A TYLDESLEY woman has vowed not to be put off hot air ballooning after she was involved in an emergency landing.

Beryl Aspin and friend Betty Carey together with seven other passengers made the unscheduled landing on Monday evening in Blackburn.

Residents who spotted the balloon flying low over houses and industrial units believed it was going to crash and called emergency services.

But Mrs Aspin, aged 62, said she and the rest of the passengers had full confidence in the pilot.

"He seemed to know what he was doing and had everything under control.

"I didn't feel in danger but we did look and think we were near to the roof-tops, but that's all."

Beryl, who went on the trip from Pendle Hill as part of a Christmas present from son Paul, said they were an hour into the flight and had planned to land in Queen's Park.

"But the wind dropped and he just couldn't make it.

"There were thousands watching us when we were coming in to land. It was a tight squeeze but he was confident he could make it. No-one was hurt.

"The mishap hasn't put me off. I'd like to do it again."

Blackburn firefighter Dave Hilliard said he don't know why the pilot chose to land where he did.

"But he did it very skilfully. "There were a lot of people trying to help by pulling the fabric of the balloon down, but it would have collapsed over the basket by itself."

The pilot -- Graham Church, of the Pendle Balloon Company -- said he had set off from Ribchester about an hour earlier but the wind had died away and he had been forced to find a suitable landing ground.

He said: "I've landed on much smaller areas. It's perfectly safe to land in a residential area because it's only a bag of wind -- it's not something that can hurt people."

Mr Church was the subject of an official report by the Civil

Aviation Authority after he twice crashed, injuring 17 passengers in four months two years ago.