For some years I spent part of my time in a hot air balloon launch/recovery crew, rode in them a bunch and generally had a good time. Power lines were a big bogeymen and "our" balloon's owner/pilot was safety conscious enough to avoid ever coming close to tangling with one. In Iowa, there used to be - probably still are - a lot of farms that had an electrical line running out to a pole in the middle of what appears to be nowhere, and they can be very hard to see if you aren't watching for them. They were often run out to where an electric pump or some such thing was. Being committed to a landing in a seemingly perfect pasture and suddenly seeing a power line materialize would get you religion real fast!
It never ceased to amaze me how some people would get their aerostat licenses, buy a balloon, assemble a crew, generally spend a lot of time and money (ballooning isn't cheap) and then proceed to burn the mouth of the envelope, take out fences with the basket, misjudge a "splash and dash," come down directly on objects best avoided and generally fly like a bonehead.
Mr. niteowl77
two words: Powered flight.