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)
We have hot air balloons: http://www.usflagballoon.com
http://www.darwinawards.com/stupid/stupid1998-11.html
Lawn Chair Larry - one of my fav weirdo news story’s..
MSNBC Just SAid That Another piece was attached, and at some point, fell off the Balloon.
Thanks.
I just want to see the kid... alive.
That is an expensive hobby. Hopefully, they didn’t fill up before it was cancelled.
Fox 31 Denver reporting it was a police officer who reported seeing an object falling from the balloon near Platteville.
Now, just how is it that you know it was the “whole craft”? I’m assuming you didn’t build it so we have no idea what might have been on the thing since camera feed didn’t start until sometime after it launched.
Losing that much weight it would have shot upward... in that case I don’t think it would have landed as soon as it did.
Some of us do as we please.
Our professor from Pakistan would not answer female students’ questions. Still makes me mad. I digress.
I could totally see the kids letting it loose then, “Whoa ... Dad’s gonna be so mad ... I know, let’s LIE!”
I sure hope it’s that. Especially since the kid looks so much like our #3.
Certainly the basket should have been hanging.
Yea, they did fill up. Winds came up fast. All the gas and helium were lost.
The shape was likely created by the way this balloon was constructed. There are clearly several baffles inside it; probably multiple separate compartments.
I don’t see any reason that it could not maintain the “saucer” shape if it the compartments were well made.
yeah... I’m betting the kid is hiding in the basement...
Neither one
The kids messed with dad’s craft, untied it, it got away, he’s on the run. He’s at the local K-Mart trying to buy mylar, tape and helium so he can rebuild it before dad gets home.
Wasn’t anybody here a 6 year old at one time?
I didn’t mean to imply a 6 year old WOULDN’T want to do it but that they COULDN’T do it.
If that balloon had enough lift to carry the kid then it would be too challenging for the kid to keep it tethered/balanced while he climbed in and then release the tethers.
But someone pointed out his brother may have untethered it for him and that is plausible. But I am highly suspect of the original story that the boy did it all by himself.
LOL Ali! It’s the first time I’ve had MSNBC on my tv in...can’t remember- but over a year!
BUT- they do have local reporters in front of the house- so it’s useful for that.
Supposedly, the balloon was tethered in the family’s backyard. The neighbor reports that the two brothers were up on the roof with cameras and that they obviously believed that their brother was inside the balloon.
That sheds some light on this, I think. Maybe they talked their baby brother into the balloon, untied it, and got out their cameras to see what happened.
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