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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: hot air balloon

hot air balloon stories: 15 news summaries
Brandon Keim

 Thanks for the Ride, Falcon 


Oct 23, 09 1:52 PM CDT
(Newser) - Just about everyone seems to hate Richard Heene, but the emotion just proves how powerfully the balloon boy hoax gripped our collective imagination. “Had Richard called 911 and reported that he’d last seen his son near a Greyhound bus station, almost nobody would have cared,” writes Brandon... More »

MORE ABOUT:
hot air balloon • hoax • balloon • helium balloons • Falcon Heene • Richard Heene • balloon boy hoax • balloon boy

updated

 Balloon Boy 
 Family 
 Plans 'Big 
 Announcement' 

Heenes have tried twice to get a reality show going

Oct 17, 09 12:09 PM CDT
(Newser) - With skeptics in full throat, the balloon boy family promised a "big announcement" today. "I'd like to speak to everybody about a few things," dad Richard Heene said this morning. He scheduled a 1pm news conference, then postponed it til later in the day after soliciting reporters'... More »

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hot air balloon • Falcon Heene • Richard Heene • balloon boy hoax • balloon boy

WATCH IT

 Balloon Boy  
 Throws Up 
 on Today, 
 GMA, as Dad 
 Denies Hoax 

Falcon Heene vomits twice on-air during morning show rounds

Oct 16, 09 8:38 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Heene family made the morning show rounds today, denying that the “Balloon Boy” saga and search for assumed-missing son Falcon was a publicity stunt. “I went through such a rollercoaster of emotions yesterday, to have people say that, I think is extremely pathetic,” dad Richard told... More »

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hot air balloon • missing child • hoax • balloon • Falcon Heene • Richard Heene • balloon boy hoax • balloon boy throws up • Falcon Heene hoax • balloon boy today show

 Missing Boy Is Fine: 
 He Was Hiding in Garage 

6-year-old set off frantic search after hot-air balloon took off

Oct 15, 09 5:27 PM CDT
(AP) - A 6-year-old Colorado boy thought to have floated off in a helium balloon has been found safe at his home—hiding in a cardboard box in the garage attic. Sheriff Jim Alderman turned to reporters during a news conference and gave a thumbs up. "He's at the house."... More »

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Denver • hot air balloon • missing child • balloon • helium balloons • Falcon Heene • balloon boy hoax • balloon boy throws up • Falcon Heene hoax • balloon boy today show

Search On
for Balloon's Missing Box

No sign of boy; adventurous family
was on Wife Swap

Oct 15, 09 4:15 PM CDT
(Newser) - A troubling twist in the search for 6-year-old Falcon Heene, thought to have floated away in his father's homemade balloon near Denver: He may have crawled into a box attached to the bottom of the balloon before it accidentally lifted off from his family's back yard. That box wasn't attached... More »

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Denver • hot air balloon • missing child • helium balloons • Falcon Heene • balloon boy hoax • balloon boy throws up • Falcon Heene hoax • balloon boy today show

(AP) - A 6-year-old boy is missing after he supposedly floated away in his father's homemade balloon over the skies of Denver. The craft came down about 3:30pm, after two hours in the air, but the youngster wasn't inside. His fate remains unclear, and it's possible that he fell out during... More »

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hot air balloon • boy • balloon • helium balloons • Falcon Heene • balloon boy hoax • balloon boy throws up • Falcon Heene hoax • balloon boy today show

travel

 Where to Find Real America 


Aug 22, 09 8:32 AM CDT
(Newser) - Travel writer Gary McKechnie helps USA Today round up some of the best places to get a taste of old-fashioned Americana:
  • Little League World Series, Williamsport, Pa.: The end-of-August tradition is free.
  • Mark Twain America, Hannibal, Mo.: Be like Tom Sawyer and go on a guided cave tour.
... More »

