Last Member Drive of 2025!

Your year-end tax-deductible gift powers our local newsroom. Help raise $1 million in essential funding for LAist by December 31.
$560,760 of $1,000,000 goal
A row of graphics payment types: Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay and PayPal, and  below a lock with Secure Payment text to the right
Audience-funded nonprofit news
radio tower icon laist logo
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Subscribe
  • Listen Now Playing Listen

This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.

This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.

News

Video: Panda Hot Air Balloon Makes Second Unexpected Landing In 3 Months

Truth matters. Community matters. Your support makes both possible. LAist is one of the few places where news remains independent and free from political and corporate influence. Stand up for truth and for LAist. Make your year-end tax-deductible gift now.

What do you say when a hot air balloon that looks like a panda lands on your street?

If you're San Diego resident Doug Kiviat, who videotaped the incident on Saturday, you say, "Wow, it's a panda-shaped balloon."

San Diego's Channel 10 reports that this is the second time in less than three months that the same panda-shaped hot air balloon has landed in an odd place.

The same hot air balloon made an emergency landing just months ago near state Route 56 in Carmel Valley. That landing was also caught on video because it's not every day you see a giant panda balloon in your neighborhood.

This Saturday, Kiviat and his wife Jane were out walking around 7:30 p.m., when they saw the balloon narrowly miss nearby homes, trees and children.

It landed in the middle of an intersection where neighbors scrambled to help. Jane Kiviat told Channel 10, "It was having trouble navigating, so we all started going beneath it and I began to direct it to this open field of grass," she said.

However, according the Kiviat's, Doug said Timothy Chico, the owner of the balloon company Panda-monium of Del Mar, told them they meant to land where they did and that it was a "science experiment."

Sponsored message

You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our connected community. We are free to tell the full truth, to hold power to account without fear or favor, and to follow facts wherever they lead. Our only loyalty is to our audiences and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen our community.

Right now, LAist has lost $1.7M in annual funding due to Congress clawing back money already approved. The support we receive before year-end will determine how fully our newsroom can continue informing, serving, and strengthening Southern California.

If this story helped you today, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.

Your tax-deductible donation keeps LAist independent and accessible to everyone.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief

Make your tax-deductible year-end gift today

A row of graphics payment types: Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay and PayPal, and  below a lock with Secure Payment text to the right