Hot-air balloon makes surprise landing on St Kilda Beach

A video has captured the moment a hot-air balloon made a dramatic crash landing on a Melbourne beach.

Video footage has captured the moment a hot-air balloon crash landed on Melbourne’s St Kilda Beach on Wednesday morning.

The video, uploaded on Instagram by Melbourne media identity Jacqui Felgate, shows a hot-air balloon travelling at what appears to be a worryingly low height across Beaconsfield Pde.

A hot-air balloon travelling at a short height above a Melbourne street made a ‘controlled landing’ according to the pilot. Picture: Instagram

As it crosses the road, the balloon drifts slowly in between two of St Kilda’s distinctive palm trees and then into a sign post on the footpath adjacent to the beach before landing on the sand.

The pilot, Global Ballooning managing director Kiff Saunders, said a subtle change in the wind necessitated him changing his landing spot from Albert Park.

The balloon took out a bollard on St Kilda Beach before landing on the sand. Picture: Instagram

“I was lined up along a tree line at Albert Park, so I just figured I’d land at St Kilda Beach,” Mr Saunders told NCA NewsWire.

He said it was a controlled landing, and the passengers went and enjoyed a champagne breakfast after disembarking at the beach.

Pilot Kiff Saunders said there was ‘nothing dramatic’ about the balloon’s landing. Picture: Instagram

“We land in all sorts of locations in Melbourne,” said Mr Saunders, who has 35 years of ballooning experience.

“There was nothing dramatic about it.”

In April, a hot-air balloon crash-landed in nearby Elwood when technical difficulties, believed to be a faulty valve, led to the balloon crashing into multiple tree tops and residences.

A hot-air balloon was left strewn across an apartment building in Elwood after a crash landing in April. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling