Hot Air Balloon Escapes...

[Barbarossa 51]

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  Edited September 8, 2012 by Barbarossa  

[Easy Bakes 253]

Originally posted by: Barbarossa

Holy cow!  I hope this kid will be okay.  I bet this was nothing like he expected.

news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091015/ap_on_re_us/us_boy_in_balloon

Barbarossa

quote>

Live coverage of the chase on most of the cable news channels.

Looks like it came down to  a relatively soft landing. But the kid was not inside.

[MattShizzle 11]

Hopefully he fell/jumped out relatively low.

[Easy Bakes 253]

Originally posted by: MattShizzle

Hopefully he fell/jumped out relatively low.quote>

looks like he may not even have been in it.

Reports are if someone had crawled inside this craft it would have fallen apart. Mylar and thin plywood, designed to carry an insturment pack not a person

[MattShizzle 11]

A 6 year old child doesn't weigh very much though, either.

[Easy Bakes 253]

Wierder and Wierder

Found at home  in the attic? Inside a box?

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

[Odainsaker 2,134]

After horrifying news speculation regarding a basket or box that was attached to the balloon and apparently was seen and photographed detaching and falling to the ground, it is now confirmed that the boy was found by searchers hiding in the garage attic back home. Alive and well, thankfully!

Once the news vans are all gone, someone is so in trouble with daddy, though that scolding may wait till after daddy has all his own pet projects taken away by mommy.

[Barbarossa 51]

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  Edited September 8, 2012 by Barbarossa  

[MattShizzle 11]

Kid likely won't be able to sit for about a year.

[Patricius Maximus 236]

An odd accident, but still, I am pleased that the unwitting launcher of the balloon is unharmed.

[LarksTonguesInAspic 28]

Great to hear the tyke is ok. The way this story kept the whole country riveted for 4-5 hours was fascinating. My bet is, the kid won't be severely punished, at 6 y.o. he cannot possibly understand the consequences of his actions. Mom 'n Dad are just happy he's alive.

I would be very surprised if the family was billed for the search, as it was just a scary accident, but an accident nonetheless. There are no indications there was any negligence or bad parenting involved.

[DCMetro34 576]

He was hiding at home. Wasn't even in the balloon. Although, it strikes me as odd, why you would have a balloon like that in your backyard, or why the kid wasn't at school Glad to know all is well.

[LarksTonguesInAspic 28]

The dad is an aviation enthusiast, and had built it as an experimental weather balloon. It could carry a person, but as EB said it was meant for instruments. The l'il one had been warned not to be around the balloon, but kids will be kids. Kids are bound and determined to get themselves killed despite the best efforts of their parents. Few creatures are more suicidal than a small child who knows how to open doors.

Or am I wrong, parents?

[Duke87 1,070]

So, yeah, looks like this was some sort of crazy publicity stunt after all.

Best part is, it's the kid that ratted them out.

[Meg 368]

Originally posted by: DCMetro34

 Although, it strikes me as odd, why you would have a balloon like that in your backyard, or why the kid wasn't at school Glad to know all is well.quote>

Apparently they are storm chasers and were designing the balloon to fly into hurricanes.   I'm not clear on why they were inflating the balloon now.  That's a lot of helium to be using just for fun.

As for the school issue, I understand it was one of those teacher-work days.

[Barbarossa 51]

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  Edited September 8, 2012 by Barbarossa  

[kellydale2003 2,276]

The family are entertainers, from the beginning I believed there were some suspicion. "Blame the unusually inflated ballon in the backyard".

And in the CNN interview he said "We did it for the show". =/

[DCMetro34 576]

What a stunt. Some people need to realize when enough is enough. And that WAS enough!

@Meg, Thanks for clearing that up.

[Patricius Maximus 236]

Originally posted by: manticorefan

My bet is, the kid won't be severely punished, at 6 y.o. he cannot possibly understand the consequences of his actions. Mom 'n Dad are just happy he's alive.

quote>

Nah, I think it was an accident. People like him usually get into accidents much more than average. It makes no sense to punish people for something they didn't intend to do.

