six year old flys away in homemade ballon

[jwood]

watch live video... www.foxnews.com

http://www.local12.com/mediacenter/l...33&navCatId=51

A 6-year-old boy climbed into a homemade balloon aircraft and floated away Thursday, forcing officials to scramble to figure out how to rescue the boy as he hurled through the air.

The bizarre scene played out live on television and prompted fears that the flying saucer-shaped balloon would crash with the young child inside.

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

Larimer County sheriff's spokeswoman Eloise Campanella says the device 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.

"We were sitting eating, out looking where they normally shoot off hot air balloons. My husband said he saw something. It went over our rooftop. Then we saw the big round balloonish thing, it was spinning," said neighbor Lisa Eklund.

Additional details about the child and the balloon were not immediately available.

[snap a saurus]

It's live on TV now

[sun.flyer]

watching.................

Tim

[jwood]

Landed!!

[btomlinson]

Dosent look like he is inside ?????

[jwood]

Ballon EMPTY!! where's the boy?
Dad said "HE WAS IN THERE"

[ctshepherd]

watching the feed. no kid in the balloon. don't even see a compartment??.

[classclown]

Holy crap!!! Watching the news, the ballon just landed, no boy in the compartment. There was a report that he fell out about an hour ago.

[Jonathan Ott]

Baloon is down, no one inside.

[airborneSGT]

Houston we have a problem. This has to be the strangest story ever but perhaps it will have a good ending.

[3D-Seth]

Watching the live feed myself. Balloon landed, no boy.

Hoping for the best...

Seth

[rcpilot82]

This is freakin NUTS!! Sure hope they find the kid and he is ok.

[3DHobbyShop]

Lifting force of helium at sea level is about 0.067 pounds per cubic foot. To lift a 50 pound weight, you'll need about 750 cubic feet of helium in a balloon. It's lens-shaped, about 20 ft in diameter, maybe 6 feet thick at center, and was not fully inflated, that's somewhere around 750 cu ft., give or take 100. 50th percentile weight for 6 year olds is about 70 lbs. The gondola-thing weighs something, too.

My take - if the kid had been onboard, it would not have climbed anything like it did, if at all. We'll see.

[jwood]

I was going to say the same thing..

	Quote: Originally Posted by 3DHobbyShop
	Lifting force of helium at sea level is about 0.067 pounds per cubic foot. To lift a 50 pound weight, you'll need about 750 cubic feet of helium in a balloon. It's lens-shaped, about 20 ft in diameter, maybe 6 feet thick at center, and was not fully inflated, that's somewhere around 750 cu ft., give or take 100. 50th percentile weight for 6 year olds is about 70 lbs. The gondola-thing weighs something, too. My take - if the kid had been onboard, it would not have climbed anything like it did. We'll see.

[classclown]

	Quote: Originally Posted by 3DHobbyShop
	Lifting force of helium at sea level is about 0.067 pounds per cubic foot. To lift a 50 pound weight, you'll need about 750 cubic feet of helium in a balloon. It's lens-shaped, about 20 ft in diameter, maybe 6 feet thick at center, and was not fully inflated, that's somewhere around 750 cu ft., give or take 100. 50th percentile weight for 6 year olds is about 70 lbs. The gondola-thing weighs something, too. My take - if the kid had been onboard, it would not have climbed anything like it did, if at all. We'll see.

I think you are right. That thing would not have flown like it did. That kid is hiding at his buddies house right now munching on a poptart.