LIVE: 6-yr-old boy floats away in balloon, Ft. Collins CO

[Little-Acorn]

No joke. This is happening right now. Fox News and CNN websites are showing video live, from a news helicopter that's chasing it.

God help that kid. Hope he comes down in a farmer's field somewhere, and not on a powerline or into a lake.

I used to live in Ft. Collins, a nice town, college and farm town on the eastern edge of the Rockies. Elevation is 5,000 feet, the kid is like 3,000 feet higher than that, drifting to the northeast. Nothing out that way but flat ground for hundreds of miles, aka "Nebraska".

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http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/21306839/detail.html

Colorado Boy Floats Away In Balloon
Frantic Search Under Way To Rescue Boy

POSTED: 12:01 pm MDT October 15, 2009
UPDATED: 1:10 pm MDT October 15, 2009

FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- A 6-year-old boy is floating over northeastern Colorado in a homebuilt balloon and authorities are racing to try and rescue him.

The balloon, in the shape of a flying saucer is covered in foil and filled with helium. It has a compartment for a passenger underneath. It lifted the boy into the air near Fort Collins Thursday morning after the balloon became unhooked at the boy's home.

"We were sitting eating, out looking where they normally shoot off hot air balloons. My husband said he saw something. It went over our rooftop. Then we saw the big round balloonish thing, it was spinning," said neighbor Lisa Eklund.

The father and son had apparently been working on the aircraft for some time..

Airtracker 7 located the craft at 12:35 p.m. at about 8,000 feet in Weld County. It appeared to be slightly tilted. The altitude of the balloon was fluctuating between 7,500 and 8,500 feet.

Skies in the area are partly cloudy and southwest wind speeds are 15 to 20 miles per hour.

"It is believed the device could rise to 10,000 feet," said Eloise Campanella, Larimer County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman.

"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.

Deputies from Larimer and Weld counties are tracking the balloon as it drifts. Experts said it could remain airborne for up to 12 hours.

Larimer County fire dispatchers are asking if a helicopter can use it's speaker to ask the boy if he has a valve to release helium.

"Is there a way to release some of the helium that this kid may know?" the dispatcher asked. "Maybe we can get him to lower it."

FAA spokesman Mike Fergus said the agency has been notified and it was unclear whether traffic controllers had picked it up on radar.

The balloon may drift into air traffic control corridors used by Denver International Airport, based on its current location and direction. Deputies alerted DIA air traffic controllers to warn them about letting aircraft fly through the area.

7News confirmed the boy is the son of Richard and Naomi Heene appeared on an episode of ABC's "Wife Swap."

LIVE VIDEO: AirTracker 7 Looks For Floating Boy

[Little-Acorn]

Fox and CNN are reporting that the balloon has come down, in a field in Colorado. Police surrounded it, opened it up, and found... no kid inside. It was empty.

Good news? Did it lift off without the kid, and he is currently hiding in his home somewhere? Safe and sound, and scared that Daddy will be mad?

Or bad news? Could it be that, God forbid, the balloon rose up a ways, and the kid fell out unseen?

Colorado north and east of Ft. Collins is mostly unpopulated - mostly large farms and untilled land, a few towns here and there. But lots of basically empty space.

I'd like very much to hear the conclusion of this story.

[Noir]

Fox and CNN are reporting that the balloon has come down, in a field in Colorado. Police surrounded it, opened it up, and found... no kid inside. It was empty.

Good news? Did it lift off without the kid, and he is currently hiding in his home somewhere? Safe and sound, and scared that Daddy will be mad?

Or bad news? Could it be that, God forbid, the balloon rose up a ways, and the kid fell out unseen?

Colorado north and east of Ft. Collins is mostly unpopulated - mostly large farms and untilled land, a few towns here and there. But lots of basically empty space.

I'd like very much to hear the conclusion of this story.

I dunno what the doors are like on these hot air ballons, but is it possible for the door to shut by itself or must it be done manually?
If it can not shut by itself then the kid must never of been in the balloon,

[-Cp]

I dunno what the doors are like on these hot air ballons, but is it possible for the door to shut by itself or must it be done manually?
If it can not shut by itself then the kid must never of been in the balloon,

Not sure, it's a home-made weather-type balloon..

[Little-Acorn]

This is getting weird. Well, it started weird, but is now getting even weirder.

After the balloon came down and was found empty, with no kid inside, now the police are starting an extensive search for him. I guess that means the parents have already searched the home and area around it, in case the kid had untied the balloon, it lifted off without him, and then he ran and hid someplace for fear that Daddy would be angry or something. Sounds like they know for sure, that the kid isn't hiding anywhere in or near the home.

This report also says that some sort of "basket" was attached to the balloon when it lifted off, but not when it came down; and that eyewitnesses had seen "something" fall from the balloon at one point.

Police are searching with helicopters now.

Very weird. And not good.

Hopefully the kid simply did a REALLY good job of hiding, maybe at a friend's house a few blocks away, and will turn up unharmed soon.

P.S. Family sounds like a bunch of nutcases. "Psyience Detectives"??? Wife Swap???

