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Boy In Balloon: 6-Year-Old Heene Child Floats Away In "Homemade Flying Saucer"


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.

Update | 3:42 p.m. At 11 a.m. Mountain time, Falcon Heene, the 6-year-old son of Richard Heene, was thought to have lifted off in his father’s helium balloon. After flying for more than two hours, the half-deflated aircraft landed in an empty field.
But when the balloon landed, the boy was not in the balloon, deepening the mystery.

Update | 3:32 p.m. Cathy Davis of the Larimer County Sheriff’s Department told reporters the balloon was owned by the boy’s parents and tethered behind the family’s home. She said two sons were playing outside when the older boy saw the younger one go into a compartment at the bottom of the balloon and fly away.

Update | 3:24 p.m. According to Eloise Campanella, a Larimer County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman, the father’s name is Richard Heene, and his son’s name is Falcon. Mr. Heene works as a storm chaser, featured in this video.

Update | 3:15 p.m. Erik Nilsson, the Larimer County emergency manager, said in an interview that officials might have to shoot the balloon to expedite a landing and prevent the child from getting hypothermia inside the small passenger compartment. He has been flying for more than two hours.


The balloon was drifting in winds approximately 20 miles an hour, but was never intended to go into the air, Mr. Nilsson said. It was tethered loosely in the backyard.


According to Mr. Nilsson, the parents called the police about 30 minutes after they realized that the balloon had launched, possibly with their son inside the 3-foot by 3-foot compartment. The box attached to the 7-foot-long by 20-feet-wide balloon — shaped like a container of Jiffy Pop popcorn — is made of plywood that would not be strong enough to sustain any kind of impact.


“We can’t get this thing down,” Mr. Nilsson said. “We may end up having to breach the balloon, possibly with small arms fire.”


He added that another option would be flying a helicopter above the balloon and using the downward wind to push the balloon down.


The boy had stepped into the silver balloon shaped like a flying saucer at his family’s home near Fort Collins, Colo. around 11 a.m. local time. According to MSNBC, the balloon was not tethered and it launched unpredictably.

The Denver Post reported that there were four sheriff’s cars following the balloon along with a television news helicopter as the balloon pitched and rolled. Similar balloons can fly as high as 10,000 feet.

[deethythitoth]

Sadly, it now seems that young Falcon Heene has gone the way of Amelia Earhart.

[freeprescriptionplanrrx]

Geez, I hope he is hiding, and not, well, dead somewhere along the route before it was being tracked......

This was not deliberate negligence, but OMG, you had a large baloon like that in your back yard with a 6 year old around it?

This is NOT the right way to learn a lesson.

[santorio]

I shudder to think at the terror that little boy was feeling as the balloon rose higher and higher.

[Thigmaswams]

CNN is now reporting that the boy is alive and well.
He did not go up with the balloon
he was in a box in the garage

[gypearteday]

Photos

[Gadarett]

But the little boy said something on TV that put his mom & dad in some hot water!

He said that he was afraid that his dad might yell at him, and that the whole thing with the balloon was a show. So the parents could be in trouble with the authorities and could be hauled in for questioning by the law.

[f29sXS07]

And then Dad changed the subject, really fast ...

[djmassk]

Yes he did.

The reporter had said that he plans to have a stern talk with the kids.

It's not their fault, it's HIS.

[Vcwdldva]

Hmmmm, if dady was faking this from the start, he should be "talked to". Otehrwise I am just glad that the kid is OK.....

[miel]

Yes I'm happy that the boy didn't become another statistic in the hands of harm's way.

But I think that his dad is hiding something that might shed some light on this whole thing.

[patuvammnogoo]

Knowing that the balloon family twice appeared on Wife Swap you have to question what they wouldn't do for publicity.

[MasdMnPa]

I don't think this "transcript" is accurate, but...
Operator 1: “911, What is your emergency?”

Caller: “My 6 year-old son just drifted away in a helium balloon!”

Operator 1:“Can I have your phone number in case we get disconnected?”

Caller: “Yes, its 555-1234.” Oh, please, I don’t know what to do! It’s starting to drift away!”

Operator 1: “You say your son is floating away in a balloon?”

Caller: “Yes!”

Operator 1: “Hmm, I don’t see that in any of the emergency dispatch responses in the computer. Hold on a second.”
To Operator 2: “Hey, this lady says her kid’s floating away in a balloon! Where is that in the computer?”

Operator 2: “Kid in a balloon? (scrolling through computer choices) I don’t see that either. Just go with “Generalized Weakness.”

Operator 1: “OK ma’am, I have it now. Is he conscious and breathing?”

Caller: “I guess so, he just climbed into the balloon. I can’t really see him right now. He’s a thousand feet overhead. Please send help!”

Operator 1: “I’ll send someone out. Is his breathing normal?”

Caller: “What? I don’t know! He’s breathing HELIUM!”

Operator 1: “Is he having any chest pain?”

Caller: “Are you kidding me? He’s in a freaking balloon!”

Operator 1: “I understand you’re anxious ma’am, but I need you to try and stay calm. I need you to answer my questions so we can get the proper response crews to you.”

Caller: (calming down) “OK, I’ll try. Please send someone; the balloon is drifting out of sight!”

Operator 1: “How old is he? Does he have any medical problems?”

