FORT COLLINS, Colo. (October 16, 2009)—Richard Heene, the former Waco carpenter whose son was feared to be aboard a soaring helium-filled flying-saucer shaped balloon high in Colorado sky told a 911 operator that the balloon “wasn’t supposed to take off.”

Heene called 911 on Thursday afternoon, after the balloon, which was tethered in the backyard of his home in Fort Collins, Colo. floated away.

Authorities initially feared that Heene’s 6-year-old son Falcon was in a basket suspended from the 20-foot balloon.

News and military helicopters were dispatched to track the progress of the balloon while National Guard officials planned a midair rescue, that turned out to be unnecessary, because the balloon eventually settled gently into a dusty field without the boy aboard.

Richard Heene, a self-described amateur scientist and weather chaser who traced his interest in storms to a tornado that struck in October 1979 east of McGregor while he was living in Waco, was angrily denying claims Friday that the whole thing was a hoax, and Larimer County, Colo. Sheriff Jim Alderden says there's no indication a family was carrying out a hoax when they reported that Falcon was in the balloon.

The boy was found hiding in the home's garage Thursday afternoon, hours after the balloon launched and traveled more than 50 miles.

Sheriff Jim Alderden said Friday the suggestion that the boy, Falcon Heene, was coached to hide seems inconceivable.

He said the boy thought he was responsible for the balloon coming untied and hid because he was afraid he'd be in trouble.

Questions were raised about the incident after the boy said "we did this for a show" in a live interview with CNN.

The boys' parents appeared twice on the ABC reality show "Wife Swap."

911 Call Transcript

Dispatcher: Okay, where was the saucer? Was it in the backyard?
Richard Heene: Uh, hello?
Dispatcher: Yes, is this Richard?
Heene: Yes, it is.
Dispatcher: Okay, how long has the six year old been missing?
Heene: Just a few minutes, uh...
Dispatcher: Was the flying saucer in the backyard?
Heene: Yeah.
Dispatcher: Okay, it obviously has electronics, which he can know how to work it and he gets it up off the air? Off the ground?
Heene: (sobbing) No. He does not know how it operates.
Dispatcher: He does not know how to operate. So, and that's gone, though, too, right? So you are sure that he's in that.
Heene: We looked everywhere, and then my son just said, verify and he said, "Yeah, he went inside then (unintelligible) went off. Then we had it tethered, it wasn't supposed to take off.
Dispatcher: Okay, and was it running then?
Heene: Well, it doesn't run, its filled with helium, and it operates off a million volts to move left and right horizontal.
Dispatcher: okay.
Heene: And uh, we were testing it to find out what effect we could get.
Dispatcher: Okay. So it was last seen 20 minutes ago?
Heene: Um, yeah, I’m losing track of time. Probably - yeah.
Dispatcher: Okay. So there's no electronics on it, there’s no tracking device, right?
Heene: No, no. Uh, I don't know if it's possible, if you guys could track the electricity that it emits? But every five minutes, it comes on for one minute, and it emits a million volts on the outer skin.
Dispatcher: Okay.
Heene: And uh, if he kicks it or touches it, he could be electrocuted.
Dispatcher: okay