NBR 6-year-old boy floats away in balloon aircraft, LIVE coverage

My brother lives in Denver, and this story is creating havoc there. This is pretty nuts! Hoping and praying that this little boy makes it out of this predicament!!!

6-year-old boy floats away in balloon aircraft, LIVE coverage



FORT COLLINS, CO -- A 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 coverage from KUSA-TV
- this link is not working right now -
Live footage from a local TV helicopter showed the balloon gliding quickly through the air.

LIVE coverage from MSNBC

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.

© 2009 The Associated Press/KUSA-TV

 

been watching this for the last half hour. Unreal.

 

hope it floats safely to the ground

SAFE easy landing

 

yeah i'm watching it right now on the news it landed pretty softly on the ground from the looks of it already lets see if the kid is in there

 

no kid in there, that's my guess

edit: appears he fell out??

 

i'm in a full sweat watching this. looks like the boy is not there...:?:

 

no kiddo....

 

he is not in the balloon. sad, hopefully he never got in the balloon...

 

Hope the boy is found safe.

 

yep hes not in the balloon now where is he. he's probally hiding somewhere in the house so he wont get in trouble about the balloon

 

Hoax?

 

The parents and kid were on the show Wife Swap and are crazy storm chasers....

 

Or a publicity stint for Jiffy Pop? Yeah I've been playing those scenarios through my head too. The investigating seems pretty thorough so far, EDIT well actually there's a lot of conjecture, but hey, anything can happen.

 

Damn, now i have to install The Club on my ballon so 6 year old balloon jackers don't take it.

 

Hope everything turns out okay for the family. Here's a picture of them.



Not sure which one is Falcon.

 

US runaway balloon lands in field

TV News crews in the US tracked the balloon as it landed - but the boy did not appear to be inside

A helium balloon which was floating over the US state of Colorado with a six-year-old boy reportedly inside has landed, in a drama broadcast on TV. US media reports say the boy was not found on board. Police are now said to be searching for him on the ground.

The mushroom-shaped silver balloon, apparently made by the boy's father, reportedly reached heights of 7,000ft.

The balloon was floating about 40 miles north of Denver before it came down, surrounded by rescue vehicles.
Earlier, Larimer County sheriff's office spokeswoman Cathy Davis told reporters the balloon was owned by the boy's parents and had been tethered in the back garden of their home.



Emergency vehicles surrounded the aircraft as it landed

She said their two sons were playing outside when the older boy saw the younger one climb in and the balloon fly away.

Media reports said the boy had been named by local police as Falcon Heene. His father, Richard Heene, apparently used the balloon to track the weather.
The police are said to be searching on the ground, including the neighbourhood where the family lives.
Live footage of the balloon, which was being tracked by media helicopters, showed it soaring high above the ground.

The child was believed to have climbed in through an access door.

 

hope that kid grew wings...

 

Hopefully the kid is just hiding somewhere to avoid the wrath of dad.

 

As a Falcon; he should already have them :?:

On a serious note, I hope he's OK.