Giant Google Balloon Crashes Down in Quiet Los Angeles Suburb

This Southern California bedroom community has never experienced anything like this before – an enormous white balloon crashed down into a front yard palm tree, sending curious neighbors into wild speculation about what it might be.

The 50-foot balloon, which belongs to Google, was meant to land somewhere else neaby, but ended up tangled up in a palm tree in a front yard in Chino Hills, a suburb northeast of Los Angeles, CBS reports.

@chrisburrous @libertechan weather balloon crash landed on Chino Hills neighborhood. Owners enroute from NV to p/u. pic.twitter.com/wH0MH7ke04

— Mister Chuck (@MrCInCali) September 12, 2015

Janet Olafsson, who owns the yard where the balloon fell, didn’t see it until local sheriff’s deputies knocked on the door.

“We ran out, and the police said don’t go near it,” she told CBS. “At that time they had got a call from the company that said it’s a weather balloon”.

Luckily, no one was hurt. Residents started gathering at the crash spot, taking pictures and driving rumors about the fallen balloon. Some imagined it was a weather balloon travelling from Las Vegas to Japan, CBS noted.

A high altitude WiFi internet hub Google Project Loon balloon is displayed at the Airforce Museum in Christchurch on June 16, 2013

© AFP 2023 / MARTY MELVILLE

But then, Google fessed up.  The giant balloon is part of the tech giant’s Project Loon, which aims to provide internet access through LTE communication to distant corners of the Earth using high-altitude balloons.