple of years back I thought they would jump out of the field... ), but I guess it would be pretty pointless to complain about them...
 
With a hot air balloon it is obviously a pleasure thing, so no need to go near livestock fields... so yes do complain and go public with it if necessary.

[fifixx]

Ha Ha Ha Ha - just went to see campers who said they thought it was so low it was going to crashland.  It went right over them, about another tree height over the tall oak tree (so not high!) 

The pilot called me about an hour ago - one of those drawling supercilious blokes - got short shrift from me.  Said he apologised - I said I would like compensation - so he offered me........a balloon flight! 

Asked for the CEO of his company, address, told him I had reported him to the CAA.  He said he had to let off burners to keep in the air - I quoted the Code of Conduct for flying over livestock to him....

Stupid man - if he's just said he was in trouble and had gone a bit too low, I would have been a bit more understanding.

[ferretkeeper]

It's the low flying large (army) transport planes (the ones they use for dropping aid etc) and the double helicopters that you can hear a long time before, that scare the goats quite a lot... (and when I had heifers in for summer-grazing a couple of years back I thought they would jump out of the field... ), but I guess it would be pretty pointless to complain about them...

Ahem, I think you'll find that's the RAF - that was me on the transport planes  not for a good few years now mind you, but they do fly incredibly low at times - apologies on their behalf!

When RAF Lyneham was still open there was a road at one end of the runway, the number of times I'd be driving along and out of nowhere the Herc is almost on top of my car, couldn't hear them coming! They still fly round here and there's obviously a lot of livestock on the Brecons, wonder how that works? 

I always had such a romantic notion of balloons, never imagined the animals would be so scared  poor piggies