Balloon boy Falcon Heene has added weight to speculation balloon drama was all a hoax.
Falcon hid in the attic of his family home after the homemade helium balloon broke loose and drifted for nearly two hours through the Colorado sky.
Fearing the boy was inside the balloon, or had dropped some thousands of feet from the sky, global media broadcast blanket coverage of the chase and search for a possible body.
Five hours later, after the balloon had landed with no sign of the boy, Falcon was found hiding in a box in the attic of the family's garage.
In an interview with CNN, a reporter asked his father Richard whether his son heard people calling his name during a frantic search for the six-year-old.
The boy claims he did hear calls, but deliberately ignored them.
"Why didn't you come out ?" his father asked during the interview.
After a small silence, Falcon said he stayed hidden because he thought "we did this for a show".
Another awkward silence followed, before his father said "yeah", before asking his son again why he didn't come out.
The CNN interviewer asked for clarification on Falcon's remarks, but his father dodged the question.
The interviewer also asked his mother Mayumi whether she thought Falcon was simply hiding and not on board the balloon.
She said she search "everywhere" for her son, but it wasn't unusual behavior for Falcon to hide when he was in trouble.
Earlier, reporters asked Mr. Heene whether the incident was a publicity stunt.
"That's horrible," Mr. Heene said. "After the crap we just went through, no, no, no. "
Earlier, it was revealed the balloon is actually a prototype for a new form of transport.
Falcon said he had been to scared to come out after his father yelled at him for getting inside the balloon, which was tethered in the backyard.
"I heard shouting, I didn't want to come out, I though I would get in trouble," he said.
Falcon's relieved parents, Richard and Mayumi Heene, today thanked the local police and the Larimer County Sheriff's office after their son's disappearance sparked a statewide search.
"I really, really want to thank the local police station, the sheriff's office. You guys are great," Mr. Heene said.
Mr. Heene said he had been measuring electricity flow through the balloon when he saw Falcon try to climb inside.
"I yelled at him for getting inside. It's potentially dangerous if you get inside and the electricity comes on," he said.
Mr. Heene describe the craft as an experimental vehicle that "people can pull out of their garage and hover above traffic 50 to 100 feet" but said the invention was in its early stages.
He declined to detail how it broke free of its moorings, saying only "there was a mishap".
"I'm not going to lay the blame on anybody," he said.
"It was supposed to be tethered down and it wasn't tethered down."
Falcon's older brother had reported seeing him climb inside a compartment attached to the balloon, which was built by his amateur scientist father and resembled a "flying saucer" spacecraft, before it floated away from the family's home in Fort Collins.
His father said that his older son has watched and videotaped Falcon climbing inside a box attached to the bottom of the apparatus.
"This little guy decided to go inside the utility compartment," Mr. Heene said of Falcon, who clung to his father during the press conference.
"Sure enough he got in but obviously he got out so we don't know.
"He said he was hiding in the attic."
"Ask by reporters if he would be billed for the massive search and rescue operation amid mounting outrage over the incident, he said simply: "I sure hope not."
The balloon gradually descended to the ground after a wild ride through the Colorado skies this morning, tracked by police and with breathtaking images shown lives on television.
The craft was airborne for more than two hours.
Kathy Messick, Larimer County's sheriff's spokeswoman, said Falcon's parents were "very traumatised" before he was found.
The bizarre scene played out live on television as the balloon rotated slowly in the wind, tipping precariously at times before gliding to the ground.
A radar gun had reportedly clocked the craft traveling at 40 km/h in heart-stopping images on live television which captured the world's attention.
Image of the silver mushroom-shape craft were transmitted by Denver television station KUSA, as it sped through the sky at altitudes of up to 2 km in the air and at some points hurtling toward the earth.
The Heene family - Richard, Mayumi and their three sons - featured on the American ABC's reality television show "Wife Swap".
On the ABC's website, Richard and Mayumi describe themselves as storm chasers who sleep in their clothes so they are ready to leave at a moment's notice.
The safety of boys Falcon, Bradford and Ryo became an issue in the show, with the "swap wife" who stayed with them objecting to the amount of time they spent playing unsupervised and their father's dangerous pasttimes. (AFP/Herald Sun-Australia)
Falcon hid in the attic of his family home after the homemade helium balloon broke loose and drifted for nearly two hours through the Colorado sky.
