The Flight Of The Lawn Chair
Oh,no. Someone has done it yet again. Emulating Larry Walters and the flight of the lawn chair.
BEND, Ore. - 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.
Ah, rapid advances in technology. Mr. Couch should be getting a call from the Federal Aviation Administration any time now, however. They frown on aerial lawn furniture. If you're not familiar with Larry Walters' story, or only know the highly embellished Darwin Award version that went around years ago, Snopes has the real details of the flight and the tragic end of Larry Walters eleven years later.
Weird Stuff | Gaius Tuesday, 10 July , 2007
By Bleepless, Tuesday, 10 July , 2007 @ 8:12 pm
Larry Walters also got an honorable mention Darwin Award.
By feeblemind, Wednesday, 11 July , 2007 @ 1:08 am
I did not remember this. Hilarious story. Can you imagine looking out the window of your jet and seeing a guy sitting in a lawn chair, supported by balloons, looking at you and having a beer? Too bad about the sad ending. He never found his niche in life. Characters like him add a lot of interest to life.