Fly Like a Eagle

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 1:34 pm

Six year old boy climbs into home made helium balloon, balloon breaks away from it's mooring and boy is now in gods hands. Hope he makes it down safely.

Foil · Post by **Foil** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 2:07 pm

Oh, my God. According to what I'm seeing on the news, the boy wasn't found inside it when it touched down.

I'm hoping it was a prank by the older brother, who is the one who said he saw the 6-year-old climbing in. I'd rather not hear that the kid fell out somewhere.

[Edit: Boy was hiding in attic, not in aircraft. Whew!]

Cuda68 · Post by **Cuda68** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 4:48 pm

After the shock wears off of the family that kid is gonna wish he was in it

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 5:20 pm

Yeah, he is probably going to get his ass kicked, along with his brother and probably his parents too.

Gooberman · Post by **Gooberman** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 10:04 pm

So when you heard about this story, before you knew the outcome, did you think it was funny? Sad? Envious?

Pandora · Post by **Pandora** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 6:32 am

To be honest, this story freaked me out a bit. Big reason is of course that I am a father as well, and since then find it hard to distance myself from such stories. I just hoped it was a hoax.

Foil · Post by **Foil** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 8:38 am

Same here. Before they announced the boy was safe, I kept thinking of my own son.

It's still all over the news here in Denver. Interestingly, my boss was flying his small plane back into town, and got some really complex re-routing directions from flight control. He didn't find out why until he got home later.

Foil · Post by **Foil** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 9:02 am

In an interesting twist, there's now some speculation that it was a publicity stunt:

Local news article wrote:Falcon appeared on CNN's Larry King Live with his parents, Richard and Mayumi Heene, and his two brothers. At one point in the interview when Falcon was asked why he didn't come out when he heard his parents calling for him, he said it was because it was "for the show."

article

Will Robinson · Post by **Will Robinson** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 10:02 am

I don't understand who launched the thing.

His family believed he was inside an experimental aircraft, which is a type of balloon filled with helium, after it took off from their Fort Collins home

Who ever wrote this piece needs to work a little harder because it reads as though the balloon took off un assisted and the question of it being a hoax or not can't be answered if they don't know how it was launched.

Did the balloon get launched as planned and then the brother gave the parents the idea their younger son was on board, either sincerely or as a prank, meanwhile little brother was hiding in the attic just to avoid his parents wrath for having been a pest earlier unaware of the concern he was on the balloon?

Foil · Post by **Foil** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 10:46 am

Agreed, it's not really clear.

The first news I heard (when they thought he was inside it) was that the 6-year-old somehow let the moorings loose from inside.

The story now seems to be that the dad yelled at him when he started to climb inside, but he got out and went to hide without being seen, and somehow the craft got loose during all this.

To me it seems plausible that it could have been a planned stunt. The family had been on a reality TV show before (\"Wife Swap\", where they swapped with an over-protective family), plus the \"for the show\" statement from the 6-year-old. Of course, that's just speculation.

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 4:50 pm

I just wonder if the contraption had enough volume of helium to even get off the ground with the boy on board.

Stroodles · Post by **Stroodles** » Sun Oct 18, 2009 7:22 pm

I'm glad he's okay, although the whole thing seems a little hoaxy to me.

Foil · Post by **Foil** » Sun Oct 18, 2009 11:18 pm

Update:

Charges to be filed against family, including conspiracy, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, false reporting and attempt to influence a public official.

What's really sad is that Social Services is now looking into the family. Using one's kids to attempt a hoax is bad enough; I hope there's not any more to it.

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 3:16 pm

One screwed up family. Sad.

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/10/19 ... 6820.shtml

Tasteless rap video mentioned above: