Speaking of this winter weather, we once lived in simpler times...like in 1969, when an 11 year old got in a hot air ballon at halftime and ended up in a river during a Minnesota winter.
Told to you by the late, great Pat Summerall: "It was a tough act to follow"
From an article I found:
"They were going to launch a hot air balloon on a 200-foot tether, take it up and with somebody in it, take it down the length of the field and pull it back down," said Bob Jasperson of Wings of the North Air Museum in Eden Prairie.
That worked. It certainly went up, but the problem is it kept going up because the rope connected to it somehow failed," Snyder said.
That's when the stadium's snow-covered fans watched as Snyder flew solo in the hot air balloon basket. Up, up and away. The flight was just seconds old when he narrowly missed the scorching hot stadium lights, which would have spelled almost certain disaster.
"[Stadium spectators] thought this was just part of the show, that the balloon was supposed to fly out of the stadium," Jasperson said. "But it was not."
Unfortunately, the 11-year-old's troubles were only just beginning. Not only was he flying into the path of the oncoming air traffic at MSP Airport, but he would disappear into the clouds.
The Federal Aviation Administration took immediate action to close all air traffic while Snyder's wayward balloon proceeded to the southeast. After a three-mile flight, Snyder was able to release some of the hot air, and the balloon quickly descended -- directly into the frigid and slush-filled waters of the Minnesota River.
That's when the basket tipped, catapulting Snyder into the river. Without his weight, the balloon then flew away unpiloted.
Snyder remembers the river landing.
"It was filled with slush, so I was swimming through slush," he said.
With his waterlogged snowmobile suit, boots and helmet, he would swim 25 yards to shore.
Told to you by the late, great Pat Summerall: "It was a tough act to follow"
From an article I found:
"They were going to launch a hot air balloon on a 200-foot tether, take it up and with somebody in it, take it down the length of the field and pull it back down," said Bob Jasperson of Wings of the North Air Museum in Eden Prairie.
That worked. It certainly went up, but the problem is it kept going up because the rope connected to it somehow failed," Snyder said.
That's when the stadium's snow-covered fans watched as Snyder flew solo in the hot air balloon basket. Up, up and away. The flight was just seconds old when he narrowly missed the scorching hot stadium lights, which would have spelled almost certain disaster.
"[Stadium spectators] thought this was just part of the show, that the balloon was supposed to fly out of the stadium," Jasperson said. "But it was not."
Unfortunately, the 11-year-old's troubles were only just beginning. Not only was he flying into the path of the oncoming air traffic at MSP Airport, but he would disappear into the clouds.
The Federal Aviation Administration took immediate action to close all air traffic while Snyder's wayward balloon proceeded to the southeast. After a three-mile flight, Snyder was able to release some of the hot air, and the balloon quickly descended -- directly into the frigid and slush-filled waters of the Minnesota River.
That's when the basket tipped, catapulting Snyder into the river. Without his weight, the balloon then flew away unpiloted.
Snyder remembers the river landing.
"It was filled with slush, so I was swimming through slush," he said.
With his waterlogged snowmobile suit, boots and helmet, he would swim 25 yards to shore.
