Low-flying hot air balloon intrigues, confuses residents at Lake Tapps



PIERCE COUNTY -- Being on the lake in May doesn’t happen often in western Washington, neither does seeing a hot air balloon hovering on the surface of Lake Tapps.

This weather is uncommon, but even more uncommon is seeing that hot air balloon being pulled in by a boat, and would you believe it? It was all on purpose.

Eliav Cohen with Seattle Ballooning was piloting the hot air balloon on Friday. His passenger lives on Lake Tapps and wanted to see it at sunset.



That’s exactly what they did, and while the sun was going down, a lot of other people were focusing on the balloon which created quite the spectacle of its own.

"Whenever a balloon lands people always thinks that we are in distress," Cohen said. "Even when it lands perfectly in a parking lot, on grass, or in a field, but the truth is the balloons land all over the place and almost always it is safe and normal."

No one was hurt during the ordeal.

Cohen says some balloonists dream of being pulled to shore by boat, so while he helped some passengers cross an item off their bucket list, one of his items was crossed off too.