LATEST UPDATE – BOY FOUND ALIVE! — Please Say a Prayer… 6-Year-Old Floating Away in Homemade Hotair Balloon in Colorado (update, photos, video)
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on October 15, 2009
Colorado boy, Falcon Heene, age 6, was found safe hiding in a cardboard box in the family's garage. He was not in the escaped helium balloon as a sibling had reported. Falcon is being held by his father in this photo.
6-YEAR-OLD BOY IN HOTAIR BALLOON FOUND ALIVE!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This story is still developing. All is now well… scroll to bottom for most current updates on finding the missing 6-year-old boy.
This is the homemade 'flying saucer' helium balloon that a small boy in Colorado was reported to be in when it escaped
From FOX News: Officials Race to Save Boy Trapped in Flying Balloon:
DEVELOPING: Officials are scrambling to figure out how to rescue a 6-year-old boy who climbed into a homemade balloon before it floated away in Fort Collins, Colo.
The bizarre scene played out live on television and prompted fears that the flying saucer-shaped balloon would crash with the young child inside. FAA spokesman Mike Fergus says the agency has been notified and it was unclear whether traffic controllers had picked it up on radar.
Larimer County sheriff’s spokeswoman Eloise Campanella says the device 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. The craft is reportedly traveling at about 25 miles per hour.
The FAA is now clearing airspace near Denver International Airport.
“We were sitting eating, out looking where they normally shoot off hot air balloons. My husband said he saw something. It went over our rooftop. Then we saw the big round balloonish thing, it was spinning,” said neighbor Lisa Eklund.
Additional details about the child and the balloon were not immediately available.
Local FOX News: Hot Air Balloon in Colorado with 6-Year-Old Boy
From Denver News:
The balloon landed about 2 miles east of Prospect Reservoir at 1:35 p.m., but the boy was not inside. That’s about 50 miles from where the balloon lifted off.
The balloon, in the shape of a flying saucer was covered in foil and filled with helium. It has a compartment for a passenger underneath. It lifted the boy into the air near Fort Collins Thursday morning after the balloon became unhooked at the boy’s home.
The family reported the boy could not be found when the balloon lifted off. The boy’s home and neighborhood were immediately searched and there was no sign of the boy, leading everyone to believe the boy had climbed into the craft.
Airtracker 7 located the craft at 12:35 p.m. at about 8,000 feet in Weld County. It appeared to be slightly tilted.
“The structure at the bottom of the balloon that the boy is in is made of extremely thin plywood and won’t withstand any kind of a crash at all,” said Erik Nilsson, Larimer County Emergency Manager, as the balloon floated thousands of feet over farmland.
Deputies from Larimer and Weld counties tracked the balloon as it drifted. Experts said it could remain airborne for up to 12 hours, although it was clearly deflated on one side by 1:25 p.m., and was descending about 400 feet off the ground at 1:30 p.m.
A neighbor said the “whole family was out there” working on the balloon Thursday. The neighbor said the balloon was supposed to be tethered and hover in air.
“This was never meant to carry anybody,” said Larimer County sheriff’s spokeswoman Eloise Campbell.
The neighbor identified the missing boy as Falcon Heene.
Another shot of the runaway 'flying saucer' helium balloon in Colorado
From CNN:
The boy’s family had been building the experimental aircraft at their home on Fossil Ridge Road in Fort Collins, CNN affiliate KUSA reported.
The family has described the structure as a a dome-shaped “homemade flying saucer,” Larimer County Sheriff’s Office Spokeswoman Kathy Davis said.
“We’re trying to determine the best course of action,” Davis said. “This is a first and we’ll do what we need to do.”
UPDATED INFO FROM CNN, 1:27 pm AZ/Pacific:
…A balloon that was set adrift today by a 6-year-old boy from his parents’ Fort Collins, Colorado, home was empty when it landed, but authorities said they were searching for the boy on the ground. Police said a sibling had reported seeing the boy on board. His parents were featured on ABC’s “Wife Swap” in March.
From AllVoices:
Boy 6, Floats Away In Hot Air Balloon
FORT COLLINS, Colo. — 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 footage from a local TV helicopter showed the balloon gliding quickly through the air.
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 said the 6-year-old climbed into the access door and was in the airborne device.
FAA spokesman Mike Fergus said the agency has been notified and it was unclear whether traffic controllers had picked it up on radar.
Colorado National Guard has now launched aircraft help to save the boy. Apparently, one side of the escaped aircraft has collapsed.
UPDATE!!!!! SUCCESSFUL RESCUE
Soft, safe landing of the hotair balloon with superb helicopter assistance in a Colorado field near 160th Ave. & Weld County Road 79, just south of Keenesburg. FOX 31 reporter Kim Posey said it was not going “frighteningly fast” when it hit the ground… The balloon landed on its own in the dirt field, and sheriff’s deputies secured it to keep it in place, even tossing shovelfuls of dirt on one edge. Rescue workers quickly poked holes into the balloon, fully deflating the helium craft, with medics on standby. As Sean Hannity said on his radio show while covering the news coverage live, it appeared that “arms of angels” were involved in helping to bring down the runaway experimental flying saucer craft.
