6-Year-Old Boy Floats Off in Homemade Flying Saucer, Still Missing

Update: The Times now reports that Falcon Heene was found hiding in a box in the family’s garage. It would appear that he never went airborne. Original story below.

What seems at first like a funny story has become a nightmare for one family, as a six year-old boy has disappeared after floating away in his father’s experimental flying saucer. The New York Times, which is providing frequent updates, says the flying object has landed in an empty field, but without the boy, 6 year-old Falcon Heene, inside.

Measuring 20 feet wide, 7 feet long and dome-shaped, the aircraft is covered in foil and has a 3-foot by 3-foot capsule for human transport. The boy’s father, Richard Heene, said it was an experimental aircraft that he hoped would one day help people with their daily commute. Heene, a storm chaser and scientist whose family has appeared twice on ABC’s Wife Swap, had the aircraft tethered in the back yard, but earlier today, his oldest son alerted him that the balloon has flown away, with Falcon inside. That led authorities on a massive search of Larimer County, Colo., with both the FAA and the Army National Guard involved. A UH-58 helicopter was deployed to locate the balloon.

Larimer County emergency manager Erik Nilsson, at one point said the aircraft might have to be breached with “small arms fire,” or brought down by wind force from a helicopter above. But now, it’s just a matter of finding the boy. [via ABC and New York Times]