Silly question but.

I was sat in sociology class today and I was just wondering 'has anyone ever floated away in a hot air balloon?'
Now this has bothered me ALL day I have googled it and can't really find anything but I would like to know just so I can stop thinkiong about it :) Has anyone ever floated away in a hot air balloon?

Hot air baloons don't always land exactly where the pilot wants because it doesn't have the control surfaces like a normal aircraft so the direction of the wind is a big factor. However, the pilot controls the altitude with the temp of the air so he/she can come down in a general area of where they want. Unless the valve that supplied the heat became stuck, what you suggest would be unlikely. I've never heard of that happening.

What's that got to do with sociology? :-)

once one crashed by my house...they eventually run out of gas so they come down

No, but that would be pretty cool to float above.

well, mabey not away, but they can get really far off course. one landed in our neighbors and were supposed to be hundreds of miles away:)