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Indianapolis 500 • hot air balloon • Little League World Series • Grand Ole Opry • Punxsutawney Phil • Mark Twain • Soap Box Derby • Miss America Pageant • Rock City

 Records Float Away
 for Hapless Skydiver 

Balloon sails without him as Fournier muffs third shot at parachuting from outer space

May 28, 08 2:38 AM CDT
(Newser) - The third time was not a charm for a retired French army officer-turned-daredevil who  hoped yesterday to parachute to earth from the edge of outer space. Michel Fournier's latest attempt to ride a balloon 25 miles up before his death-defying, 15-minute leap—a feat which would have smashed several records—... More »

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hot air balloon • skydiving • Guinness World Records • Michel Fournier

Party-Balloon Aeronaut Priest Missing in Brazil

Priest raising money for his parish drifts out to sea

Apr 22, 08 3:55 AM CDT
(Newser) - Rescuers in boats and helicopters are searching off the coast of Brazil for a priest who vanished while trying to set a world record for the longest flight with helium-filled party balloons, AP reports. The priest took off from the northeastern city of Paranagua in a chair with hundreds of... More »

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Brazil • world record • priest • hot air balloon

Wireless Tech Leaps Forward ... on Balloons

Flying 'towers' could revolutionize rural Internet, cell use; Google interested

Feb 20, 08 11:22 AM CST
(Newser) - A decidedly whimsical business model could bring wireless Internet and cell service to wide swaths of rural America, slinging signals from balloons drifting toward the edge of space. Don’t scoff—the system is already providing services for truckers and oil companies, courtesy of Space Data Corp., and Google is... More »

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Google • Internet • telecom • hot air balloon • WiFi • municipal wireless • rural America • Space Data Corp.

RIP, Steve Fossett

Daredevil declared dead five months after disappearance

Feb 16, 08 5:44 AM CST
(Newser) - He vanished on a routine flight five months ago, and now daredevil Steve Fossett has been declared dead at the age of 63, the AP reports. The famous world record breaker was last seen flying a small plane over western Nevada where 15-20 private planes have disappeared since 1950. The... More »

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Richard Branson • obituary • world record • aviation • pilot • hot air balloon • Steve Fossett

Aviation Adventurer Is Missing

Search parties on the lookout for America's Richard Branson

Sep 4, 07 4:32 PM CDT
(Newser) - Quixotic aviator and adventurer Steve Fossett, the first person to make it around the world in a balloon, was missing today when his plane disappeared over western Nevada. A search is on for his single-engine Bellanca, but the millionaire entrepreneur didn't file a flight plan, the AP reports. More »

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disappearance • aviation • pilot • hot air balloon • Steve Fossett • Bellanca • airplane

Hot Air Balloon Bursts Into Flames, Kills 2

Passengers leap from fire as balloon launches over British Columbia

Aug 25, 07 5:21 PM CDT
(Newser) - A hot air balloon went up in flames last night over Western Canada, killing two and injuring 11. The balloon erupted into a fireball as it was preparing to launch, but broke free of its tethers as passengers jumped off. They leaped from the burning balloon with their clothes on... More »

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Canada • fires • explosion • accident • hot air balloon • British Columbia

Couch Flies High in Chair

Jul 10, 07 8:25 PM CDT
(Newser) - Kent Couch of Bend, OR, floated 193 miles at an average height of 11,000 feet  to La Grande, OR, in a lawn chair attached to 105 balloons. It took him almost 9 hours. He equipped himself with all the essential high-tech equipment to make the flight—a cell phone... More »

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publicity stunt • lawn chair • Oregon • Bend • hot air balloon

(Newser) - Polish artist Pawel Althamer has placed a 70-foot long nude balloon in a plaza in Milan. It is a self-portrait of the artist.  In Italy such a sculpture is "nothing new."   A passing American commented that it "wouldn't fly" in the U.S. More »

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art • nudity • Italy • Pawel Althamer • Milan • hot air balloon

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