Home experiments and projects are a great way to learn, but there is no overemphasizing the importance of safety. A six year old Colorado boy floated away by mistake in a saucer-shaped balloon he and his father made from foil and filled with helium.
The boy and his father, an amateur scientist, crafted the bottom compartment of the balloon is from plywood, which is where the boy was located. After accidentally detaching from the ground, the balloon rose to nearly 10,000 feet in the air.
Fort Collins authorities were notified and began tracking the aircraft, not only for the boy's safety, but to be sure the balloon avoided traffic from the nearby Denver International Airport.
- ""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.
Television stations began airing live footage of the flying saucer, struggling to find a way to get the balloon (and the boy) down and watching it hover for 2 hours before it landed in a field 40 miles away from the family's home. Sadly, the boy was NOT inside of the balloon as he was upon takeoff.
This is just awful, we hope he somehow managed to find his way to safety and that his family finds him soon.
The rest of you... please be careful!
UPDATE: Apparently someone was fibbing, because the boy was caught, alive and well, at home. The boy untethered the balloon then hid in his attic, afraid he'd get in trouble. Tsk tsk! Glad he is safe.
via MSNBC
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