This hot air balloon proposal ended in a crash landing

We don’t know what the universe is trying to say to this couple whose hot air balloon proposal ended with a crash landing, but we sure hope that isn’t some sort of marriage-related omen. On Saturday, Stephen Martin and his girlfriend Christine Peters took a hot air balloon ride over Edmonton, Alberta where Martin asked for Peters’ hand in marriage.

The good news: She said yes! The bad news: The hot air balloon side-swiped a couple of trees just before making a rough, bouncy landing.

Fellow hot air balloon passenger Jeffrey Scott captured the crash on video and shared the footage on YouTube.

In the clip, you can clearly hear the sound of the balloon scraping against the trees as well as gasps from the terrified passengers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3spRbi4MSw4?feature=oembed

In an interview with CTV Edmonton, Peters recounted the moment the hot air balloon ride went from exciting to downright scary.

“All of a sudden, we’re still 30 or 40 feet up in the air, and just the whole thing shakes, and you hear like cracking of branches, and we’re in a tree,” she said.

According to the pilot, a gusty downdraft that blew during the descent pushed the balloon into the trees, snapping branches off one of them before finally touching down in a nearby farmer’s field. Despite the rocky ride and even rougher landing, all 10 of the passengers and the pilot walked away from the crash injury-free.

As for Martin and Peters, the newly engaged couple thoroughly enjoyed the ride and officially have one of the most unforgettable proposal stories ever.