I'm beginning to understand why Art Bell is still on the air.

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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,567041,00.html

Hunt On for Boy Believed to Have Been in Runaway Balloon That Crashed in Colorado

Thursday, October 15, 2009
Fox News Channel

DEVELOPING: Mystified authorities in Colorado have launched a ground search for a 6-year-old boy after the flying balloon he was believed to have been trapped in crashed without him inside.

The bizarre scene played out live on television and prompted fears that the flying saucer-shaped balloon would crash with the young child inside.

A sheriff's official said the boy climbed into a box attached to balloon, but the basket was not found at crash.

Eyewitnesses say they saw something drop from the air prompting authorities to perform a ground search for the boy.

The child was identified as Falcon Heene, the son of Richard Heene, a Colorado weather-chaser. The boy and his family — mother, Mayumi and brothers, Ryo and Bradford — first appeared on the ABC series "Wife Swap" on Oct. 3, 2008 and were voted back for the 100th episode of the show, which aired on March 13, 2009.

Click here for photos.

Cathy Davis of the Larimer County Sheriff's Department told reporters the balloon was owned by the boy's parents and tethered behind the family's home. She said two sons were playing outside when the older boy saw the younger one go into a compartment at the bottom of the balloon and fly away.

"We'll just have to respond the best we can," Davis said. "This is a first and we'll do what we need to do."

She said the family was in contact with experts to provide details on the craft, including what it's made of and what might happen when it reaches the ground.

Based out of Fort Collins, Colo. Richard Heene and his partners call themselves the "psyience detectives," the Denver Post reported.

Heene collects information to prove that rotating storms crete their own magnetic fields, the newspaper, who went chasing storms with him in 2007, reported.

In 2002, Heene started with lab experiments and then moved to dust devils, according to the Post. Three years later, Heene flew a plane around Hurricane Wilma's permeter, the newspaper reported.

The Colorado Army National Guard sent an OH-58 Kiowa helicopter and was preparing to send a Black Hawk UH-60 to try to rescue the boy, possibly by lowering someone to the balloon. They also were working with pilots of ultralight aircraft on the possibility of putting weights on the homemade craft to weigh it down.

But the balloon landed on its own in a dirt field. Sheriff's deputies secured it to keep it in place, even tossing shovelfuls of dirt on one edge.

Sheriff's spokeswoman Eloise Campanella had said the device had the potential to rise to 10,000 feet.

The balloon reached an elevation of 8,500 feet and reached a speed of nearly 60 miles per hour, Fox 31 in Colorado reported. It wasn't going "frighteningly fast," Fox 31 reporter Kim Psey said.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown said the agency tracked the balloon through reports from pilots and that air traffic control facilities in the region are aware of the situation.

On ABC's Web site used to promote their show portrays the family as thrill-seekers.

"When the Heene family aren't chasing storms, they devote their time to scientific experiments that include looking for extraterrestrials and building a research-gathering flying saucer to send into the eye of the storm," the Web site.

The Heene’s received criticism of their chaotic parenting style when Karen Martel of Connecticut entered the household as the new ‘wife.' Karen’s husband runs a child-proofing business and she knew a thing or two about safety.

According to a recap on TVRage.com, the 100th episode finds two families swapping with each other who are returning by a viewers vote.

"One mom believes she is psychic and can speak with the dead, plus has control over the weather. The other is a family of storm chasing science-enthusiasts. The kids in the families will face off in a table meeting"

Larimer County sheriff's spokeswoman Eloise Campanella said the device had 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. The craft was reportedly traveling at about 25 miles per hour.

The FAA cleared airspace near Denver International Airport.

"We were sitting eating, out looking where they normally shoot off hot air balloons. My husband said he saw something. It went over our rooftop. Then we saw the big round balloonish thing, it was spinning," said neighbor Lisa Eklund.

[Little-Acorn]

Hopefully the kid simply did a REALLY good job of hiding,

Bingo.

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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,567041,00.html

Boy Believed to Have Been in Runaway Balloon Found
Thursday, October 15, 2009

A massive hunt for a 6-year-old boy who was believed to have been trapped inside a flying balloon that crashed without him inside was found in his parents house, according to the Larimer County Sheriff's Department.

"He's been there the whole time," said a sheriff's department official. "He was hiding in a cardboard box in the attic above the garage."

The official said his parents were beisde themself during the search and believed the boy was in the balloon.

He said officials searched the house twice, but it wasn't clear if it included the garage.

[Mr. P]

Bingo.

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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,567041,00.html

Boy Believed to Have Been in Runaway Balloon Found
Thursday, October 15, 2009

A massive hunt for a 6-year-old boy who was believed to have been trapped inside a flying balloon that crashed without him inside was found in his parents house, according to the Larimer County Sheriff's Department.

"He's been there the whole time," said a sheriff's department official. "He was hiding in a cardboard box in the attic above the garage."

The official said his parents were beisde themself during the search and believed the boy was in the balloon.

He said officials searched the house twice, but it wasn't clear if it included the garage.

This kid will go on to do some great things in life. :thumb: