Post by King Silva on Oct 15, 2009 17:14:02 GMT -5
I know I just saw this on msn: www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33330516/ns/us_news-life/?GT1=43001
FORT COLLINS. Colo. - A 6-year-old boy was found alive at home Thursday, sheriff's officials said, hours after the runaway flight of an experimental balloon riveted the nation and led to a frantic search for the child, who was feared to have fallen from the craft.
The news that the boy was safe came during a live press conference with Larimer County Sheriff's Office officials.
A family's runaway experimental balloon aircraft crash-landed in a field Thursday about two hours after floating away from home, but there was no sign of a 6-year-old boy.
Authorities feverishly began searching for the child on the ground, retracing the route of the balloon flight. The search was concentrated in a park southeast of the boy's home.
It was unclear whether the boy had been in the balloon during its flight. Authorities initially said he climbed into a box compartment attached to the bottom of the balloon before it took off.
But the Larimer County Sheriff's Office later issued a statement saying, "As far as we have been able to ascertain, there was no 'basket' that had originally been a part of the balloon and which may have detached during the flight. From our understanding, the balloon that landed is in the same condition as what had taken off. We have had no confirmation either way on this."
The giant silver balloon's bizarre flight played out live on television, watched by millions of viewers across the country. The balloon rotated slowly in the wind, tipping precariously at times, during its journey before coming down in a dirt field in neighboring Weld County, more than 40 miles away from where it took off.
Deputies rushed to the scene and corraled and deflated the balloon but found no sign of the boy, identified as Falcon Heene, or the box that may have been attached.
The boy's family had been building a helium-balloon craft that was kept tethered in the backyard of their home. The craft, which resembled a silver flying saucer, was approximately 20 feet by 5 feet.
On Thursday morning, Falcon was playing outside with one of his two older brothers when the older boy said he saw the younger one go into a box or basket at the bottom of the balloon, said Cathy Davis of the Larimer County Sheriff's Department.
The craft somehow became untethered and the balloon took off. It was airborne for more than two hours and glided through two counties.
"This balloon was never meant to actually carry anybody. It was just a family project they were working on," a Fort Collins police spokesperson told reporters.
'Big round balloonish thing'
Several people in the neighborhood saw the aircraft floating over their homes, and some snapped pictures.
Bob Licko, 65, said he was leaving home when he heard commotion in the backyard. He said he saw two boys on the roof with a camera, commenting about their brother.
"One of the boys yelled to me that his brother was way up in the air," Licko said.
He said the boy's mother seemed distraught and that the boy's father was running around the house.
"We were sitting eating, out looking where they normally shoot off hot air balloons," said another neighbor, Lisa Eklund. "My husband said he saw something. It went over our rooftop. Then we saw the big round balloonish thing, it was spinning."
Television news helicopters also tracked the craft, beaming the precarious flight live to viewers.
Officials scrambled to figure out how to safely bring down the craft, believing it was carrying the boy.
The Federal Aviation Administration worked to track the aircraft on radar. A helicopter with the Colorado National Guard was launched to help in any rescue.
The episode led to a brief shutdown of northbound departures from Denver International Airport, one of the nation's busiest, said a controller at the Federal Aviation Administration's radar center in Longmont, Colo. The balloon was about 15 miles northwest of the airport at that time.
The craft floated for about two hours before coming down on its own in a field in Weld County, northeast of Denver International Airport, more than 40 miles away.
Storm chaser
The boy's father, Richard Heene, is an amateur scientist, according to a 2007 Denver Post article on weather chasers. He joined another man, Scott Stevens, to form a Fort Collins-based weather-research team they called The Psyience Detectives.
In the article, Heene described becoming a storm chaser after a tornado ripped off a roof where he was working as a contractor and said he once flew a place around Hurricane Wilma's perimeter in 2005.
Pursuing bad weather was a family activity with the children coming along as the father sought evidence to prove his theory that rotating storms create their own magnetic fields.
Although Richard said he has no specialized training, they had a computer tracking system in their car and a special motorcycle.
The Heene also family appeared twice in the ABC reality show “Wife Swap," most recently in February. On the show, they were portrayed as alien buffs who are obsessed with science.
"When the Heene family aren't chasing storms, they devote their time to scientific experiments that include looking for extraterrestrials and building a research-gathering flying saucer to send into the eye of the storm," according to ABC's description of the episode. [/b]
I had to edit it. .