However, at this point, the boy has not been seen by news crews nor has been removed from the craft. This is mysterious… did the child not enter the craft as was assumed? Is he hiding, fearing punishment for releasing the balloon? Since so many eyes were on the craft after it was released, I don’t believe he fell out without anyone seeing it happen. Please continue prayers…
Deflating the downed helium balloon... boy not inside
UPDATE
Temporary 2-mile flight restriction has been issued for the area… boy has been reported to be OK. However, law enforcement officers are saying the balloon craft is empty. Conflict of information… previous AP reports was that the boy was in the balloon craft when it was accidentally released, but that may not be the case. However, at this point, the child is still reportedly missing.
CNN just reported that the child was not in the balloon.
UPDATE, 1:08 pm AZ/Pacific time
Still no word on the child.
UPDATE, 1:14 pm, AZ/Pacific time
Authorities are looking into reports that something fell from the balloon shortly after it took off from the home. A search is under way near Platteville, 5 to 10 miles outside of Greeley, Colorado.
UPDATE, 1:40 pm, AZ/Pacific time
FOX News reports that the hunt is still on for the boy. Will update when new information is made available.
UPDATE, 3:16 pm, AZ/Pacific time
PRAISE GOD… BOY FOUND ALIVE!
New York Times: Helium Balloon Tale Ends as Boy Is Found Hiding at Home:
Update | 6:07 p.m. The 6-year boy, Falcon Heene, was just found alive, according to reporter Dan Frosch, who is at the boy’s house in Fort Collins, Colo. The Larimer County Sheriff, Jim Alderden, said that he was found hiding in a box in the family’s garage.
Update | 5:51 p.m. Brian Stelter, who covers the television industry for the New York Times, reports that immediately after the Heene family’s experimental balloon lifted into the air, possibly carrying a six-year-old child, his father Richard Heene called Channel 9, KUSA, the NBC affiliate in Denver, to enlist its help in finding his son.
Patti Dennis, the news director for KUSA, said that Mr. Heene called shortly after 11 a.m. Mountain time.
An hour later, a KUSA anchor reported the call. “The child’s father called the information center in a panic,” a KUSA anchor told viewers. The father “asked if we would launch the helicopter to help him track it. We have done that. The helicopter is en route.”
Update | 5:32 p.m. Channel 9 in Denver reported that a deputy sheriff in Weld County thought he saw “something” fall in that area around County Road 41 and County Road 28. He believes it came from the bottom of the aircraft.
However, a spokeswoman for the Larimer County sheriff’s office, Kathy Messick, contradicted that fact. She said that when the balloon landed, the box was still attached to the balloon.
“It was damaged,” she said. “Basically, it was folded over and damaged.”
Updated information from FOX News:
A massive hunt for a 6-year-old boy who was believed to have been trapped inside a flying balloon that crashed without him inside was found in his parents house, according to the Larimer County Sheriff’s Department.
“He’s been there the whole time,” said a sheriff’s department official.”He was hiding in a cardboard box in the attic above the garage.”
The official said his parents were beside themselves during the search and believed the boy was in the balloon.
He said officials searched the house twice, but it wasn’t clear if it included the garage.
Mystified authorities in Colorado had launched a ground search for the boy after the flying balloon he was believed to have been trapped in crashed without him inside.
A sheriff’s official said the boy climbed into a box attached to balloon before it floated away from the family’s home, but the basket was not found at the crash site.
The harrowing scene played out live on TV as initial reports that the child was in the flying saucer-shaped balloon, raising fears that he was in grave danger hurtling through the air at alarming speeds. Some eyewitnesses said they saw something drop from the balloon while it was still in the air, but the ground search had yet to turn up the boy as of Thursday evening.
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.
The child was identified as Falcon Heene, the son of Richard Heene, a Colorado weather-chaser. The boy and his family — mother, Mayumi, and brothers, Ryo and Bradford — first appeared on the ABC series “Wife Swap” on Oct. 3, 2008 and were voted back for the 100th episode of the show, which aired on March 13, 2009.
From CNN:
(CNN) — The 6-year-old Colorado boy who is believed to have set adrift a helium balloon Thursday, prompting ground and air searches, has been found alive, authorities said.
The balloon landed south of Prospect Springs, Colorado, on Thursday afternoon.
He was found in a box in the attic at his family’s Fort Collins home, according to authorities.
A sibling said he saw the boy, identified as Falcon Heene, get into the craft Thursday morning, authorities said.
But the boy was not inside the craft when it made a soft landing near Keenesburg, about 60 miles from its starting point in Fort Collins, at 1:35 p.m. (3:35 p.m. ET).
People across the world watched Thursday as the homemade helium balloon soared 7,000 feet over eastern Colorado for more than an hour and a half.
The Heene family of Colorado... missing 6-year-old Falcon is in the center
Falcon Heene, age 6, shows reporters his hiding place at family Colorado home
Additional:
Michelle Malkin: Hot air balloon drama preempts Obama; Update: Where is the boy?; Update: Punked?!
Ace of Spades: Balloon Boy Found Alive
Kreuzer’s Korner: ‘Balloon Boy’ Falcon Heene Found Alive at Home
Snark Food: Balloon Boy Found Alive Hiding in Family Garage
The Snooper Report: OOPS! Young Man Stuck In A Balloon!
About the author
Comments