http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/21306839/detail.html


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.




Fort Collins police and other authorities have been alerted and Airtracker 7 has launched in an effort to locate the boy.

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 altitude of the balloon was fluctuating between 7,500 and 8,500 feet.

Skies in the area are partly cloudy and southwest wind speeds are 15 to 20 miles per hour.

"It is believed the device could rise to 10,000 feet," said Eloise Campanella, Larimer County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman.

"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.

Deputies from Larimer and Weld counties are tracking the balloon as it drifts.

FAA spokesman Mike Fergus said the agency has been notified and it was unclear whether traffic controllers had picked it up on radar.

The balloon may drift into air traffic control corridors used by Denver International Airport, based on its current location and direction.





YIKES! I pray he can be rescued.

wow. How can the rescue him? Some kind of superhero helicopter dangling guy rescue?

Poor little guy, poor Dad...

OMG CNN is saying the boy may have fallen out at some point before it was totally in the air,according to what a sibling said,not 100% confirmed though,so the boy may not even be in it.

Has anyone stopped to figure out whether it COULD carry the boy that high? The physics of it, given the balloon size and buoyancy.

They are still trying to find that poor little boy, I hope he is found safe.

If anyone ever watched Wife Swap the family was on there once. Here is a link to their Wife Swap profile. The Heene family I think he is the youngest boy.

CNN just report that the little boy, Falcon is his name, has been found and is safe at home. Hiding in the attic of the garage or something like that, they are talking about it now. I am relieved I've been following this since around around 3:00.

I thought his name might be Philip

glad he's at home. I wonder if his parents will have
to repay for all the search expenses.

Kids,arggh,bet he's in trouble for awhile.

I live in Fort Collins just down the road from the family. The sherriff's dept called our house/neighborhood asking for help in locating Falcon. My kiddos were out on their bikes and search/rescue/reporters were all over our neighborhood. So happy that he was found hiding, although my husband thinks the parents set it up.....he's always skeptical!! They are different, no doubt, but I'm soo relieved for the happy ending!!! SUCH an insane day around here...very scary indeed!!! Kiss your babies lovers!! xoxoxo

So strange people are mad now,I mean for awhile their everyone was hoping,praying the kid would be ok,well he is and now everyone is mad he was just hiding or the family may have made it up,well hiding or making it up is better than the alternative,say the boy had been in there and been killed.

I really do think it was either made up or the parents found the child sooner than they admit and decided to milk it. I just can't see a 6 yr old hiding in the attic by himself for as long as they say he did. They obviously are liking the attention. If all they cared about was the well-being of Falcon then they wouldn't have kept him sitting there when he threw up during an interview. I understand that you don't want to be rude on national television but the mom could have taken the boy away to clean him up and comfort him or the father could have said "I'm sorry but I have to deal with my son right now. Can we continue this in a few minutes?"

I do wonder what the neighbors think about them now.

and the boys. how are they going to be treated in school?

like I said before. they will be paying for all the
expenses involved with lying to the police

and they had their sons lie too. not a good thing

Parents face up to a few years in jail,stupid,stupid people,using your child like that,some people clearly should not have kids.

I bet the Gosselins are thrilled this happened since they aren't the most hated family in America now.

Not only that but I don't think we've heard anything about the Gosselins this week. I'm actually shocked that their hadn't been an interview with them asking what they thought about the balloon boy case.

no, I still dislike them the most.

abusing their children that way in public.

anyone watch Law and Order last week? it was great and the ending, funny