The reports of a Colorado man dangling from a hot air balloon Tuesday morning, in danger of falling to his death, turn out to be nothing but a load of hot air.
Police received four 911 calls that a man was hanging outside the dirigible floating high in the air. But Dan Vinson, the man on the airship, was actually doing a promotion for a Kickstarter campaign, the Longmont Times-Call reported.
Vinson and business partner, Dave Hunt, were making the video for their workout product, Monkii Bars. According to their website, the lightweight bars can be used to create makeshift gymnastic-like suspension workouts. Vinson did pull-ups on the bars while hanging in mid-air.
"I was working out," Vinson told the paper.
Hunt said he could hear people on the ground possibly cheering. But more likely, they may have been screaming for help. Multiple calls to the Longmont Police Department caused officers to check out the scene, but when the balloon landed at 9:30 a.m. it became clear no one was in immediate danger.
"Dan is a professional wild man," Longmont Police Officer Mike Nelson said.
Hunt and Vinson told the paper they hadn't considered that people might be worried seeing a man on the outside of a high-flying hot air balloon.
When officers informed dispatchers that the man was ok, a dispatcher asked if Vinson could put a sign on him reading "I'm OK" the next time he decides to test his fate.
One would think Colorado residents would know better than to stage an airborne promotional stunt. In 2010, media outlets stopped everything to cover what they thought was a boy soaring over the sky in a makeshift balloon, only to find out the whole thing was a hoax.
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