FORT COLLINS. Colo. - A 6-year-old boy was found alive at home Thursday, sheriff's officials said, hours after the runaway flight of an experimental balloon riveted the nation and led to a frantic search for the child, who was feared to have fallen from the craft.
The news that the boy was safe came during a live press conference with Larimer County Sheriff's Office officials.
A family's runaway experimental balloon aircraft crash-landed in a field Thursday about two hours after floating away from home, but there was no sign of a 6-year-old boy.
Authorities feverishly began searching for the child on the ground, retracing the route of the balloon flight. The search was concentrated in a park southeast of the boy's home.
It was unclear whether the boy had been in the balloon during its flight. Authorities initially said he climbed into a box compartment attached to the bottom of the balloon before it took off.
But the Larimer County Sheriff's Office later issued a statement saying, "As far as we have been able to ascertain, there was no 'basket' that had originally been a part of the balloon and which may have detached during the flight. From our understanding, the balloon that landed is in the same condition as what had taken off. We have had no confirmation either way on this."
The giant silver balloon's bizarre flight played out live on television, watched by millions of viewers across the country. The balloon rotated slowly in the wind, tipping precariously at times, during its journey before coming down in a dirt field in neighboring Weld County, more than 40 miles away from where it took off.
Deputies rushed to the scene and corraled and deflated the balloon but found no sign of the boy, identified as Falcon Heene, or the box that may have been attached.
The boy's family had been building a helium-balloon craft that was kept tethered in the backyard of their home. The craft, which resembled a silver flying saucer, was approximately 20 feet by 5 feet.
On Thursday morning, Falcon was playing outside with one of his two older brothers when the older boy said he saw the younger one go into a box or basket at the bottom of the balloon, said Cathy Davis of the Larimer County Sheriff's Department.
The craft somehow became untethered and the balloon took off. It was airborne for more than two hours and glided through two counties.
"This balloon was never meant to actually carry anybody. It was just a family project they were working on," a Fort Collins police spokesperson told reporters.
'Big round balloonish thing'
Several people in the neighborhood saw the aircraft floating over their homes, and some snapped pictures.
Bob Licko, 65, said he was leaving home when he heard commotion in the backyard. He said he saw two boys on the roof with a camera, commenting about their brother.
"One of the boys yelled to me that his brother was way up in the air," Licko said.
He said the boy's mother seemed distraught and that the boy's father was running around the house.
"We were sitting eating, out looking where they normally shoot off hot air balloons," said another neighbor, Lisa Eklund. "My husband said he saw something. It went over our rooftop. Then we saw the big round balloonish thing, it was spinning."
Television news helicopters also tracked the craft, beaming the precarious flight live to viewers.
Officials scrambled to figure out how to safely bring down the craft, believing it was carrying the boy.
The Federal Aviation Administration worked to track the aircraft on radar. A helicopter with the Colorado National Guard was launched to help in any rescue.
The episode led to a brief shutdown of northbound departures from Denver International Airport, one of the nation's busiest, said a controller at the Federal Aviation Administration's radar center in Longmont, Colo. The balloon was about 15 miles northwest of the airport at that time.
The craft floated for about two hours before coming down on its own in a field in Weld County, northeast of Denver International Airport, more than 40 miles away.
Storm chaser
The boy's father, Richard Heene, is an amateur scientist, according to a 2007 Denver Post article on weather chasers. He joined another man, Scott Stevens, to form a Fort Collins-based weather-research team they called The Psyience Detectives.
In the article, Heene described becoming a storm chaser after a tornado ripped off a roof where he was working as a contractor and said he once flew a place around Hurricane Wilma's perimeter in 2005.
Pursuing bad weather was a family activity with the children coming along as the father sought evidence to prove his theory that rotating storms create their own magnetic fields.
Although Richard said he has no specialized training, they had a computer tracking system in their car and a special motorcycle.
The Heene also family appeared twice in the ABC reality show “Wife Swap," most recently in February. On the show, they were portrayed as alien buffs who are obsessed with science.
"When the Heene family aren't chasing storms, they devote their time to scientific experiments that include looking for extraterrestrials and building a research-gathering flying saucer to send into the eye of the storm," according to ABC's description of the episode. [/b]
I had to edit it. .