A HOMEMADE BALLOON, THOUGHT TO BE CARRYING A 6 YEAR OLD BOY, LANDS EMPTY!

An experimental runaway balloon that was thought to be carrying a 6-year-old boy through the Colorado sky landed Thursday afternoon - but without the child inside.
Falcon Heene was missing from the flying saucer-shaped balloon when it wafted gently to earth in the middle of a field, according to reports.

The empty craft suggested the child might have fallen from the balloon as it sailed wildly for more than an hour - or that he never left the ground.

Authorities had said the boy climbed inside the balloon in his family's backyard and untethered the craft as his brother watched.

The aircraft ascended quickly into the afternoon sky before anyone had a chance to react, authorities said.

The boy's father, identified by the Denver Post as storm scientist Richard Heene, "was in the house," said Cathy Davis of the Larimer County Sheriff's Department.

"The son was the one who came in and told him that his brother had climbed in the back when it took off, and watched it take off."

At Richard Heene's home, a man who answered said he couldn't talk. "We need to keep this line available," he said.

The aircraft - shaped like a flying saucer, covered in silver foil and about 20 feet long and 5 feet wide - moved rapidly through the sky, its journey broadcast on live TV.

The Colorado Army National Guard prepared to launch an OH-58 Kiowa helicopter to help in the response effort, said Capt. Michael Odgers.

But the craft came down, making what appeared to be a smooth landing, on its own. Rescue workers then gathered around and tore it open, revealing there was no one inside.

A witness said it was not unusual for the Heene family to deploy balloons from their backyard.

"We were sitting eating, out looking where they normally shoot off hot air balloons," said neighbor Lisa Eklund.

"My husband said he saw something. It went over our rooftop. Then we saw the big round balloonish thing, it was spinning."

Richard Heene - who has appeared with his family on the TV show "Wife Swap" - is an amateur scientist based out of Fort Collins, Colo., the Denver Post reported.

He and his partners call themselves the "psyience detectives."

Heene is a storm chaser who collects data to prove that rotating storms create their own magnetic fields, the Post said.

He began his research in 2002 with lab experiments, then moved on to dust devils. In 2005, he flew a plane around Hurricane Wilma's perimeter.