Fearing the boy was inside the balloon, or had dropped some thousands of feet from the sky, global media broadcast blanket coverage of the chase and search for a possible body.
Five hours later, after the balloon had landed with no sign of the boy, Falcon was found hiding in a box in the attic of the family's garage.
In an interview with CNN, a reporter asked his father Richard whether his son heard people calling his name during a frantic search for the six-year-old.
The boy claims he did hear calls, but deliberately ignored them.
"Why didn't you come out ?" his father asked during the interview.
After a small silence, Falcon said he stayed hidden because he thought "we did this for a show".
Another awkward silence followed, before his father said "yeah", before asking his son again why he didn't come out.
The CNN interviewer asked for clarification on Falcon's remarks, but his father dodged the question.
The interviewer also asked his mother Mayumi whether she thought Falcon was simply hiding and not on board the balloon.
She said she search "everywhere" for her son, but it wasn't unusual behavior for Falcon to hide when he was in trouble.
Earlier, reporters asked Mr. Heene whether the incident was a publicity stunt.
"That's horrible," Mr. Heene said. "After the crap we just went through, no, no, no. "
Earlier, it was revealed the balloon is actually a prototype for a new form of transport.
Falcon said he had been to scared to come out after his father yelled at him for getting inside the balloon, which was tethered in the backyard.
"I heard shouting, I didn't want to come out, I though I would get in trouble," he said.
Falcon's relieved parents, Richard and Mayumi Heene, today thanked the local police and the Larimer County Sheriff's office after their son's disappearance sparked a statewide search.
"I really, really want to thank the local police station, the sheriff's office. You guys are great," Mr. Heene said.
Mr. Heene said he had been measuring electricity flow through the balloon when he saw Falcon try to climb inside.
"I yelled at him for getting inside. It's potentially dangerous if you get inside and the electricity comes on," he said.
Mr. Heene describe the craft as an experimental vehicle that "people can pull out of their garage and hover above traffic 50 to 100 feet" but said the invention was in its early stages.
He declined to detail how it broke free of its moorings, saying only "there was a mishap".
"I'm not going to lay the blame on anybody," he said.
"It was supposed to be tethered down and it wasn't tethered down."
Falcon's older brother had reported seeing him climb inside a compartment attached to the balloon, which was built by his amateur scientist father and resembled a "flying saucer" spacecraft, before it floated away from the family's home in Fort Collins.
His father said that his older son has watched and videotaped Falcon climbing inside a box attached to the bottom of the apparatus.
"This little guy decided to go inside the utility compartment," Mr. Heene said of Falcon, who clung to his father during the press conference.
"Sure enough he got in but obviously he got out so we don't know.
"He said he was hiding in the attic."
"Ask by reporters if he would be billed for the massive search and rescue operation amid mounting outrage over the incident, he said simply: "I sure hope not."
The balloon gradually descended to the ground after a wild ride through the Colorado skies this morning, tracked by police and with breathtaking images shown lives on television.
The craft was airborne for more than two hours.
Kathy Messick, Larimer County's sheriff's spokeswoman, said Falcon's parents were "very traumatised" before he was found.
The bizarre scene played out live on television as the balloon rotated slowly in the wind, tipping precariously at times before gliding to the ground.
A radar gun had reportedly clocked the craft traveling at 40 km/h in heart-stopping images on live television which captured the world's attention.
Image of the silver mushroom-shape craft were transmitted by Denver television station KUSA, as it sped through the sky at altitudes of up to 2 km in the air and at some points hurtling toward the earth.
The Heene family - Richard, Mayumi and their three sons - featured on the American ABC's reality television show "Wife Swap".
On the ABC's website, Richard and Mayumi describe themselves as storm chasers who sleep in their clothes so they are ready to leave at a moment's notice.
The safety of boys Falcon, Bradford and Ryo became an issue in the show, with the "swap wife" who stayed with them objecting to the amount of time they spent playing unsupervised and their father's dangerous pasttimes. (AFP/Herald Sun-Australia)
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