http://www.kirotv.com/news/21307122/detail.html 6-year-old boy climbed into a homemade balloon aircraft and floated away Thursday, forcing officials to scramble to figure out how to rescue the boy.
LIVE VIDEO: Boy Floats Away In Balloon
Live footage from a local TV helicopter showed the balloon gliding quickly through the air.
Larimer County sheriff's spokeswoman Eloise Campanella says the device, which is shaped like a flying saucer, has the potential to rise to 10,000 feet. Sheriff's officials last saw the device floating south of Milliken, which is about 40 miles north of Denver.
Campanella says the 6-year-old climbed into the access door and was in the airborne device.
FAA spokesman Mike Fergus says the agency has been notified and it was unclear whether traffic controllers had picked it up on radar.
Margie Martinez of the Weld County Sheriff's Office said a sibling saw the boy climb into the basket before the balloon took off. Since the door on the balloon was unlocked, Martinez said it's possible the boy had fallen out.
A runaway balloon has touched down in Colorado after a 6-year-old boy untied it from his family home in Fort Collins.
The boy was not inside the helium aircraft when it landed, CNN affiliate KMGH reported.
A sibling saw the boy get into the craft Thursday morning. Officials were concerned that the boy may have fallen out of it, an undersheriff said.
Margie Martinez of the Weld County Sheriff's Office said a sibling saw Falcon Heene climb into the basket before the balloon took off from his parents' Fort Collins, Colorado home.
Since the door on the balloon was unlocked, it's possible the boy had fallen out, Martinez said.
The balloon appeared to be a saucer-shaped, Mylar-coated helium balloon, similar to a party balloon. The craft was drifting eastward, authorities said.
The helium balloon was tethered to the boy's family home, the Larimer County Sheriff's Department said. The boy got into the craft Thursday morning and undid the rope anchoring it.
The department said the dome-shaped balloon is 20 feet long and 5 feet high
"The structure at the bottom of the balloon that the boy is in is made of extremely thin plywood and won't withstand any kind of a crash at all," said Erik Nilsson, Larimer County emergency manager, according to CNN affiliate KMGH.
A dispatcher received a call Thursday morning, and emergency services personnel were contacted, Larimer County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Kathy Davis said.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/15/colorado.boy.balloon/index.html ~~~~~~~~~~
"At this point, we are thinking that he did not fall out of the balloon and is somewhere on the ground," Larimer County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Eloise Campanella said. "The basket itself was not breached. It does not look like he fell out of it, but again, this is all conjecture."
Campanella said authorities are searching the neighborhood for the boy.
"I'm very confident we will find him. I think it's a matter of him being a little scared," she said. "Maybe he's not ready to be found."
Falcon's parents, science enthusiasts Richard and Mayumi
post by Martins at Oct 15,2009 5:15pm edited Oct 15,2009 5:15pm
You guys know there's gonna be a fucking south park episode about this next week, lol
they are going to have a field day with it, especially since it happened in colorado. cartman will trick butters into going in the balloon, then he'll turn it loose.
anyone remember that 1956 french short movie called "the red balloon" ? probably not, but the movie had no dialoague and was also made into a book. shit was sick.
anyone remember that 1956 french short movie called "the red balloon" ? probably not, but the movie had no dialoague and was also made into a book. shit was sick.