Caller: “Six. And no, he’s perfectly healthy.”

Operator 1: “How long has he felt weak?”

Caller: “Weak? What are you talking about? Haven’t you been listening? He climbed into an experimental balloon I was building with my husband and it drifted away with him inside it?”

Operator 1: “Oh that’s right. Sorry, I’m trying to use the computer script for ‘Generalized Weakness.’”

Caller: “WHAT?”

Operator 1: “So the balloon drifted away with your 6 year-old husband and he’s feeling weak?”

Caller: “Oh my God!”

Operator 1: “OK ma’am, the ambulance is on its way. Do you want me to stay on the line till they arrive?”

Caller: “An ambulance? Why are you sending an ambulance? He’s in a freaking BALLOON! Thousands of feet in the air! What is an ambulance going to do?”

Operator 1: “Ma’am I need you to try to stay calm so I can send the proper response crews…”

Caller: “Oh sweet Jesus! Never mind, I’ll call CNN!” (Click)

Operator 1 to Operator 2: “What a bitch! Some people just don’t know how to speak to another human being.”

Operator 2: “So she canceled the call?”

Operator 1: “Yeah. Says she’s gonna call CNN. Freak. Like they’d be interested.”

Operator 2: “Hmph!”

[celddiskend]

^Funny!

This from a NY Times article:

...Audio of the family’s 911 call, released on Friday afternoon, seemed to raise new questions about the bizarre incident.

The 911 operator did not even do an audible double-take, but kept asking questions about how long the “flying saucer” has been gone and whether it had “any kind of a tracking device” on board.

“We’re looking around the house,” Ms. Heene said.

Mayumi Heene then handed the phone to her husband, Richard. When the operator asked him if his son knew how to operate the flying saucer, Mr. Heene replied “no.”

She asked if he was sure his son was in the device. Mr. Heene then said in a frantic voice: “We looked everywhere.” He then referred to 10-year-old Bradford, his oldest son. “My son said he went inside just before it went off. We had it tethered. It wasn’t supposed to take off. We were testing it to find out what affect we could get.”

Mr. Heene then told the operator that there was a possibility that if his son were inside, he could be in danger because for one minute, in a five-minute cycle, the balloon “emits a million volts on the outer skin.”

He said he was also concerned about an aircraft hitting the balloon.
The operator asked him about the appearance of the flying saucer. “It’s silver?”

Mr. Heene answered, in what has become the understatement of the week:

“It’s got aluminum foil, it’s hard to miss.”

At a news conference in Fort Collins on Friday, Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden said that the 911 call was not the first call the Heene family made. The first was to the Federal Aviation Administration. The second was to the local NBC affiliate.

“I find it odd,” Mr. Alderden admitted.

In the lengthy news conference, Mr. Alderden said his investigators on the scene believed the Heene family, and that their initial grief was real. But the interview on CNN Thursday night where Falcon said the reason he hid so long was “for the show,” changed the investigation.
...


What we know: one, the Dad believes in UFO's, and two, created a balloon that looks just like a flying saucer.

[expiclefich]

Mr. Heene then told the operator that there was a possibility that if his son were inside, he could be in danger because for one minute, in a five-minute cycle, the balloon “emits a million volts on the outer skin.” Whaaaaat?

You do not "emit" volts. Volts are a measure of EM potential. You can emit AMPS of power at a VOLTAGE, not VOLTS.

I hate Scientific idjits. Even if he WAS joking, he should get his shizzzzzzznit right. I mean, we gotta think of the KIDS!!!!

[infinkPoode]

Ninj: Have you heard Heene's description of the saucer / craft and it's batteries / electrical properties in regard to navigating the vehicle?

If so, I'm curious about the probability / possibility that it was viable.

[Lydiaswingert]

I didn't know that the boy got sick and that he vomited a few times during that interview, until I watched it again.

They had to stop a few times to allow the boy to regain his composure. This jerk was trying to pull off a hoax, not realising how traunatic that this might have been for his son!

Now I'm wondering if the boy was even TOLD by his dad to go hide in the house to make it appear as though he "disappeared and couldn't be found". I found it to be awfully strange for his parents to supposedly not know just where the boy was until sometime later.

They had practically the whole country on pins and needles and thinking that the boy was in that balloon, thinking that the worst might have happened to him!

I think that the boy was the center of a cruel and inexusable joke that had apparently gone sour!

[echocassidyde]

If so, I'm curious about the probability / possibility that it was viable.

I'm surprised someone didn't work this out and call it in:

The craft was described as 20 ft across and 5 feet high. Its shape is an oblate spheroid (an ellipsoid with 2 radii equal). The formula for volume is:

V = 4/3 x pi x A x B x C

V = 4/3 x 3.1416 x 10 x 10 x 2.5

V = 1047.2 cubic feet.

Lifting power of helium is .067 lbs per cubic foot. Total lifting power of the craft is 70 lbs. Average weight of a 6 year old boy is 45-50 lbs.

That leaves 25 lbs. The weight of the balloon material and the gondola is...what?

[Helloheshess]

Here's a pic of the family and the runaway balloon.

[HaseBeceDeemy]

Here's a pic of the family and the runaway balloon.

Thanks, it wasn't shown on any of the news outlets. Must have been hard to find.