Thu, Oct 15, 2009
Aircraft Flew Uncontrolled Over Colorado
ANN Realtime Update: 10.15.2009
1930: The boy believed to have been aboard a homemade
helium balloon when it flew over the Colorado countryside has been
found safe, but hiding in his parent's attic. Ground and
air seraches had been scouring the region in search of the boy. The
balloon came down about about 40 miles from its starting point
without the boy inside.
ANN Realtime Update: 10.15.2009
1638: Larimer County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman
Eloise Campanella says authorities now believe Facon Heene did not
fall from the balloon as it flew over Colorado. "At
this point, we are thinking that he did not fall out of the balloon
and is somewhere on the ground. The basket itself was not
breached. It does not look like he fell out of it, but again, this
is all conjecture."
Original Story: A 6-year-old boy is
missing after he climbed into the enclosed basket of his family's
experimental helium balloon, which somehow managed slip it's tether
and fly for about 90 minutes over Colorado. The balloon came down
near Keenesburg, Colorado early Thursday afternoon local
time.
CNN is reporting that Falcon Heene was seen by a sibling
climbing into the enclosed basket underneath the homemade balloon
before it came loose and flew away from the family home in Fort
Collins. The door on the basket was unlocked, and authorities fear
the child may have fallen out of the aircraft as it drifted at
speeds up to 25 miles per hour up to 7,000 feet agl.
Some witnesses said they saw the balloon tipping
precariously.
CNN reports the balloon is about 5 feet high and 20 feet across,
resembling a flying saucer. It was made of mylar and filled with
helium. A person familiar with the aircraft told a Denver
television station that the floor of the basket was made of thin
plywood, and the don't know if it would survive any kind of
crash.
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