This had been his dream for so long. Today was the day! He had spent weeks prepping and
mapping out a route, and now bunches of helium filled weather balloons floated overhead,
tugging on the lawn chair. Larry strapped on his parachute, and sat down. His ground
crew watched, recording with a video camera. This was it. He cut the first rope, and slowly
rose to hover over the roof of the house. Perfect! Liftoff was progressing exactly like
how he’d planned. Suddenly a strong gust of wind whipped past, rocking Larry and snapping
the second line tethering the lawn chair to the ground. Whoops! Larry shot up into the
sky like he was being launched out of cannon, uh oh, this wasn’t part of the plan...
Larry Walters had always dreamed of flying. At 13, he went to an army navy surplus store
and saw weather balloons on display. This inspired his idea of filling a bunch of weather
balloons with helium, attaching them to a chair and floating off into the sky. Unable
to afford flight lessons, teenage Larry spent a lot of time hanging out at the local airport
doing odd jobs. As a young man, Larry joined the Air Force planning to become a pilot,
but was rejected due to his poor eyesight.
In the spring of 1982, 33 year old Larry was living in Los Angeles, California and working
as a truck driver for a television commercial production company. He had never forgotten
his weather balloon idea from some 20 years earlier. Now was the time to do it, he decided.
Larry came up with a plan. He would launch from his girlfriend Carol Van Deusen’s house
in San Pedro, rise to an altitude of around 6,000-7,000 feet, drift northeast, heading
over the San Gabriel Mountains and eventually land in the Mojave desert about 120 miles
(193 km) away.
Larry and Carol spent over $4,000 to purchase 45 weather balloons, 55 helium tanks, a lawn
chair, a cb radio set and a bb pellet gun. To purchase the unusually large number of
balloons and helium cylinders, Larry falsified documents from his employer, saying the balloons
were for a television commercial.
During the planning stage, several weeks before his fateful trip, Larry’s pal Ron Richland
talked him into taking a skydiving class. After the class, Larry ended up buying a parachute.
Though Carol and Ron tried to talk Larry out of what they felt was a dangerous, wacky plan
many times, they agreed to be his flight crew. The night before his planned flight was spent
inflating 42 8 foot (2.4 m) weather balloons one by one. Around midnight, curious police
noticed the huge clusters of balloons hovering over the house and dropped by to inquire what
was happening. Once again, Larry claimed they were preparing to shoot a commercial.
Friday July 2, 1982, dawns hot, sunny and clear; perfect for a balloon ride. Larry dubs
his trusty lawn chair ‘Inspiration I’. The weather balloons are tethered to the lawn
chair with nylon cables in six tiers rising almost 180 feet (154 m) high. Over 20 1-gallon
(3.79 liter) jugs of water are attached to either side of the lawnchair to serve as ballast.
There is no seat belt, but the chair is positioned so Larry sits in it leaning back at an angle,
making it hard to tip forward and fall out. The whole contraption is tethered to the ground
via guide wires wrapped around Larry’s jeep.
On board, Larry plans to carry several items to aid his trip including an altimeter, a
compass, a 35 mm camera, a bb gun, a map and a small emergency kit. He even has some jerky,
sandwiches and a two liter bottle of Coke for snacks.
Just before take off, Larry ends up delaying his flight by about 45 minutes so a friend
can go buy him a lifejacket, just in case he drifts near the ocean. Around 10:30 am,
after putting on his parachute and getting comfortable in the chair, Larry cuts the first
rope. He rises, hovering over the roof of Carol’s house. Perfect. The first part of
his plan is to float 100 feet over the house for half an hour while his ground crew notifies
the Federal Aviation Administration or FAA and local airports and then drift off towards
the mountains.
But a sudden rush of wind prematurely snaps the second tether, jolting Larry and sending
the lawnchair skyrocketing upwards so fast, Larry’s glasses slide off his face.
Larry’s ascending somewhere between 800-1,000 feet a minute. He contacts Carol on the CB
and tells her that he lost his glasses. Nearly hysterical, she yells for him to come down
since he can’t see. But Larry is prepared and has brought a second pair of glasses.
He let Carols know and also tells her that he’s headed into a small fog bank.
Luckily, he comes through the other side without issue. As Larry rises, the view is fantastic.
In the distance over the houses, streets and freeways, he can see the famed ship, the Queen
Mary at the port. As he continues to soar, he can see the curve of the California coastline,
the Pacific ocean and then eventually Catalina Island in the distance. He watches a private
plane fly past beneath him. He enjoys the view, but forgets to take pictures, in fact
for the duration of his voyage, Larry totally forgets to use his camera.
To put in perspective how quickly Larry is ascending: in less than a minute, Larry has
reached 500 feet (152 m) and officially entered into federal air space. In less than 2 minutes
Larry has risen higher than the 1,250 foot (381 m) Empire State Building. In about 10
minutes he’s almost at 10,000 feet (3048 m) or ⅓ of the way up Mount Everest.
