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| It is my belief that this man was one of the finalists for the Darwin Awards of 1999. Either way, it's quite an interesting story! |
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Recently I recieved this email: You might want to update your website to reflect the REAL story of Larry Walters. It is essentially true, but various internet accounts (including yours) have grossly embellished the truth. Which is too bad, because the story was amazing enough without the exaggerations. below is the text from his LA Times obituary. I'm sorry I no longer have the link, for documentation, but if you search the LA Times archives I assure you, this is what you will find: Wednesday, November 24, 1993 Home Edition Section: PART A Page: A-16 Larry Walters; Soared to Fame on Lawn Chair By: MYRNA OLIVER TIMES STAFF WRITER Larry Walters, who achieved dubious fame in 1982 when he piloted a lawn chair attached to helium balloons 16,000 feet above Long Beach, has committed suicide at the age of 44. Walters died Oct. 6 after hiking to a remote spot in Angeles National Forest and shooting himself in the heart, his mother, Hazel Dunham, revealed Monday. She said relatives knew of no motive for the suicide. "It was something I had to do," Walters told The Times after his flight from San Pedro to Long Beach on July 2, 1982. "I had this dream for 20 years, and if I hadn't done it, I would have ended up in the funny farm." Walters rigged 42 weather balloons to an aluminum lawn chair, pumped them full of helium and had two friends untether the craft, which he had dubbed "Inspiration I." He took along a large bottle of soda, a parachute and a portable CB radio to alert air traffic to his presence. He also took a camera but later admitted, "I was so amazed by the view I didn't even take one picture." Walters, a North Hollywood truck driver with no pilot or balloon training, spent about two hours aloft and soared up to 16,000 feet--three miles--startling at least two airline pilots and causing one to radio the Federal Aviation Administration. Shivering in the high altitude, he used a pellet gun to pop balloons to come back to earth. On the way down, his balloons draped over power lines, blacking out a Long Beach neighborhood for 20 minutes. The stunt earned Walters a $1,500 fine from the FAA, the top prize from the Bonehead Club of Dallas, the altitude record for gas-filled clustered balloons (which could not be officially recorded because he was unlicensed and unsanctioned) and international admiration. He appeared on "The Tonight Show" and was flown to New York to be on "Late Night With David Letterman," which he later described as "the most fun I've ever had." "I didn't think that by fulfilling my goal in life--my dream--that I would create such a stir," he later told The Times, "and make people laugh." Walters abandoned his truck-driving job and went on the lecture circuit, remaining sporadically in demand at motivational seminars. But he said he never made much money from his innovative flight and was glad to keep his simple lifestyle. He gave his "aircraft"--the aluminum lawn chair--to admiring neighborhood children after he landed, later regretting it. In recent years, Walters hiked the San Gabriel Mountains and did volunteer work for the U.S. Forest Service. "I love the peace and quiet," he told The Times in 1988. "Nature and I get along real well." An Army veteran who served in Vietnam, Walters never married and had no children. He is survived by his mother and two sisters. Type of Material: Obituary And now for the Straight Dope, and Mark Berry. |
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And the trend continues... BEND, Oregon: Last weekend, Kent Couch settled down in his lawn chair with some snacks -- and a parachute. Attached to his lawn chair were 105 large helium balloons. Destination: Idaho.
With instruments to measure his altitude and speed, a global positioning system device in his pocket, and about four plastic bags holding five gallons of water each to act as ballast -- he could turn a spigot, release water and rise -- Couch headed into the Oregon sky. Nearly nine hours later, the 47-year-old gas station owner came back to earth in a farmer's field near Union, short of Idaho but about 193 miles from home. "When you're a little kid and you're holding a helium balloon, it has to cross your mind," Couch told the Bend Bulletin. "When you're laying in the grass on a summer day, and you see the clouds, you wish you could jump on them," he said. "This is as close as you can come to jumping on them. It's just like that." Couch is the latest American to emulate Larry Walters -- who in 1982 rose three miles above Los Angeles in a lawn chair lifted by balloons. Walters had surprised an airline pilot, who radioed the control tower that he had just passed a guy in a lawn chair. Walters paid a $1,500 penalty for violating air traffic rules. It was Couch's second flight. In September, he got off the ground for six hours. Like Walters, he used a BB gun to pop the balloons, but he went into a rapid descent and eventually parachuted to safety. This time, he was better prepared. The balloons had a new configuration, so it was easier to reach up and release a bit of helium instead of simply cutting off a balloon. He took off at 6:06 a.m. Saturday after kissing his wife, Susan, goodbye and petting his Chihuahua, Isabella. As he made about 25 miles an hour, a three-car caravan filled with friends, family and the dog followed him from below. Couch said he could hear cattle and children and even passed through clouds. "It was beautiful -- beautiful," he told KTVZ-TV. He described the flight as mostly peaceful and serene, with occasional turbulence, like a hot-air balloon ride sitting down. Couch decided to stop when he was down to a gallon of water and just eight pounds of ballast. Concerned about the rugged terrain outside La Grande, including Hells Canyon, he decided it was time to land. He popped enough balloons to set the craft down, although he suffered rope burns. But after he jumped out, the wind grabbed his chair, with his video recorder, and the remaining balloons and swept them away. He's hoping to get them back some day. Brandon Wilcox, owner of Professional Air, which charters and maintains planes at the Bend airport, said Couch definitely did it. Wilcox said he flew a plane nearby while Couch traveled and took photos of the flying lawn chair. Whether Couch will take a third trip is up to his wife, and Susan Couch said she's thinking about saying no. But she said she was willing to go along with last weekend's trip. "I know he'd be thinking about it more and more, it would always be on his mind," she said. "This way, at least he's fulfilled his dream." |
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Balloons suspend Kent Couch in a lawn chair as he floats in the skies near Bend, Oregon, on Saturday.
