DERRY — Ralph Avery loves an adventure, whether he's white-water rafting or soaring above Salem in a hot-air balloon.
The 63-year-old East Bridgewater, Mass., man, confined to a hospital bed at Parkland Medical Center, is not ruling out a future hot-air balloon ride, even though his first flight ended in an accidental hard landing in Sandown on Friday morning.
He might go up again, and he might not, Avery said.
"I better understand the risks and would be more aware of them," he said, if there is a next time. "But I'm not the kind of person who's going to get discouraged because I had an accident."
Most importantly, Avery hopes his story will not discourage other adventure seekers from going after their dreams.
"Just go and do it," he said. "This one was a little dramatic, but most adventures will never end with anything like this happening."
Avery, who broke both legs and ankles in the landing, said his daughter, Jessica Matchett, 30, of Arizona booked him on the balloon ride as a belated Father's Day present. Ballooning wasn't a lifelong ambition, but Avery said they used to see hot-air balloons passing over the road when they were driving and said to each other it would be fun to go up in one someday. Matchett, who broke her heel during the landing, accompanied him on the ride, and most of the flight was serene.
"It was a nice, nice pretty moment I so much enjoyed sharing with my daughter," he said. For almost 45 minutes, they soared over the treetops and birds.
"It was like a movie with no sound," he said. "We saw a heron and maybe a hawk and other birds and animals. We passed over some horses. They stood and looked at us for a while."
Most of the ride had been completed when the wind suddenly began whipping. Pilot Tony Sica of Derry had warned the passengers in advance that a rough landing was a possibility and instructed them how to brace themselves. Avery said he was aware Sica was searching for a place to land and had spotted a yard. As Sica was maneuvering to land the yellow balloon, it passed through trees. Avery told his daughter to duck down in the basket so she wouldn't be injured. He ducked down himself and wasn't able to see anything on the descent.
"It was a little exciting," he said. "I could feel we were descending, but I never looked back over the basket because I didn't know if we were going to run into more trees." But Avery said he was never scared.
None of the five other passengers was injured. Avery said Sica, who declined comment on the incident, took good care of him. And his fellow adventurers showed him the world is "still full of very, very kind and caring people," he said. Avery even has a photograph to prove the point.
After he was hurt, they all put their jackets over him to keep him warm until the ambulance arrived. His daughter looked at the makeshift quilt and asked if he wanted her to take a picture. "Sure," Avery replied. "When will we see something like this again?"
Avery, a campus police sergeant at Northeastern University, said he feels lucky he wasn't more seriously hurt and lucky to have a daughter who wanted to honor her dad.
"I feel privileged she thought so highly of me she flew all the way from Arizona to do this and share it with me," he said.
