Okay, pure speculation here, but that is exactly what I get paid to do. Random facts re-assembled into a narrative. Here it is.
The father in question here is Richard Heene.
You might remember this family from Wife Swap:
http://abc.go.com/...
The Heene family from Colorado live life on the edge. Wife Mayumi (43) and storm scientist Richard (45) take their three kids, Bradford (8), Ryo (7) and Falcon (5), out of school to go on storm chasing missions to prove Richard's theories about magnetic fields and gravity. If conditions are right, Mayumi wakes her family by shouting "Storm Approaching, Storm Approaching!" into a bullhorn. The family sleep in their clothes so they can leap out of bed and into the storm-mobile. Richard calls Mayumi his 'ninja wife'; she maintains equipment, drives the storm-mobile, films tornadoes and waits with the kids while Richard jumps on his motorbike, heads into the eye of the storm and launches rockets to measure magnetic forces. At home the family are as chaotic as a twister: the kids have no table manners and throw themselves around the house, and while Richard devotes every moment to his research, he expects Mayumi to cook, clean and run the house without any help.
I remember this guy, he was like Billy Mays after doing a few lines of the best out of Colombia. High energy would not be doing him justice. I also remember him being a total media ham and parlaying the Wife Swapping to promote The Psyience Detectives.
http://www.thepsyiencedetectives.com/
I expect this site to go down any second, if what I think is happening is happening.
so here is a screen shot:
I also noticed he has DVDs for sale. Surprised he didn't stuff the balloon with them. I don't think his son was ever in that balloon, but I am betting this was a publicity stunt that took a life of its own because it had:
- A small child
- Experimental Aircraft
- A high-speed chase with HELICOPTERS
- Danger and Emotional Attachement
Basically a lead if there ever was one. I bit ol' Richard was thinking a local publicity stunt and it took off on him, as it were.
All theory and speculation, but hey, that's what I do and I got a pretty good track record.