I suspect that as a child we all fantasized about ....
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| Up By Balloons |
... using our balloons to fly up and away.
Of course this fantasy was picked up by Disney/Pixar in the 2009 film 'Up'. But you cant really imagine it happening for real .... but it did. In 2022 a Chinese man and his partner in Heilongiiang province, had a tethered hydrogen balloon which they used to hoist themselves up to tree top level to collect pine nuts.
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| Pine Nut Pickers Use Balloons In China |
All was going well until the balloon suddenly slipped its mooring and started to ascend quickly. The partner quick wittedly leapt out of the basket and landed safely, but Mr Hu Yongxu wasn't quick enough and was taken in to the heavens .... the wind then took swift control and swept him away. The partner summoned help, but Mr Hu was no longer in the area, but luckily he had his mobile phone on him and rescuers were able to contact him the following morning when he was in range of a mobile mast.
He was advised that his only hope was to slowly deflate the balloon and try and effect a safe landing. He did this, and several hours later managed to land in a tree in a forested area 200 miles (320 km) from home .... rescuers found him nearly 2 days after his ordeal began, his only injuries were a sore back.
This isn't the only time these balloons have escaped ... in 2019 a couple of men drifted 10km, and on another occasion two more drifted 100km and were arrested for breeching Chinese Air Traffic rules.
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