We've all been talking about helium balloons and Falcon's high-flying adventure, in the rafters of his family's garage.  It brought to mind a bunch of stories about balloons and adventurous flights through history.  Remember the amazing flight of Larry Walters?  He took flight using weather balloons, a Sears lawn chair, and a pellet gun.  He really did it and you can see it and read about it here.  Just to make sure it could be done, the Mythbusters took on the adventure themselves.  You'll see that it takes a lot of helium to lift a human.  How much does it take to lift a chicken?  Make a guess and lay down your bet!  If you already have a lawn chair and a pellet gun, you can buy your weather balloons here.  Although I think it's best to leave your flight in the hands of a professional balloon pilot.  A balloon flight is the purest form of aviation.  You go up, you go down, and the wind does the rest.  When MY son goes up in a balloon, I go with him.  While we drifted at a few miles per hour, the helicopter makes it look very dramatic.  The speed you see is due to the chopper movement and that's why Thursday's helium flying saucer looked a lot zippier than 25 mph.  A lot of people think this whole Heene story was a PR stunt, a hoax created by a reality-TV family starved for attention.  If it was, it wouldn't be the first balloon hoax in history.  FInally, let's not forget the real balloon aviation pioneers who bravely rose into the atmosphere and rode the winds into history.  You can still get your taste of a helium ballon flight right on the doorstep of Chicago's Navy Pier.  Don't worry, it's tethered.