10-15-2009, 01:52 PM
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6-year-old boy floats away in hot-air balloon
 OMG!
http://www.komonews.com/news/national/64402512.html
Quote:
Story Published: Oct 15, 2009 at 11:31 AM PDT
Story Updated: Oct 15, 2009 at 11:47 AM PDT
By Associated Press FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) - A 6-year-old boy climbed into a hot-air balloon aircraft and floated away Thursday, forcing officials to scramble to figure out how to rescue the boy.
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 says the 6-year-old climbed into the access door and was in the airborne device.
FAA spokesman Mike Fergus says the agency has been notified and it was unclear whether traffic controllers had picked it up on radar.
Additional details were not immediately available.
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Foxnews.com has live video now.
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10-15-2009, 02:08 PM
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Purple mountains majesty
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Join Date: Dec 2003
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I can't imagine how frightening this must be.
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10-15-2009, 02:09 PM
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Is that true? Wasn't it tethered? What about the gas/hot air to give it lift? Wasn't anybody there watching it? How could a 6-year-old manage to do all of that? 
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10-15-2009, 02:12 PM
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Holy Cr@p! It's all over the news and it's traveling at a high rate of speed.....I can't imagine being his parents right now and the poor kid must be scared to death!
I hope someone can figure away to get him down safely.
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10-15-2009, 02:18 PM
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Purple mountains majesty
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Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: In my heaven on earth
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It was tethered, the boy released it himself. My guess is the helium was already in the balloon. This isn't very far from where I live so all my local stations are tracking the balloon with their helicopters.
www.9news.com
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10-15-2009, 02:22 PM
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Bucky Katt rocks!
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Join Date: Feb 2001
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Seems horribly reckless of the parents (dad primarily, I'm guessing, since it was he and the boy who were building the aircraft) to a) leave it filled with helium, and b) not secure it in a way that the kid couldn't crawl into it AND unsecure it to set it free.
That said, I'm sure they're terrified right now (as well as the boy) and I am very interested to see what will be attempted in terms of a rescue. I have no idea how they're going to get this kid back safely. As the helium begins to dissipate, will it slowly drift back down to earth? Or will it plummet to the ground?? Unbelievable situation.
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10-15-2009, 02:26 PM
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Anti-crockpot
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OMG!!! I hope he's ok (and hasn't fallen out). How terrifying! 
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10-15-2009, 02:27 PM
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Robyn, is he traveling toward Denver? I don't know where the counties are that they are talking about.
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10-15-2009, 02:27 PM
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Navel gazing gastronomer
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What Eva said.
I wonder what the kid was thinking?
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10-15-2009, 02:29 PM
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Just here for the food
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Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Denver, Colorado
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OMG, I just saw this right now. Poor boy! Prayers for his safe return.
__________________
One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries.
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10-15-2009, 02:37 PM
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Bucky Katt rocks!
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MSNBC just showed the aircraft landing, and it landed amazingly softly! Apparently it deflated on its own and just sort of floated back down to the ground.
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10-15-2009, 02:38 PM
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Quote:
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Seems horribly reckless of the parents (dad primarily, I'm guessing, since it was he and the boy who were building the aircraft) to a) leave it filled with helium, and b) not secure it in a way that the kid couldn't crawl into it AND unsecure it to set it free.
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I noticed on a link from CNN to a local news outlet that the parents participated in an episode of "Wife Swap" (the reality show on ABC). Not that being on "Wife Swap" makes you reckless, but it does make you wonder what the parents are like.
Having said that, this is a horrible story - the boy must be terrified. Hopefully someone has a solution to getting the balloon down.
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10-15-2009, 02:38 PM
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it just hit ground - the kid doesn't appear to be in the balloon anymore ... scary.
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10-15-2009, 02:38 PM
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I hope the boy is in there. They don't seem to be rushing to get him out.
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Karen
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10-15-2009, 02:39 PM
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Just here for the food
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Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Denver, Colorado
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It landed, nobody inside
__________________
One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries.
A.A. Milne
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10-15-2009, 02:40 PM
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Just here for the food
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jellyben
I hope the boy is in there. They don't seem to be rushing to get him out. |
They were kind of chopping it up to prevent it from blowing away again.
__________________
One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries.
A.A. Milne
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10-15-2009, 02:55 PM
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Navel gazing gastronomer
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Are they sure he was in there in the first place?
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10-15-2009, 02:56 PM
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Verified User
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Nope Kristi... best case scenario is that they were mistaken about the kid ever getting in the balloon. Otherwise, I don't think this story ends well.
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10-15-2009, 03:00 PM
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Bucky Katt rocks!
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I hope they were just mistaken about the kid being in there, but if he's hiding out in the garage or something, I'm thinking he's gonna get a good @ss-whoopin' for this one.
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10-15-2009, 03:02 PM
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Resident Curmudgeon
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Dang! I popped a whole bowl of popcorn for nothing? 
Bob
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10-15-2009, 03:02 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by aggie94
I hope they were just mistaken about the kid being in there, but if he's hiding out in the garage or something, I'm thinking he's gonna get a good @ss-whoopin' for this one.
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That's exactly what I was thinking!
Apparently this family was on Wife Swap at some point.
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Karen
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10-15-2009, 03:05 PM
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No one was in the balloon. But they didn't say, as of about 10 minutes ago, where the child is.
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¿Cómo como? Como como como.
Shipoopi, Shipoopi, the girl who's hard to get.
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10-15-2009, 03:06 PM
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Bucky Katt rocks!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bobmark226
Dang! I popped a whole bowl of popcorn for nothing? |
Of course not! Popcorn is great fun for puppies - toss them at Selma and see how many she can catch in her mouth. When she graduates from popcorn, you can move on to mini marshmallows. And eventually jumbo marshmallows. Not that I am speaking from experience or anything. 
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10-15-2009, 03:10 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by avariell
Nope Kristi... best case scenario is that they were mistaken about the kid ever getting in the balloon. Otherwise, I don't think this story ends well. |
Well the big questions is WHERE IS HE???
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10-15-2009, 03:17 PM
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Verified Insane!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AzAnne
Well the big questions is WHERE IS HE???
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That is the big question. No answer yet, it seems.
As I was watching our news coverage of it, the airhead anchor said, "Oh good news, the boy isn't in the balloon".
And you know it's good news, how??
__________________
¿Cómo como? Como como como.
Shipoopi, Shipoopi, the girl who's hard to get.
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10-15-2009, 04:02 PM
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I just saw a rerun of the Wife Swap episode, just enough to see that the family was a little crazy. They take their kids on storm chasing activities, including into tornados. They also let the kids roam free and do what they want. Freedom teaches them more than spending time trying to be safe all the time. They were paired with a family that was obsessed with safety. About 20 minutes into the story today I realized that the boy was probably in that family...the crazy storm chasers from Colorado. Hopefully he'll be ok.
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10-15-2009, 04:03 PM
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cat servant
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It seems possible he accidentally released the balloon and took off somewhere to hide, expecting his parents would not be pleased. .
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10-15-2009, 04:11 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Valerie226
It seems possible he accidentally released the balloon and took off somewhere to hide, expecting his parents would not be pleased. .
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That's what I'm hoping.
Except that one of his brothers said they saw him in it. I'm hoping he hopped out before it got too high and is now hiding.
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10-15-2009, 04:54 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Valerie226
It seems possible he accidentally released the balloon and took off somewhere to hide, expecting his parents would not be pleased. .
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That's what I was hoping but they say the basket is missing. Something I read said a sibling saw him in the basket.
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10-15-2009, 05:14 PM
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MSN.COM headline: Missing boy found safe in his home. Developing
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