Experimental balloon flying saucer thought to have taken off with 6-year old

MSNBC.com (FORT COLLINS. Colo.) - A family's runaway experimental balloon aircraft crash-landed in a field Thursday after floating away from home for about two hours, but there was no sign of a 6-year-old boy authorities thought had been inside.

The captivating scene played out live on television. The balloon rotated slowly in the wind, tipping precariously at times during its journey, before coming down in a field in Weld County, more than 40 miles away from where it began its journey.

Deputies rushed to the scene but found no sign of the boy, identified as Falcon Heene. Authorities feverishly began searching for the child on the ground, including in the neighborhood where he lives.


The boy's family had been building a helium-balloon aircraft that was kept tethered in the backyard of their home. The aircraft, which resembled a flying saucer, was approximately 20 feet by 5 feet.

On Thursday morning, Falcon was playing outside with one of his two older brothers when the older boy saw the younger one go into a compartment at the bottom of the balloon and fly away, said Cathy Davis of the Larimer County Sheriff's Department.

The craft somehow became untethered and the balloon took off.

Flying saucer?
Several people in the neighborhood saw the aircraft floating over their homes, and some snapped pictures.

"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 news helicopters also tracked the craft, beaming the precarious flight live to viewers.

Officials scrambled to figure out how to safely bring down the craft, believing it was carrying the boy. The craft floated for about two hours before coming down on its own in a field in Weld County, more than 40 miles away.

The boy's father, Richard Heene, is an amateur scientist, according to a 2007 Denver Post article on weather chasers. He joined another man, Scott Stevens, to form a Fort Collins-based weather-research team they called The Psyience Detectives.

The Heene also family took part in the ABC reality show “Wife Swap," in which they are portrayed as alien buffs who are obsessed with science.

"When the Heene family aren't chasing storms, they devote their time to scientific experiments that include looking for extraterrestrials and building a research-gathering flying saucer to send into the eye of the storm," according to ABC's description of the episode.