Incident Details
A hot air balloon encountered challenging wind conditions during a landing approach, culminating in a hard impact with the ground. The pilot, who had obtained a weather briefing before the flight, initially experienced light winds as forecasted. However, during the approach, she observed winds increasing and varying greatly in direction.
Pilot Report
The pilot noted that landing sites were minimal and elected to land in a field. She briefed her passengers for a steep approach and short field landing. As the balloon reached trees upwind from the landing site, the pilot pulled the deflation port and warned passengers that the landing would be very hard.
After crossing the tree line, the pilot reported that it felt as if the balloon was being pushed to the ground at a greater descent than expected. The balloon subsequently impacted the ground hard.
Weather Conditions
Wind in the local area was reported as 120 degrees at 3 knots. The pilot reported wind from 140 to 200 degrees at 15-20 knots at the time of the incident.