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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.