Posted on 10/15/2009 11:45:55 AM PDT by Arec Barrwin
Rescuers are tracking and chasing a "homemade flying saucer" that is in flight with a 6-year-old, by himself, on board.
The incident started this morning in Fort Collins when the boy got into the balloon-like device, which was built by an adult, and it came loose from a tether, according to the Larimer County Sheriff's Office.
The contraption could rise as high as 10,000 feet, the sheriff's office said.
The home-made flying saucer was last seen in flight over Weld County.
The sheriff's office is working the Federal Aviation Administration to determine how to best get the boy down.
The homemade airplane was tethered in Fort Collins when the boy got onboard and it floated away. (Lisa Ecklund via 9News)
The six-year-old boy was by himself on board the hommade aircraft. (Courtesy Lisa Ecklund, via 9News)
The craft could fly as high as 10,000 feet, according to the Weld County Sheriff's Office. (Lisa Ecklund via 9News)
Mythbusters episode: myth was that some Carny guy with a load of helium ballons gets distracted and a little boy takes the whole wab of them and gets carried away. They ended up with some ungodly number of Very Large party balloons -- like 3 or 4 thousand -- and it took that much just to lift a 40 lbs. little girl. Seems like they wanted to try and lift Keri, but simply couldn't get enough balloons done.
So: while I don't have video and can't see how big this thing is, we're talking a very large amount of helium being necessary -- and it cost the mythbusters a bunch of bucks for all of the cylinders they used, IIRC.
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I have looked up helium’s lift capacity and found that it is 1 m3 can lift 91.82566798 grams, or 0.2024409 pounds. This seems logical, but that’s not the ...
www.physicsforums.com/archive/index.php/t-19038.html - Cached - Similar
Just throwing this out.
If there had been a kid in the basket, the kid’s weight would have caused the shape of the balloon to be spherical with the basket hanging well below.
They need to get the hounds out looking for this kid.
Kid: “Little Brother, climb in
Little Bro: “’kay”
Kid inside, rope untied
Little Bro climbs in, balloon lifts off and flies away
Kid: “Oh no! Dad’s gonna kill me... I’m gonna lie and say Little Bro did it all by himself.”
Little Bro: I’m flying away! I think I can jump in that pool!
Actually, a local channel has interviewed a neighbor.
Wait a minute — supposing two swallows carried it together?
True. I guess that would be the only plausible way I would think a 6 year old could launch himself in a helium balloon.
And actually would explain why the bigger brother would say he saw him climb into the balloon. I guess he just failed to tell them that he then proceeded to untether the balloon.
Ok, now I'm feel sad again.
i cannot believe it! i NEVER watch Wife Swap... until yesterday... i saw this on LifeTime television... and this is the same family! the father is a jerk... yuck... their kids sleep in their clothes so they can wake up at a moment’s notice and go chasing tornados... the wife is a slave to her husband’s demands... she does all the household chores, is responsible for all the equipment they use to track tornados... she videotapes everything... they take their kids with them to chase these cyclones... he hops on a motorcycle and inserts a rocket into the twister... these parents suck! poor kids...
Well, turkey-frying season's about to start, so he should be fine for a while.
You mean on a line?
Unfortunately, this may prove to be relevant to the outcome of this situation. It really does pay to invest time in your children and teach them to be obedient and restrained, to be self-disciplined, to think things through rather than just 'acting'. I'm not condemning them based on this little snippet, but the question does need to be raised, and it is a good reminder for us all.
Ack... kg, not grams... I’m wrong.
Nevermind.
I agree the boy wasn't in there, but there is no way your number above is correct. 1 gram is about the mass of a paperclip. A regular kid's helium balloon, with a volume much smaller than a cubic meter, can lift more than that.
Police officer and detective have just entered the home...per MSNBC reporter in front of family house..
What? Held under the dorsal guiding feathers?!
He2 lifts 27g/mol, and at STP one mol is 22.4 lt. To lift 30lbs or ~13,600g you’d need about 500 mol, which is about 11,300 lt or 400 cu ft, if I math is right. That’s a cube about 7’4” on each side, which isn’t too big. Now, you’ve got to allow for the structure itself, but it looks do-able to me.
That's a really good point. I had not considered it. It mosty likely would have been teardrop-shaped. If the material were strong enough to even support 30lbs.
My son, at about 9 mos old, loved the sound of breaking glass. He learned how to scoot chairs to the cabinets, climb up, and toss things out... sigh.
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