Claims of hot air balloon emergency landing in Hyderabad false; it was a controlled touchdown: Flight Safety Chief

Dismissing viral social media claims that a hot air balloon made an emergency landing near Neknampur lake in Hyderabad following a technical snag on Saturday (January 17, 2026), a flight safety chief associated with the ongoing Hot Air Balloon Festival in Hyderabad said that the widely circulated videos only showed a routine and controlled landing in an open field, which is standard practice in balloon operations.

Captain M Chouhan, Chief of Flight Safety at Sky Waltz, the company operating the balloons at the festival, told The Hindu that reports of a technical snag and emergency landing near Neknampur Lake were absolutely false. “The images and videos being widely shared reflected a normal landing procedure. This is just a lack of public understanding about how hot air balloons operate,” he added.

How hot air balloons operate

Hot air balloons operate on the basic principle of buoyancy, where air heated by a propane burner inside the fabric envelope becomes lighter than the cooler air outside, allowing the balloon to rise, while reducing heat causes it to descend. Unlike aircraft, balloons do not have engines or steering mechanisms and are guided primarily by wind currents, which is why they are designed to land in open grasslands or farmlands rather than on runways, he added.

Landing location based on wind conditions

He further explained that this is the standard method of landing a hot air balloon. Since the exact landing location is determined mid-flight based on wind conditions, balloons are typically brought down in open grasslands, where ground teams track their movement and reach the site. Upon landing, the crew spreads out a tarpaulin, gradually tips the balloon sideways, deflates it and then folds it for packing.

The flight safety chief, who is certified by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), added that the same type of landing was followed by all balloons at the event, including the one carrying Tourism Minister Jupally Krishna Rao. “If you look at pictures and videos of 10 other balloons, they will land in the exact same manner,” he said. Captain Chouhan also pointed out that in the viral video, the balloon remained fully uprightm indicating a controlled landing rather than a crash.