As for it being a hoax, I believe it should be considered a real event until proven otherwise, and I don't know what kind of logic proves that, since he made an appearence on a reality show, then it must be a complete hoax. It very well may have been a hoax, but let's be rational about this determination here.

[DCMetro34 576]

Originally posted by: Patricius Maximus

Originally posted by: manticorefan

My bet is, the kid won't be severely punished, at 6 y.o. he cannot possibly understand the consequences of his actions. Mom 'n Dad are just happy he's alive.

quote>

Nah, I think it was an accident. People like him usually get into accidents much more than average. It makes no sense to punish people for something they didn't intend to do.

As for it being a hoax, I believe it should be considered a real event until proven otherwise, and I don't know what kind of logic proves that, since he made an appearence on a reality show, then it must be a complete hoax. It very well may have been a hoax, but let's be rational about this determination here.

quote>

Well, you're right there isn't much evidence saying it was a hoax, but keep in mind kellydale2003's latest post, "We did it for the show"

[LarksTonguesInAspic 28]

There's a reason why the testimony of a 6 y.o. wouldn't be admissible in court... kids say crazy things. Not always truthful crazy things either.

[Meg 368]

CNN Headlines news is showing video of the kid saying "I'm going to sneak inside".  They are also reporting that the family called the FAA first, the TV stations second, and 911 third.

The investigators should be able to determine if that is true or not.

[MattShizzle 11]

The excuse was the dad figured the TV station had a helicopter.

[LarksTonguesInAspic 28]

The proximity to DIA made the balloon a serious navigation hazard, especially at the 8500' the balloon rose to initially.

911 would have taken time to warn the FAA, and even longer to scramble a chopper. By the time a 911 operator could have made all the calls, a jetliner could have been brought down by it being sucked into an engine, or by it crashing through a cockpit window. The call sequence says (to me) that there's a good possibility dad was using his head instead of panicking. The FAA could have warnings out in seconds to ATCs, averting a situation where hundreds would die instead of 1 little kid. That handled, next would be tracking and recovery. Properly warned, the ATCs can coordinate other things, as all radar tracking would go through them anyway.

I'm waiting for the whole picture to come out. If the parents set this up, it will come out. There's little at this point to go on, and nothing that could secure a fraud conviction in court.

[Patricius Maximus 236]

Originally posted by: manticorefan

There's a reason why the testimony of a 6 y.o. wouldn't be admissible in court... kids say crazy things. Not always truthful crazy things either.quote>

Just because it is crazy doesn't mean it is false. Don't assume that because it is a testimony of a 6-year-old that it is automatically false.

Originally posted by: Meg

CNN Headlines news is showing video of the kid saying "I'm going to sneak inside".  They are also reporting that the family called the FAA first, the TV stations second, and 911 third.

The investigators should be able to determine if that is true or not.quote>

The FAA would be the right ones to call. After all, what can 911 do about an air vehicle? Best to call them direct. Also, the reports of Headline News are not necessarily true. I'd like to know where they got that information also.

Originally posted by: manticorefan

I'm waiting for the whole picture to come out. If the parents set this up, it will come out. There's little at this point to go on, and nothing that could secure a fraud conviction in court.quote>

I agree that the whole picture will come out eventually. But I have a question: why do you mention courts so much in your posts?

[MattShizzle 11]

I can agree with calling the FAA 1st for the reasons above but 911 should have been next - certainly the state police have helicopters and they're more likely to be trained for how to handle something like this. If this was a scheme they're in a world of trouble.

[Ntq€310 1]

Looking over all this.. it just seems very suspicious to me. The video, the interviews, it just all seems staged to me.

[MattShizzle 11]

The Sheriff announced someone will be arrested - just didn't say who or on what specific charges.

[Ntq€310 1]

Breaking Now: Sheriff says that it is infact, a Hoax/publicity stunt.

[DCMetro34 576]

Originally posted by: Ntq$310

Breaking Now: Sheriff says that it is infact, a Hoax/publicity stunt.quote>

Yes. Why would you do that, besides your 10 seconds of fame. More 10 seconds of shame. It's amazing what drives some Americans to do stunts like that, with their 6 year old!