A 6-year-old boy floated away from his family's Colorado home today after climbing into a "homemade flying saucer" connected to a large helium balloon, leading local and federal officials to figure out how to rescue the boy as the experimental aircraft raced through the sky.
Officials in Larimer County are actively searching for a child who literally floated away from his family's home on an experimental aircraft.
(ABC News)
According to a statement by the Larimar County Sheriff's Office, the boy climbed into the experimental aircraft's access door, which they believe can rise as high as 10,000 feet.
6-yr Old in Homemade Flying Saucer
Police are searching the skies for a Fort Collins, Colorado boy who floated away from the family home on an “experimental aircraft” this morning.
Police say that the homemade dome-shaped, 20 foot, 5 foot aircraft (covered with foil) was tethered with a rope while the family constructed it. Some time this morning, the family’s six-year-old son entered the craft and released the rope. Neighbors have spotted the craft nearby, and the Federal Aviation Administration is helping track the aircraft on its radar tower. Denver International Airport has been notified about the situation.
The FAA is reporting that the craft was last spotted twenty-six miles east of Fort Collins in Greeley, Colorado.
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Anyone see the live footage on this? It really is quite unbelievable. That kid is having the time of his life or is terrified. He'll be all over the talk shows if he lives.
And someone is going to get a spanking if he survives this.......and I bet the parents won't be charged unless he dies. If he survives, it will be one of those, "Welllll, the parents have sufferrrrred enough".
This is bad but I'm laughing. Holy crap! I'm off to CNN to check this out!
Just watched the video - HOLY MOLY!!! Unbelievable.
The kid's name is Falcon, btw.
Falcon? LOL....It really is cool to watch.
I hope he is ok..his parents should be charged for this stunt, IMO. They obviously did not secure this 'Spacecraft' properly.
<---never though I would have a reason to use this emoticon.
Love the emoticon!
It's down, btw, and he's not in it! So where did he go?
NICE HOAX!! There is no way there was a 6 year old in that Spacecraft. The thing has been on the ground for several minutes and no body.
I love it!!
Who has that much helium around the house; enough to carry a child away, and what was the purpose of it? I believe a 6-year old might be able to figure out how to untie it, but not to untie it and quickly hop into it, if there's somewhere to sit in it. The kid probably untied it, got scared he would get in trouble when he saw it fly away and ran off somewhere.
Looks like the little monster was hiding in the attic. Way to go, brat. Everyone was freaking out, airport traffic was diverted, military helicopters had to be activated, rescue personnel had to be chase this thing all over, people holding their breath and in hysterics because a chyyyyyllllld's life was in danger, and the little shit is hiding at home. Why wasn't he in school? Yet another reason....
(10-15-2009 07:51 PM)anastasia Wrote: [ -> ]Looks like the little monster was hiding in the attic. Way to go, brat. Everyone was freaking out, airport traffic was diverted, military helicopters had to be activated, rescue personnel had to be chase this thing all over, people holding their breath and in hysterics because a chyyyyyllllld's life was in danger, and the little shit is hiding at home. Why wasn't he in school? Yet another reason....
LOL!! Send the parents the bill.
He's prolly homeskooled.
It was teachers work day-that's why he was at home.
I love this though, from a Yahoo! article:
"But the boy fled to the attic at some point after the scolding and was never in the balloon during its two-hour, 50-mile journey through two counties. "I yelled at him. I'm really sorry I yelled at him," Heene said as he hugged his son during a news conference.
"I was in the attic and he scared me because he yelled at me," Falcon said. "That's why I went in the attic."
So your kid hides because you raise your voice? Please.
He was on the Today show this morning - throwing up! GROSS!! Sounds like a hoax to me...
Yeah, I think the whole thing was an attention-getting stunt by the family.
Sounds like a scam job. This family has been on a few reality TV shows and applied for several others.
From what it sounds like now, it was a hoax. The family has been on WifeSwap or something. And in at least one of the interviews the little boy was asked why he didn't come out of his hiding place and he said something to the dad about that he thought it was for the show.
Plus they did a check on the phone records and the dad called news sources before 911.
Bwhahahahahaha.
How could anyone believe that a helium balloon could carry off a 6 year old?
The dad is a real piece of work.
(10-19-2009 10:24 PM)noelle Wrote: [ -> ]How could anyone believe that a helium balloon could carry off a 6 year old?
The dad is a real piece of work.
LOL!
I believed it.
From the angle of the shots on TV, it looked huge and I figured it could carry a 60 pound kid.
Have you seen that YouTube video of the kid barfing while on the Today Show (or one of those talk shows). The idiot parents just sitting their like, no biggie. It is unreal.
Media hoax. Hope they have to pay back all the money wasted on the search. What a waste of the states resources.
Today I heard that throwing up can be a sign of child abuse. Anyone else ever hear that?
Kids puke a lot, it's one of their FABULOUS traits.
But I was thinking he was stressed and that caused the puking. His parents have brought a tremendous amount of stress on those kids. I also know what it's like to be told as child to lie and keep secrets. My mother did it to me regularly as she dropped me off at my grandmother's house on the weekends, I had to lie about or keep secret literally every single thing that went on in our lives. I lived under constant stressful mind blowing fear that I'd fuck up and say something wrong, and since I was a kid, I often did. When she'd pick me up she'd quiz about everything that was said, either by me or my grandmother. This was because this was my father's mother, and my mother didn't want anything getting back to my father.
I can imagine the stress of being told to participate in a lie would stress that little kid out enough to make him puke. If I had TV cameras on me early in the morning and had to be worried about keeping such a big story straight, I'd have puked, too.
(10-20-2009 01:51 AM)eslbee Wrote: [ -> ]Today I heard that throwing up can be a sign of child abuse. Anyone else ever hear that?
(10-20-2009 04:07 AM)anastasia Wrote: [ -> ]Kids puke a lot, it's one of their FABULOUS traits.
But I was thinking he was stressed and that caused the puking. His parents have brought a tremendous amount of stress on those kids.
I think all kids (under age 16) should be banned from reality TV shows. Period.
They belong in school, trying to lead a normal life. That's hard enough, IMO. I can't even begin to imagine listening to all of the scrutinizing and criticism from the entire world. Talk about something that can haunt you and really fuck with you!!
Those parents are screwy.
As expected, the focus of the story is now totally revolved around the kid, and how it will affect him. But there's other issues I've wondered about. I read that the parents met in acting classes they took together, and they were both looking for TV acting jobs. Did the father (or mother, if she's still around) actually have jobs, other than looking for gigs on TV? Tied into that is the question about the finances to have a home in the country, raise kids and have a hobby of making space ship balloons. The other point is the balloon. Where did he learn to make one or purchase one? I wouldn't have a clue how to go about doing either. And where did the helium to fill it come from?