Helium Balloon Flies, Crashes, No Word on 6-Year-Old Boy's Condition

A 6-year-old boy whose family was known for loving science and seeking adventure reportedly got stuck in a giant helium balloon near Fort Collins, Colorado, leaving ballooning and aviation experts scrambling to determine how to rescue him before it crashed to the ground just after 1:30 PM local time. But when it hit the ground, rescue personnel said the boy was not inside.

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The boy, who has been identified as Falcon Heene, apparently climbed into the experimental aircraft built by his parents and floated into the sky when it became untethered. All the cable news channels broke from their normal schedules to give viewers non-stop coverage of the boy in the balloon, who became something of a 21st Century Jessica McClure.

The ABC show Wife Swap featured the Heenes for its special 100th episode, referring to them as "the storm-chasing, science-obsessed Heene family from Colorado." The description of the Wife Swap episode said:

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. In this ultimate swap, the Heenes swap lives with a psychic mom who speaks to the dead and can control the weather, her husband and her children -- who believe they are destined to be stars. This show will feature aliens, punk rockers, past-life regression and, for the first time ever, the children from the two families will face off in a kids' table meeting. "Heene/Silver," the 100th episode of Wife Swap, destined to become a classic!

The balloon has been described as a saucer-shaped, Mylar-coated helium balloon that is 20 feet long and 5 feet high. After it crashed to the ground rescue personnel immediately converged on it, but there was no immediate information about Falcon, who may have fallen out or may never have been in the balloon in the first place.

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