Flying Saucer over my House [now with photos]

[Patrick]

http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=125161&catid=339#



I was outside of my apartment and I saw a flying saucer take off out of a nearby neighborhood. I was absolutely stunned when I saw this. By the time I got my camera, it was out of sight. I called the local police and they told me they were sending someone out. Its now made local the news, and as of right now it is still airborne.

Unfortunately it wasn't aliens, but its really scary what is happening to this kid. Hopefully he makes it to the ground ok.

According to the Larimer County Sheriff's Department, the 6-year-old boy's parents had been building an experimental aircraft which had a large helium balloon attached at their home on Fossil Ridge Road in Fort Collins.

On Thursday morning, according to the family and officials, the boy got onto the aircraft and detached the rope holding it in place.

The aircraft is described by the sheriff's office as a dome-shaped, 20 foot, 5 foot aircraft covered with foil.

Viewer Lisa Eklund sent photos of an aircraft in the air near her home on Saturn Drive, also in Fort Collins.

The Federal Aviation Administration is working to track the aircraft on its radar tower and has notified the Denver International Airport.

Shortly after noon, the Weld County Sheriff's Office said the boy was seen two miles south of Evans, near County Road 46 and Highway 85. Sky9 is now helping track the aircraft which is said to be traveling at least 25 miles per hour.

Closer to 1 p.m., the aircraft was listed as near Hudson.

Officials all over northern Colorado are preparing crews should the aircraft land. Additionally, the National Gaurd has launched a helicopter to assist with rescue efforts.

Aviation Expert Greg Feith spoke to 9NEWS about the process of rescuing the boy.

"It is an unusual event and the big thing now is trying to get that child down from this balloon. It's all going to depend on of course the environment. It's windy outside so it's going to keep it adrift for quite a while. The helium, depending on the size of this thing, if it ran into very cold air, it may help it come down as you know if you let a helium balloon go the higher it gets it'll stagnate only because of the cold air," Feith said.

Feith added that without knowing the structural integrity of the aircraft it is difficult to know how it will withstand any turbulence.

"The other key here is the structural integrity. Not knowing how it's constructed and given the fact that we do have these wind conditions which of course create turbulence we don't know how much turbulence this airship, if you will, can actually withstand so there's a lot of external factors here," he added.

Feith says the military will likely be needed to help with this rescue effort as they are familiar with creative uses of aircrafts to rescue soldiers from difficult locations.

"In the past [the military has] launched helium balloons to pull guys out of the woods when they've been shot down. Other than that I think they're going to have to let the forces of nature and hopefully a lot of luck bring this airship down safely."

[kristus]

Hey honey. Lets build a Zeppelin and put our 6yo son in it. What could POSSIBLY GO WRONG?!

[Nomad]

kristus said:

Hey honey. Lets build a Zeppelin and put our 6yo son in it. What could POSSIBLY GO WRONG?!

RTFA

[Patrick]

Just turned on the news, the balloon landed and there is no kid inside. They think he fell out.

This is pretty terrible as it was only a few blocks away from me.

[Sharessa]

Wow, that's fucking weird. The article now says it landed but the news crew didn't see the kid get pulled out. I hope he didn't jump. :(

[Nomad]

Oh shit. Hope he's OK. Even though that was a pretty stupid move, but I guess he's just a six year old. Jr. Darwin Award maybe?

[kristus]

Nomad said:

RTFA

I skimmed through it. I couldn't spot anything that dealt with how the kid got in there in the first place. I suppose I missed it.

Found it now. So anyway. If anyone deserve the Darwin award it'd be the idiot parents that somehow didn't see this coming.

[Technician]

I'm sure the kids impaled on a steeple somewhere in the area.

[Craigs]

The kid didn't fall out. It's pretty obvious that a passing alien ship saw the aircraft, mistook it for one of their fighters and beamed him up to their mother ship.

[Twinzen]

[Craigs]

Mattfrie beat me to it.

[Mattfrie1]

Well, the news story on Yahoo! says the boy was hiding in his attic all along, so he is safe. I was sure that he fell out and died; it's a good thing I was wrong.

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

Edit: Guess the parents were too dumb to look in their own home for the boy.

[Patrick]

at least he was safe, but I bet daddy's pissed off. My apartment complex is on national news, too. This is pretty much the only interesting thing that's happened around here recently. And now everyone on this forum knows where I live **

[Technician]

Patrick said:

And now everyone on this forum knows where I live **

Rape is inevitable.

[Mattfrie1]

Well, as of right now it seems 4chan has got a hold of it and making themselves look like assholes as usual. Go figure.

@Patrick: I suggest you rent a bodyguard for the next few weeks... ;)

[Nomad]

My heartstrings were thoroughly tugged, and now I feel betrayed. Or disappointed, I wanted a gory story of a kid impaled on a church steeple or something.

[Technician]

I too have felt a tad bit of disappointment.

[DuckReconMajor]

article said:

The boys parents, Richard and Mayuri, are storm chasers who appeared twice in the ABC reality show "Wife Swap," most recently in March.

Guess they couldn't stand to be out of the limelight.

[Patrick]

Yeah, to be honest, I was either hoping he would have miraculously lived unscathed and slept through it all, or have been impaled on someone's fence. Boring news is boring.

[DuckReconMajor]

Should've killed the boy anyway.

[Mattfrie1]

And I guess he has trolled us all in the end and made us all worry for nothing. All I can say is...

http://knowyourmeme.com/i/7705/original/trollsuccesful.jpg?1249610324

[Prince of Darkness]

Nomad said:

My heartstrings were thoroughly tugged, and now I feel betrayed. Or disappointed, I wanted a gory story of a kid impaled on a church steeple or something.

Mattfrie1 said:

Well, as of right now it seems 4chan has got a hold of it and making themselves look like assholes as usual. Go figure.

And everything's right in the internet world.

[pavera]

Patrick said:

Yeah, to be honest, I was either hoping he would have miraculously lived unscathed and slept through it all, or have been impaled on someone's fence. Boring news is boring.

But you would have preferred the former, right?

[Patrick]

At this point I'd prefer it if 9news got out of our backyard :P

[DuckReconMajor]

So your apartments have attics?

[Patrick]

Lol, there are suburbs directly adjacent to my apartment complex, that's where these folks apparently live.

[Georgef551]

The good thing is, they found the kid in the garage. I'd be petrified if this happened to one of my Nieces. Imagine the horror of being the actual parent.

It had a happy ending, although the kids grounded big-time, for sure.

[geekmarine]

I'm not surprised in the least. When I first heard the story, I had doubts that the kid was ever in the balloon to begin with, and when it landed with no kid inside, it only confirmed my suspicions. I know, I sound like an asshole for posting this after the fact, but given the coverage of the balloon, I figured if the kid had fallen out, we would've heard about it long before the balloon actually landed.

[Snarboo]

The Discovery.com article about this story quoted a research as saying that they doubted a balloon of this size and type could even carry a small child. Discovery's article was mostly about how long the balloon could have floated before it descended, which was said to be a long time due to the use of helium instead of hot air.

[Craigs]

Mattfrie1 said:

And I guess he has trolled us all in the end and made us all worry for nothing. All I can say is...

http://knowyourmeme.com/i/7705/original/trollsuccesful.jpg?1249610324

I still think Anne Frank did a better job of hiding in an attic.