(Video) Father and son film outer space, do-it-yourself style

That boy may be the first human on mars. Off the chain!!!!

I did the usual release-a-balloon with a note attached trick when I was a kid. This took real imagination. A great lesson for his kids.

Very cool video!

Dennis - definition from Urban Dictionary

Out of control, wild fun. Just like when your pitbull gets off the chain in the back yard and tears through the neighborhood.

Very. Very. Cool!

Good thing it didn't hit an aircraft its way up or down though!

Watch Dog voiced the concern I felt from the moment I started reading this story. Was the FAA ever notified ofo the impending launch, considering the air space around NYC (including Newburgh) is some of the busiest in the world? This very cool video could be evidence in a trial if it had caused a serious incident.

That's aweswome!

Couldn't be any cooler from a father and son aspect, unless of course, it involved some type of rocket propelled craft! Ditto on the FAA notification. This could have created a nightmare for a pilot somewhere.

They must've been inspired by MIT's project Icarus. Read about it or try it yourself: http://space.1337arts.com/

Have you ever heard of blue ice falling from the sky? That's a lot more dangerous. (It comes from a bad drain seal on a lav. Small things do fall from the sky, but you are more apt to hit a bird than this once in a lifetime styro package. I've been a pilot for 42 years are think Indy2001 is over-reacting. Concern yourself more about space junk orbiting earth. That has actually caused problems. The shuttle's windshields have been replaced 80 times due to debris.

This is a cool story though I cringe every time I see balloons released to potentially play havoc with some unsuspecting pilot. I nearly missed a bundle of ballons climbing through FL213 about a year ago. That got my attention!

WHAT A STORY! With ingenuity every thing is possible .

Mark, MS1361, what would it have done if it hit your aircraft? I used to fly a B727 in Thailand and they have a festival where they fly small hot air balloons with candles in them supported in many cases with wires. I had many a near miss with those any they were by the hundreds on short final going into Chiang Mai (CNX). The sky does have its perils.

This is a cool story though I cringe every time I see balloons released to potentially play havoc with some unsuspecting pilot. I nearly missed a bundle of ballons climbing through FL213 about a year ago. That got my attention!

Not sure how I reposted that. Sorry guys. The only concern I really had was if I ingested it into my PT6. I don't know what the results would have been but I would rather not find out!

awsome video!!

Mark, I flew a B99 with a PT6. It's bulletproof. The blades would have made flakes out of the balloon and the package probably would have fallen away. It would be all but impossible to get the package into the intake as the props would have broken the balloon way before the package would have been an issure. This is an expanding weather balloon. These are released every day by NOAA and are deemed safe otherwise they wouldn't be launched. Remember the pictures in your private pilot handbook of a weatherman releasing one? Things may be different now as my handbook was from the mid 60s.
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Images of the Loy Krathong Holiday festival I mentioned in the previous post. What do you think of the number of balloons rising here! They were not as concentrated on short final as they spead out as they ascend. We might have hit a couple.

This is the most awesome home movie ever.

A great inspiring project! It would be a nightmare for the progress of mankind should these kind of initiatives be banned for about 0.001% extra air traffic security!

Radiosonde weather balloons (which use the actual balloon itself they used)are launched on the hour by the hundreds worldwide. Some pilots like myself have been 'lucky' enough to see one in the flight levels -as they are very rare to encounter even though thousands may be launched in a given day. I have never heard of a plane being brought down by one -or even hitting one for that matter. So relax guys... this was a neat father/son endeavor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_balloon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiosonde

Radiosonde weather balloons (which use the actual balloon itself they used)are launched on the hour by the hundreds worldwide. Some pilots like myself have been 'lucky' enough to see one in the flight levels -as they are very rare to encounter even though thousands may be launched in a given day. I have never heard of a plane being brought down by one -or even hitting one for that matter. So relax guys... this was a neat father/son endeavor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_balloon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiosonde

as a GA pilot (for the moment) i would definitely not want this 1500fpm projectile hitting me. what's more, on my commercial cross country in early August i flew over this area, using the Pawling VOR as a waypoint. the Hudson around this area is insanely busy with NYC airliner traffic. but either way, weather balloon + 72 inch prop = not good, and that's assuming the prop hits the balloon first.