Breaking news- 6 year old floats away in balloon-NOT

[ouch]

Turn on any news channel- this is one of the most horrifying things I've ever seen. If anybody ever needed a prayer, it's this poor kid. Hope this turns out alright.

A 6yo kid climbed into a homemade balloon. The tethers broke, and he's flying wildly through the sky. The FAA is trying to figure out how to rescue him.

 

[AndrewWiggin]

Why exactly were they building the balloon? I mean, my bonding time with my father was yard work.

 

[ouch]

He's at 6500 feet and it looks as if he's starting to break up- I don't see jow this ends well.

Blackhawks are en route, but what are they going to do. Someone has to come up with some quick thinking here.

 

[ouch]

Why exactly were they building the balloon? I mean, my bonding time with my father was yard work.

I think there will be plenty of time for second guessing the parents.

 

[strat1117]

I just read about this on NYTimes.com before I logged on. They are thinking of shooting the balloon down, or using a helicopter's downforce to push it down. But it appears that they are stumped for a good answer.

I don't see a happy ending here.

 

[Obsessed]

This is horrible. I hope it's losing helium slowly enough for a gradual descent (and that the conditions inside the ballon were survivable, of course).

 

[AndrewWiggin]

Can helicopters get to 7,000 ft? There's nothing that can be done except wait for it to come down... Why do they think the boy fell out, wouldn't that be fairly noticeable?

 

[Kratos]

Man, what a bad situation. Maybe they could lower someone down with a winch, and either secure a line to the ballon and lower it to the ground somehow, or try to secure some ballast to the basket with grapples or something. There is no safe, high-probability solution.

 

[Monkeydad]

They have to wait for the propane to run out, nothing else can be done.

If it were a normal balloon, it would come down on its own.


If a helicopter goes near it, the wind from the rotors will collapse it.

They really can't do anything but try to catch it WHEN it comes down on its own, but it likely won't come down slowly.

Kid will have a hard landing...best case. His best bet is to come down on trees for a cushioned landing.

Most people die trying to build crap like this...I hope the kid is lucky.



So scary.

He just touched down!!!!!!

Soft landing!!!!!!


Thank God!

 

[AndrewWiggin]

Hot air balloon might be able to reach the altitude and match the speed when carried along by the same wind. Attaching safety gear and harnesses would allow someone to hop off the balloon (you'd need balls of steel) and snatch the kid.

Odds of that succeeding are exceptionally low but it's a solution.

 

[AndrewWiggin]

So the balloon landed, is he in the baloon?

 

[Obsessed]

It looks like there's no one in the baloon. This is really horrible.

 

[ouch]

Balloon is empty, leading to one of two conclusions-

• he was never in there
• he fell out

 

[AndrewWiggin]

So he either fell out or the whole thing is a cover?

Not good.

 

[thirdeye]

Thi is scary...any word n the boy? Is he safe?

 

[Leche]

The balloon is on the ground. Reporting that it's empty. Fox News trying to get solid confirmation but from the news video it certainly looks empty.

 

[Baloosh]

MSNBC is reporting that the balloon has landed, and upon inspection is empty.

Dunno if that's good or bad.

 

[strat1117]

So he either fell out or the whole thing is a cover?

Not good.

I suspect that this is just the beginning of the story, not the end.

 

[Monkeydad]

It looks like there's no one in the baloon. This is really horrible.

Strange. Most likely, the kid released it into the sky and thought "OH NO, I'M IN BIG TROUBLE!" and is hiding somewhere.

 

[Kratos]

Wow. I've got a million questions about this situation. I wonder what happened.