Narrative:

This morning I hit a [truck] on final approach to landing with 12 persons aboard my balloon. No one was injured but the vehicles last minute approach; stopping and parking directly in front of my approaching 250;000 cubic foot balloon was not safe and completely unexpected. It appeared that only one person was in the vehicle. The vehicle was operated by another balloon company. The field in which I was approaching had one balloon deflated in the southwest center line (with one chase truck) and one balloon landed in the center of the field (with two chase trucks). The third truck drove very fast into the field and then stopped and a photographer (employee of the balloon company) started filming the balloon in the center of the field but had no visual communication with our approach nor instruction from the balloons crew she was filming. My approach and rate of decent put me in direct contact with the vehicle. The driver did not see us until after 50% balloon had passed the truck. I had no options and heated the balloon to try and avoid a major collision. The balloon has more volume than the goodyear ship and requires some time and space to respond. The photographic operation appeared to be part of the customer service and or a service offered and under direct control of the balloon company. After landing two more photographic vehicles arrived and proceeded to film the one balloon (for a total of 5 vehicles in the same field). After hitting the vehicle our crew had to ask two of the additional vehicles to move to deflate the balloon. It did seem like a circus with no specific aviation purpose. At no time would I want to place my passengers at any additional risk. Landing is a critical time in the operation of a hot air balloon.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Pilot of a hot air balloon reports collision with a photographic vehicle from a competing balloon service; during landing in a field. The vehicles operator had driven rapidly onto the field then stopped in the path of the landing balloon to photograph another balloon.

Narrative: This morning I hit a [truck] on Final Approach to landing with 12 persons aboard my Balloon. No one was injured but the vehicles last minute approach; stopping and parking directly in front of my approaching 250;000 cubic foot balloon was not safe and completely unexpected. It appeared that only one person was in the vehicle. The vehicle was operated by another Balloon Company. The field in which I was approaching had one balloon deflated in the SW Center line (with one Chase Truck) and one Balloon landed in the Center of the field (with two Chase Trucks). The third truck drove very fast into the field and then stopped and a photographer (employee of the Balloon Company) started filming the balloon in the center of the field but had no visual communication with our approach nor instruction from the balloons crew she was filming. My approach and rate of decent put me in direct contact with the vehicle. The driver did not see us until after 50% Balloon had passed the truck. I had no options and heated the balloon to try and avoid a major collision. The balloon has more volume than the Goodyear Ship and requires some time and space to respond. The photographic operation appeared to be part of the customer service and or a service offered and under direct control of the Balloon Company. After landing two more photographic vehicles arrived and proceeded to film the one balloon (for a total of 5 vehicles in the same field). After hitting the vehicle our crew had to ask two of the additional vehicles to move to deflate the balloon. It did seem like a Circus with no specific Aviation purpose. At no time would I want to place my passengers at any additional risk. Landing is a critical time in the operation of a Hot Air Balloon.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.