All the while, an agitated Carol talks to Larry on the CB. She says that they found
his dropped glasses and pleads for him to come down. Larry tries to reassure her, but
he’s been dreaming of this day far too long to give up so easy. Around 15,000 feet (4572
m) Larry starts to worry. How high can he float?--Later the FAA will tell him that he
could have reached 50,000 feet and turned into a popsicle. A concerned Larry carefully
begins shooting balloons with his bb gun.
Finally the Inspiration I levels out at around 16, 500 feet (5029 m), just over 3 miles (4.8
km) off the ground, far higher than Larry originally intended to float.
Along with the amazing view, Larry now has several problems: For humans, altitude sickness
typically begins around 8,000 feet (2438 m). At twice that altitude, Larry is experiencing
oxygen levels comparable to a climber on a high mountain peak. He grows dizzy and his
thinking is affected. Furthermore, it’s really cold. The average temperature at 16,500
feet (5029 m) is five degrees F (-15 C). Yet, though his extremities are beginning to grow
numb with cold, since he’s closer to the sun with no shade, Larry is also working on
a sunburn.
However, most dangerously Larry is at an altitude commercial planes pass through. Even worse,
the Inspiration I begins drifting west towards the ocean and directly into the flight corridor
of the nearby Los Angeles International Airport.
Larry calls in a Mayday on his cb radio. His distress call is picked up by
the Crest--Radio Emergency Associated Communication Team [Crest-REACT] in Corona, California.
The operator is puzzled and skeptical of Larry’s claim that he’s floating over 16,000 feet
(5029 m) in the sky via weather balloon. Nevertheless, members of Crest-REACT continue to communicate
by cb with Larry for the duration of his flight, eventually becoming convinced that it isn’t
a hoax.
Meanwhile, Larry is spotted by pilots of two different TWA and Delta flights, who radio
the LAX tower and FAA. At first the tower is incredulous, but then they plot a radar
fix on Larry and begin tracking him.
By this time, Larry has shot out 7 balloons and is planning to shoot more when a gust
of wind pushes the chair sideways. The bb gun which had been resting on Larry’s lap
slips. Larry watches in disbelief as the gun falls, growing smaller and smaller until it’s
completely out of sight. Just like that, Larry had lost his main method for descending.
Luckily, the loss of helium from the popped balloons is enough to cause Larry to begin
to descend. Over about an hour he slowly floats back to earth. At about two thousand feet,
Larry begins to pick up speed and falls more quickly. To lighten the load, he uses his
pen knife to slash his ballast jugs and sends several gallons of water cascading down.
As Larry gets closer to the ground, for the first time he really gets scared--he’s afraid
he’ll land on a power line and get electrocuted or crash through someone’s roof. He tries
to steer the chair towards a wide open space--a golf course at country club, but can’t change
direction.
All this time, Larry periodically been in touch with his ground crew. They call 911
and local police begin tracking Larry. Larry’s worst fears are realized when Inspiration
I crashes into and gets entangled in high voltage power lines in someone’s yard. Luckily,
the plastic cord Larry’s using saves him from being electrocuted. Larry has to wait,
dangling only five feet off the ground while firemen and utility crews cut the electricity
to the lines. This blacks out a Long Beach neighborhood for twenty minutes. Ultimately
Larry’s flight lasts a few hours, takes him 3 miles (4.8 km) into the sky, but only
carries him from San Pedro to Long Beach, the next city over from his launch site, a
distance of around 10 miles (16 km) before returning him safely to earth.
As Larry finally climbs down, he’s swarmed by excited children from the neighborhood.
Everyone’s come out to see what the big commotion is about. Larry autographs a few
pieces of balloon and impulsively gives away his lawn chair to boy--a move he later regrets
when the Smithsonian asks him about donating his lawn chair. Some years later, the lawn
chair is found and in 2014 loaned for an exhibition to the San Diego Air and Space Museum.
Just after landing, Larry’s arrested by waiting officers of Long Beach Police Department.
As he’s placed in a squad car in handcuffs, a reporter asks him why he has done it. Larry
casually says, “A man can’t just sit around.”
Eventually the police let Larry go, there’s nothing they can hold him for. Larry makes
the rounds in the media, having struck a chord with the public. Everyone is eager to interview
the man who has fulfilled a crazy dream. Larry appears on popular late night talk shows “The
Tonight Show” where he’s interviewed by Johnny Carson. He’s also flown to New York
to be on “Late Night with David Letterman.”
Larry finds out that he has broken the altitude record for gas-filled clustered balloons,
though his distinction is unofficial since he was unlicensed and unsanctioned. The FAA
fines Larry $4,000 for violations under U.S. Federal Aviation Regulations, including operating
an aircraft within an airport traffic area "without establishing and maintaining two-way
communications with the control tower." Larry appeals and ultimately the fine is reduced
to $1,500.
Larry has inspired several copy cats around the world who have embarked on wild flights
using homemade airships of their own. Of his trip Larry said “It was something I had
to do. I had this dream for twenty years, and if I hadn't done it, I think I would have
ended up in the funny farm.”
What’s a dream of yours that you’ve achieved or hope to achieve? Do any of you have one
as while as floating into the sky with balloons? Let us know in the comments! Now go watch
our other video “Plane Crash Leads To Unbelievable Survival Story”! Thanks for watching, and,
as always, don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe. See you next time!