Simviation Forums

When one of the helium-filled balloons released by excited youngsters at a school summer fair in Fareham, Hampshire, was found in France, the organisers were rather impressed that it had got so far.
The winner of the balloon race was duly declared at Wykeham House school's speech day and the event forgotten.
Until, that is, another of the participants, 10-year-old Amy Robjohns, received a postcard from a teenager in Uruguay.
Her balloon, which carried a tag bearing her name and address, had not simply floated across the Channel; it had somehow survived a four-month trip of thousands of miles, presumably across the Atlantic, before finally coming to rest in a field in Montevideo.
Amy's father, Neil, 42, said the balloon was found by a 14-year-old called Juan Lopez. He had returned the tag, along with a Uruguayan bank note and a postcard.
Mr Robjohns said the boy described, in basic English, how he had found the balloon near his school. He expressed amazement that it had got so far.
Organisers believe the balloon must have ascended so high that it was caught up in one of the very fast airstreams used by balloonists attempting long-distance trips.

Amazing. I suppose this is the modern equivalent of the message in the bottle.

That is pretty cool. Did they give the kid a refund for his bank note:) LOL

We did that when I was in grade school.  The furthest any of our ballons got was the next town over.  Sounds like a fun "bonding" project for those of you with kids.  I recommend the silver mylar baloons over plain latex as they will hold their charge and remain aloft longer.  Maybe you could experiment with both.

The kid better now ask for his prize..... now, where's the bloke that got it before him?

speaking of mylar. some guy in eastern missouri filled one of those giant mylar frizbys with helium, and let it go. people for miles around thought it was a UFO. It was all over the news here with video and everything, it looked pretty convincing.

lol, my dad and I did a similar experiment with objects of that likeness and almost had the coastguard out over lake erie looking for a downed airplane..

luckily we were able to stop them before they called it in..

I also did this once in grade school.  I never got an answer back, but it was fun.  I want to do it with the twins when they get old enough.  :)