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Have you seen the flying shark?

So, I bought this toy. Basically a helium filled balloon shark with a motorized fin and ballast so you can fly it around and remote control it. I fill it with helium, I get it built, and I read the instructions that disappointingly say “not for outdoor use”.

Well, this thing is like as big as my torso (and that’s saying a lot). It is huge. I live in an apartment, so I don’t have a lot of flying options with it. I decided to risk fate and take it outside, full ballast so it is nice and weighed down. I do some controlled releases and it seems ok, so I start letting it fly thinking, “Man, I sure am going to freak out the establishment around Church Hill with this!”

A cold wind blows… my shark rises too quick into the night sky. I try frantically to control it, using the “Dive” position on my tiny controls and frantically flapping the tail left and right to generate force to push him down… but the range on the controls is minimal, and his responses come slow… and then not at all. He rises, flying over my apartment building… disappearing from view.

I’ve looked around, kept an eye on the sky, and just can’t be sure. I don’t have roof access, so there’s a chance he’s stuck up there, but I went onto the balcony and jerked the controller around listening for sounds from his motoring indicating that he might be in range, but heard nothing.

Odds are he’ll rise into the atmosphere and pop before crashing down in a heap of mylar and cheap plastic motor encasing. But just in case, I figured I should ask you guys. Afterall, how many flying sharks could there be in Richmond? If you see one, let me know, it is probably mine.

tl;dr – I let loose a flying toy shark in Church Hill that got away from me. I fully don’t expect to recover it, but if someone manages to find it I’d love to know. He doesn’t bite.

Here’s a link to the manufacturer’s site, so you can see what it looks like or buy one of your own and be more responsible with it – http://airswimmers.com/