Hot air balloon lands safely in Mass Pike maintenance yard in Auburn with 7 on board

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

After slowly gliding over commuters, many of whom waved and blew their horns, a recreational hot air balloon landed in the lot of a Massachusetts Turnpike maintenance facility in Auburn yesterday morning, according to the balloon’s pilot and passengers.

“This is one that I will be telling my friends about for a while,’’ said passenger Dan Montanye who was on board with his girlfriend, Eleonor Scharbach of Newton. “It was a lot of fun.’’

Bella Via’s balloon at landing.

Amedeo (Mario) DiStefano, the owner of Worcester-based Bella Via Balloon company and a 33-year-veteran of hot air ballooning, was in charge yesterday. He said he had a total of six passengers on board. The flight began at 6:30 a.m. when the balloon went airborne from Institute Park in Worcester.

About 45 minutes later, DiStefano said, he decided against attempting to land at an open field and continued the flight because of the brilliance of the morning light and ease of wind conditions. A short while later, he tried to land in another another grassy area, but the winds bounced the balloon toward trees surrounding the field, preventing a safe landing.

Still some 300 feet in the air, DiStefano noticed that his chase crew had driven into the turnpike’s maintenance facility in Auburn and saw the relatively wide open space of the facility’s parking area -- and began a controlled descent that took the balloon over the highway.

“We had a perfectly safe, controlled landing,’’ DiStefano said. “I made the driveway just perfectly from my point of view, a pretty accurate landing.’’

State Police said the balloon came to rest about 100 feet off the Mass Pike itself, and that the incident caused some slowing of traffic, but no major backups or accidents. State Police said DiStefano had the proper license to operate a hot air balloon.

Scharbach, Montanye’s girlfriend, said she was not scared that the balloon would land on the Pike itself, even though the balloon was just 30 to 40 feet above the roadway.

“We were starting to get low over the Pike, and all the cars were beeping at us,’’ she said. “But I wasn’t worried we were going to land on the Pike. Mario’s been doing this for over 30 years. You could tell he knew what he was doing.’’

“I actually wasn’t scared at all,’’ she said, describing the landing. “The flight was very enjoyable.’’

Her fear was the greatest, she said, when she found herself 2,500 feet above the ground, sitting in a small basket with six other people, just moments after the flight began.

DiStefano charges $275 per person for a balloon ride; Scharbach said they used a coupon and got the tickets for $150 each.

DiStefano said the balloon was 85 feet tall with a diameter of 66 feet. When fully inflated, the balloon holds 126,500 cubic feet of air.

DiStefano said the vertical flight of hot air balloons can be controlled, but the horizontal flight path is determined by the winds - and the whims of Mother Nature.

“We never know where we are going to land,’’ DiStefano said. “I want people to understand that this thing that looked so strange to them is in fact a very safe thing.’’