Come on! Open the door! Dang it!
Boy in Ballon... Breaking News
- Thread starter Seadweller
- Start date
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Sonoran Goddess
First indication is the balloon is empty!
Seadweller
chum
I hope he's not in there
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Sonoran Goddess
This is horrible.
Now they are on camera. I hope that doesn't mean he's in there dead and they don't want to put it on national TV.
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Sonoran Goddess
But his brother saw the balloon take off with him in it.
Now the brother says he fell out somewhere. Oh God.
Now some people in Larimar county said they saw something fall out of the balloon as it went over their house.
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Sonoran Goddess
I'm a certified emergency responder. Let's see if I get a call to search.
Seadweller
chum
I would already be there volunteering
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Sonoran Goddess
Local news is saying the tethers were not hanging down before, maybe something was attached that is not attached now.
Now they have said he is not in the house. The police searched everywhere.
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Sonoran Goddess
We are on a phone tree. Its best to go in prepared, and have a plan. It's faster and more efficient.
Seadweller
chum
I understand you have a protocall to follow, I'm just saying I would be volunteering...
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Sonoran Goddess
Boo would make a great search dog! The team of Sea and Boo, guaranteed to find you! It even rhymes! I hope the little guy is hiding in a bush cuz he's scared he's in big trouble.
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Sonoran Goddess
BREAKING NEWS
VIEW SLIDESHOW
LIVE UPDATES ON 9NEWS @ 4, 5 & 6
LARIMER COUNTY - Authorities are searching a specific area in Larimer County for a box that was attached to the bottom of an experimental aircraft that took off from a Fort Collins home with a 6-year-old boy inside after a sheriff's deputy thought he saw something fall in that area.
The Weld County Sheriff's deputy thought he saw something fall in the area around County Road 41 and County Road 28. He believes it came from the bottom of the aircraft.
There is now a very large search in the area, moving through high grass.
The homemade aircraft made an apparent soft landing northeast of Denver International Airport on Thursday afternoon, but rescue crews found no sign of the boy when they reached the aircraft.
When it landed five miles east of Prospect Reservoir, 9NEWS could not see any child rescued from the basket of the balloon, but earlier Fort Collins Police had said they were certain he was still inside.
Police believe the boy, Falcon Heene, was inside the box when the aircraft lifted off around 11 a.m.
Police say there are pegs on the bottom of the aircraft that indicate that a box was attached at some point.
The experimental aircraft, which is a type of balloon filled with helium, was up for nearly three hours and appeared to start to rapidly deflate shortly after 1 p.m.
According to the Larimer County Sheriff's Department, the 6-year-old boy's parents had been building an experimental aircraft which had a large helium balloon attached to it at their home on Fossil Ridge Road in Fort Collins.
On Thursday morning, according to the family and officials, the boy got onto the aircraft and detached the rope holding it in place.
The aircraft was a dome-shaped, 20 foot, 5 foot aircraft covered with foil. As it was flying, it was going about 20-25 mph.
A spokesperson with Fort Collins Police said, "This balloon was never meant to actually carry anybody. It was just a family project they were working on. The little compartment where their son is in is very small and it's not attached very well."
Police say the family's two boys were playing outside with the rest of the family inside the house. One son watched his little brother go inside the compartment and watched the balloon take off.
The Federal Aviation Administration worked to track the aircraft on its radar tower and notified DIA. At one point, a helicopter with the Colorado National Guard was launched to help in the rescue.
Shortly after noon, the Weld County Sheriff's Office said the balloon was seen two miles south of Evans, near County Road 46 and Highway 85.
Closer to 1 p.m., the aircraft was listed as near Hudson.
DIA rerouted northbound flights as a precaution because of the aircraft. There were no delays or cancellations and the airport is back to normal operations.
Sky9 worked with Weld County officials to track the aircraft from the air beginning around noon.
Viewer Lisa Eklund sent photos of an aircraft in the air near her home on Saturn Drive, also in Fort Collins.
The boy's father Richard Heene is a known storm chaser. During an appearance on the television program WifeSwap, Heene and his wife, Mayumi, focused on their love of science.
Last year, the 9NEWS Morning Show interviewed Richard and Mayumi Heene about their passion for storm chasing. Click here to read the story and watch the video.
9NEWS will continue to follow this story and provide updates on 9NEWS.com and 9NEWS at 4, 5 and 6 p.m.
VIEW SLIDESHOW
LIVE UPDATES ON 9NEWS @ 4, 5 & 6
LARIMER COUNTY - Authorities are searching a specific area in Larimer County for a box that was attached to the bottom of an experimental aircraft that took off from a Fort Collins home with a 6-year-old boy inside after a sheriff's deputy thought he saw something fall in that area.
The Weld County Sheriff's deputy thought he saw something fall in the area around County Road 41 and County Road 28. He believes it came from the bottom of the aircraft.
There is now a very large search in the area, moving through high grass.
The homemade aircraft made an apparent soft landing northeast of Denver International Airport on Thursday afternoon, but rescue crews found no sign of the boy when they reached the aircraft.
When it landed five miles east of Prospect Reservoir, 9NEWS could not see any child rescued from the basket of the balloon, but earlier Fort Collins Police had said they were certain he was still inside.
Police believe the boy, Falcon Heene, was inside the box when the aircraft lifted off around 11 a.m.
Police say there are pegs on the bottom of the aircraft that indicate that a box was attached at some point.
The experimental aircraft, which is a type of balloon filled with helium, was up for nearly three hours and appeared to start to rapidly deflate shortly after 1 p.m.
According to the Larimer County Sheriff's Department, the 6-year-old boy's parents had been building an experimental aircraft which had a large helium balloon attached to it at their home on Fossil Ridge Road in Fort Collins.
On Thursday morning, according to the family and officials, the boy got onto the aircraft and detached the rope holding it in place.
The aircraft was a dome-shaped, 20 foot, 5 foot aircraft covered with foil. As it was flying, it was going about 20-25 mph.
A spokesperson with Fort Collins Police said, "This balloon was never meant to actually carry anybody. It was just a family project they were working on. The little compartment where their son is in is very small and it's not attached very well."
Police say the family's two boys were playing outside with the rest of the family inside the house. One son watched his little brother go inside the compartment and watched the balloon take off.
The Federal Aviation Administration worked to track the aircraft on its radar tower and notified DIA. At one point, a helicopter with the Colorado National Guard was launched to help in the rescue.
Shortly after noon, the Weld County Sheriff's Office said the balloon was seen two miles south of Evans, near County Road 46 and Highway 85.
Closer to 1 p.m., the aircraft was listed as near Hudson.
DIA rerouted northbound flights as a precaution because of the aircraft. There were no delays or cancellations and the airport is back to normal operations.
Sky9 worked with Weld County officials to track the aircraft from the air beginning around noon.
Viewer Lisa Eklund sent photos of an aircraft in the air near her home on Saturn Drive, also in Fort Collins.
The boy's father Richard Heene is a known storm chaser. During an appearance on the television program WifeSwap, Heene and his wife, Mayumi, focused on their love of science.
Last year, the 9NEWS Morning Show interviewed Richard and Mayumi Heene about their passion for storm chasing. Click here to read the story and watch the video.
9NEWS will continue to follow this story and provide updates on 9NEWS.com and 9NEWS at 4, 5 and 6 p.m.
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Sonoran Goddess
News just said that from the time they spotted and started tracking the balloon, the tethers were visible and there was no box on the bottom. This was about 12:30 or 1.5 hours after lift-off.
Seadweller
chum
that's a lot of time for that basket to have fallen off
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Sonoran Goddess
Yea.