A hot air balloon has crashed into Canberra's treasury building after trying to avoid a collision with another balloon.
No one was injured in the incident at the dawn Canberra Balloon Spectacular on Thursday. Festival director John Wallington said shortly after takeoff the pilot became worried about hitting a balloon above.
"She made a very good snap decision to make a precautionary landing but unfortunately there was a big gust of wind and she had a big building just down wind," he said.
"They hit the building at all of three kilometres an hour," he said. Mr Wallington said the owner and two friends were onboard but no one was hurt physically.
"It dented some egos, there's no doubt about that," he said.
There was no damage to the building or the basket but about $1000 worth of work will have to be done on the balloon fabric.
The balloon festival which began on Saturday has seen about 45 balloons take to the skies at dawn each morning. Mr Wallington who is also an experienced balloon pilot said it was windier on Thursday than earlier in the week.
"They were flying out of the launch site a bit quicker," he said.
"If the same thing happened yesterday there would not have been an incident," he said.
The festival runs until Sunday and includes some novelty balloons brought over from Europe, including a giant Darth Vader head.
