Posted on 10/15/2009 1:24:44 PM PDT by Steelfish
October 15, 2009 , 3:01 pm Helium Balloon Lands Without Boy Inside By Liz Robbins The tale of the experimental helium air balloon sailing above the Colorado plains for two hours on Thursday afternoon captivated the nation, and it had as many twists and turns as the strange flight. Follow the developments on The Lede blog.
Update | 4:17 p.m. The Denver Post ran a 2007 feature on Richard Heene, describing him as an “amateur scientist” and a storm chaser who works with a former television meteorologist Scott Stevens for The Science Detectives.
According to the profile, he has three sons, Ryo and Bradford are the older brothers of Falcon. Mr. Heene is married to Mayumi Heene.
Update | 3:59 p.m. Falcon Heene was not found in the balloon, and now officials say there is a possibility that Falcon might be hiding in his Fort Collins neighborhood, in fear of recriminations.
“That’s good news and that’s bad news,” Mr. Nilsson, the Larimer County emergency manager, said in a telephone interview. “He was no longer in danger from a balloon crash. The bad news is we don’t know where he is.”
Mr. Nilsson said that dozens of law enforcement officers were searching for the 6-year-old boy in his neighborhood. “I am hoping the scenario is that he is scared of punishment and does not want to be found,” he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at thelede.blogs.nytimes.com ...
Law enforcement shouldn't be spending their time on this. For crying out loud, this is a SIX YEAR OLD BOY!
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“Authorities were looking into reports that something fell from the balloon shortly after it took off from the home. A search was under way near Platteville, 5 to 10 miles outside of Greeley, Colorado.”
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http://www.kdvr.com/news/kdvr-balloon-101509,0,919382.story
Let’s hope the SIX YEAR OLD, unattended little boy was NOT what might have fallen OUR OF THE BALLOON after a sharp turn. This Dad needs some talking to. I see this as child abuse. He took advantage of his son for publicity. What moronic parents!
I’m guessing hoax. hope so for little boy’s sake and he is ok.
They are saying that the boy untied the tethers and THEN got inside...that is not possible. As soon as he untethered the balloon it would start rising.
That only leaves the possibility that AFTER the boy got inside, someone else untied it.
OR...
He never got inside.
Having watched the relevant episodes of Mythbusters, I feel qualified to say this.
I saw the balloon, there is no way that it was big enough to carry off a 6 yo kid.
They said something fell from it also. I pray that was not the small kid!
I would agree, but they were saying on TV that the gondola, as it were, was 5-feet across, which would be plenty of room. How much air it would hold is another matter.
Mythbusters actually tested how many helium ballons it would take to lift a child. It was a huge number that filled up an aircraft hanger.
That balloon did not look that large when it was down.
IF this isn’t a hoax the boy may have briefly ridden it like Captain Ahab. I saw no way “inside” that thing ... but I’m praying its a hoax.
it also appeared to be drifting along at quite a clip—almost like a plastic shopping bag. Doubtful it could lift, no less carry a small boy and sail that fast.
First I've heard of it.
“That only leaves the possibility that AFTER the boy got inside, someone else untied it.”
I hope the older brother didn’t do it as a prank.
For a good hour+ that is all the cable news channels covered.
So glad I cancelled my tv service a while back.
It’s not the size of the gondola but the volume of helium necessary. On mythbusters I think they used something like 1000 balloons and coulcd’t get a very small child off the ground.
Yes, but if I understand it right, mylar balloons hold a denser bit of helium. I know it wasn’t THAT many that lifted Adam in his lawn chair.
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