Boy Floats Away in 'UFO Balloon' - Can't make this stuff up..

[a2capt]

FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- A 6-year-old boy is floating over northeastern Colorado in a homebuilt balloon and authorities are racing to try and rescue him.
The balloon, in the shape of a flying saucer is 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 untethered at the boy's home.
The father and son had apparently been working on the aircraft for some time.
...
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/21306839/detail.html

Now, I do have to admit, that does sound like fun. ...

..with a real tether system.

Gotta see about getting some plans ;-)

[Flying Pig]

HOLY COW???  Thats some serious stuff?  A 6 yr old floating uncontrolled at 8000 ft?  Man.....I hope its clear VFR weather and it turns out OK

[swamprat86]

I hope everything works out.  Man, has he got story for his kids when he grows up!

[a2capt]

Thats for [darn] sure.

..and perhaps like the lawnchair dude, an FAA fine, too. 

[a2capt]

There's pictures of it..

http://www.freep.com/article/20091015/NEWS07/91015034/1319/Reports--Child-floats-away-on-experimental-balloon-aircraft

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/year-boy-floats-homemade-flying-saucer/story?id=8837704

"The boy has been identified as Falcon Heen, sone of Richard and Mayumi Heene of Ft. Collins, Colo.

Richard Heene is a storm chaser and scientist. The couple twice appeared on the ABC show "Wife Swap."

[DC]

Here's a live video feed of him:

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/video/18205848/index.html

[jimmydeanno]

I hope he doesn't get hypoxia...

[DC]

He's down in a farm field east of Denver. It was a fairly soft landing...

[capn_shad]

What's your source for that?  Not seeing reports to that effect yet.

[desertengineer1]

There couldn't have been anyone in it anyway.  No way a balloon that small could have lifted anything more than about 10 lb. ~30 lb.  See calculation below.

[desertengineer1]

Told you.

[DC]

What's your source for that?  Not seeing reports to that effect yet.

I'm watching CNN...

They're now saying that the balloon is empty, and they don't know where the kid is...

[capn_shad]

Thanks for the update, just starting to hit the news services here.

If it was my son, I imagine he'd be hiding after pulling the tether loose.  Hopefully Weld County can activate their CART team (even though this isn't an abducted child) and do a methodical search starting at the family home.

The alternative here is not a pleasant one to think about.

[desertengineer1]

Ugh...  Was telling my wife while all this was going on - no way.  It took almost 50 balloons of nearly 5000 liters each to lift the 150 lb "chair pilot".  This thing was what, 15 ft X 5 ft saucer shaped? 

Gut guess is no more than about 10 lbs lift capacity.

[a2capt]

Yeah, once I heard how big it really was, I had to wonder how it could actually lift anything substantial.

I hope that kid is hiding under the house .. or better yet, not even having been there and the thing just got loose.

[desertengineer1]

Volume of a cylinder = 2 *pi* r^2 * h

= (2)(3.14)(10 7 ft)^2 (5 ft) = 1538 ft^3

Lift capacity of helium (STP) = .0298  0.067 lb/cu ft

--> 93 103 lb TOTAL LIFT.

(Math updated with more accurate numbers)

Take into account the total weight of the balloon and the actual volume (looks smaller), I estimate no more than 30 lb - completely filled.  Note that it had substantially deflated and still stayed airborne, which means there was almost no payload.

Nobody listens to the engineers 

[capn_shad]

New tidbit from Channel 7 news in Denver:

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.

Probably not a good search done -- missing kids are usually located within a mile of their home (according to my Amber Alert training provided by Department of Justice).  Hopefully the professionals are re-searching the home and neighborhood.

[Hoorah]

FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- A 6-year-old boy is floating over northeastern Colorado in a homebuilt balloon and authorities are racing to try and rescue him.
The balloon, in the shape of a flying saucer is 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 untethered at the boy's home.
The father and son had apparently been working on the aircraft for some time.
...
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/21306839/detail.html

Now, I do have to admit, that does sound like fun. ...

..with a real tether system.

Gotta see about getting some plans ;-)

CAP is searching for them as we speak now.