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6 yearl old boy floats away in homemade balloon aircraft

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RainSong
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17 Oct 2009, 9:20 pm

Wombat wrote:
I can't be bothered working out the maths but I don't believe that such a small balloon filled with helium could ever lift a six year old boy.


They had an actual (non-related) expert work out that the balloon could lift about 80 pounds, and the boy was only 37 (which seems really small to me, although I don't have kids and therefore couldn't say for sure). It's in one of the articles.

But the Sheriff: Charges will be filed in balloon saga article is the newest. It doesn't say what they'll be charged with (maybe false report), but nonetheless.


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Mainichi
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17 Oct 2009, 11:19 pm

The whole thing was a hoax to get publicity. The family is trying to get their own reality/sci fi show. They have already been on 2 episodes of Wife Swap. The kids behavior of the kids on the shows was horrible. Their dad let them cuss out the new moms on both shows. The kids have a vile music video on youtube. I'm not shocked to hear that charge may be filed on them.
Denver International Airport had to redirect flights because of this hoax.



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19 Oct 2009, 10:36 am

Wombat wrote:
TallyMan wrote:
Turns out the whole thing was a hoax by the parents - they did it for the "show"! The kid accidentally let on while being interviewed by CNN.
I wonder if the parents will have to pay for the rescue costs or the cost of shutting down an airport?


I can't be bothered working out the maths but I don't believe that such a small balloon filled with helium could ever lift a six year old boy.

If they can prove that it was a hoax then the father should go to jail.

I wouldn't punish the children by bankrupting the family but if they gave the parents a thousand hours of community service cleaning the streets then go for it!

Looks like your right they are now saying this ballon could not have held the childs wieght.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/200 ... n.tour.cnn



sovereign254
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19 Oct 2009, 1:42 pm

I hope the parents go to jail, because any parent like that can't honestly bode any good for the children. Shameful on these parents using their children as "bait", in this whole publicity-grab. Unfortunately throughout this whole ordeal, they got exactly what they wanted, they got more publicity and attention than they probably anticipated. I was not at all surprised about this being a hoax at all, for the record. Plus, when the kid said that it was a stunt for TV on the television, the idiot dad's face silently yelled that he and his hoax family and their "grief" was just that, a hoax.


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ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo
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21 Oct 2009, 9:30 pm

It looks like the father will be charged with making a false police report and disrupting air travel. Is it just me, or does it look like that balloon would be impossible for anyone to hid in? Why would anyone believe someone was inside in the first place? It looks sealed, like the kind of mylar balloon you would buy at the store only bigger and there's all that helium inside. It's hard to believe anyone would think a child could float around in it.



RainSong
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21 Oct 2009, 9:40 pm

ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo wrote:
It looks like the father will be charged with making a false police report and disrupting air travel. Is it just me, or does it look like that balloon would be impossible for anyone to hid in? Why would anyone believe someone was inside in the first place? It looks sealed, like the kind of mylar balloon you would buy at the store only bigger and there's all that helium inside. It's hard to believe anyone would think a child could float around in it.


What was intially described (before the balloon came down) was significantly larger than what the balloon actually was. It's why it was initially calculated to be able to lift 80lbs, but when it actually came down and they measured it, it wasn't big enough to lift anyone.


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