… They cut the cord and seconds later, the man sitting on a lawn chair tied to a balloon
cluster was soaring up among the clouds. This sounds like some kind of Up-style fairytale,
but, believe it or not, this story actually happened for real in 1982!
Once upon a time, in 1949 to be more precise, a boy named Larry Walters was born in Los
Angeles, California. He dreamed of the sky, but his dream to be a US Air Force pilot was
not destined to come true because of his poor eyesight. So Larry became a truck driver and
lived like any other person in San Pedro. His love for the sky and his dream to fly
didn’t go away though. Larry remembered an idea that occurred to him when he was 13.
Back then, he first saw weather balloons hanging off the ceiling at a military store. The balloons
were staying afloat in the air and young Larry thought – why not take advantage of that?
You don’t need a pilot’s license to fly helium-filled balloons, right? So, 33-year-old
Larry decided to bring his dream to life 20 years later, and he started preparations for
his flight. To figure out how many balloons he’d need
for the experiment, he had to have done some calculations. The lifting force of helium
is 1 gram per liter. That means 10 liters of helium in a balloon can lift 10 grams.
A regular amusement park balloon is about 1 foot in diameter and it can hold 14 liters
of helium. So, it can lift around 14 grams, if you ignore the weight of the balloon and
the string. To lift a person weighing 175 pounds, you’d need a whopping 5,700 balloons!
But if you get 10-foot army surplus store balloons instead, you’d only need like 8
of those to fly. Larry was true to his dream, and went for
weather balloons instead. Together with his then-girlfriend, he bought 45 weather balloons
and helium tanks. He knew it would raise some questions, so to prepare for that he forged
a requisition from FilmFair Studios saying he was an employee and they needed balloons
for a TV commercial. On launch day, July 2, 1982, they filled the floatation devices with
helium, attached them to a lawnchair they named “Inspiration I” and packed the necessary
supplies: some sandwiches, a bottle of soda, a camera, a CB radio and pellets. Why the
pellets? Well, Larry planned to reach the Mojave Desert and shoot out the balloons to
land safely. So, “Lawnchair Larry”, as he was nicknamed
later, strapped on a parachute, commanded his friends to cut the cord tied to his Jeep,
and soared into the sky. He went way higher than he planned, at 16,000 feet. Larry was
moving over Long Beach, crossed Long Beach Airport corridor, and finally floated into
Los Angeles International Airport controlled airspace. The wind was blowing strong in his
face, and the speed he was moving wasn’t ideal for stopping. Larry was getting nervous
and got in touch with air traffic control with his CB radio to inform them of his presence.
At least two commercial airplanes also spotted the traveler and let air traffic control and
Federal Aviation Administration know there was a strange, unidentified flying object
in the sky. Things were getting out of control: Larry
was way higher, moving way faster, and going way further than he planned. He wanted to
land, but he was afraid popping the balloons would make him lose his balance and he’d
just fall out of the sky. 45 minutes after take-off, he shot out some of the balloons
and started slowly descending. Another 45 minutes later, he was on the ground again,
safe and sound. While there was no damage to the adventurous traveler whatsoever, people
in the surrounding area felt his presence without knowing he was there. The balloons
that got tangled on the power lines in Long Beach caused a massive power outage that lasted
20 minutes. Though Larry wasn’t injured and made his
dream come true, the welcome party he got back on the ground wasn’t exactly what he
was hoping for. Long Beach authorities arrested him, but soon let him go with a fine of $4,000
for violation of Federal Aviation regulations and operating “a civil aircraft for which
there is not currently in effect an airworthiness certificate”. The second part was dropped
later, because his “aircraft” was a lawnchair and it wasn’t mentioned in any legislation.
So he ended up paying a fine of $1,500 and became somewhat of a celebrity. In one of
his interviews some time later, Larry said the flight “was something I had to do. I
had this dream for 20 years, and if I hadn’t done it, I would have ended up in the funny
farm.” After his beautiful flight, “Lawnchair Larry”
appeared on the Tonight Show and Late Night With David Letterman. He was given the title
of “At-Risk Survivor” at the 1993 Darwin Awards and the first place award from the
Bonehead Club of Dallas. A San Diego band, Pinback, dedicated a song to him named “Walters”,
and so did an Austin artist, Eggbo, with “Larry Walters”. In the book “All I Really Need
to Know I Learned in Kindergarten”, a whole section was dedicated to Larry’s flight,
using it as a great example of living your dreams and letting your imagination fly, literally.
To top it all off, there was even an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants “The Sponge Who
Could Fly” inspired by the story. All this made Lawnchair Larry so self-confident, he
gave up his job as a truck driver and decided to become a motivational speaker to inspire
other people to never forget their dreams. Unfortunately, his lectures weren’t a success
and didn’t bring him money or fame. Maybe it was out of disappointment, or out
of love for his biggest fan, a neighborhood boy named Jerry, that Larry parted with his
famous chair and gave it to Jerry. Some time later, the Smithsonian Institution asked Larry
for his flying apparatus to make it one of their exhibits. He regretted giving away the
chair, but what’s done can’t be undone. Jerry grew up, but kept the chair in his garage
with some of the tethers and water jugs that were originally attached to it for stability.
In 2014, Jerry temporarily donated it to the San Diego Air and Space Museum and it was
on display for everyone to see.
Larry Walters might not have become the most successful motivational speaker, but he sure
motivated quite a few people to follow his example. In fact, he inspired a whole extreme
sport named cluster ballooning. Its fans strap themselves in a harness and attach themselves
to rubber balloons filled with helium to fly.
On July 7, 2007, a gas station owner from Oregon used 105 large helium balloons and
plastic bags filled with 20 gallons of water tied to a lawn chair to fly 240 miles! He
shot BBs to let some helium out and land, but later came up with a new way of doing
it to make the descent way smoother. A year later he used that mechanism on his second
flight and traveled in his lawnchair for 9 hours and 12 minutes!
On January 13, 2008, a human-rights defender from Brazil went further with the idea and
crossed the border between two countries: Brazil and Argentina on 600 party balloons
filled with helium and tied to a chair.
Two years later, a traveler from the US crossed the English Channel in an office chair going
from Challock, England to Dunkirk, France over the White Cliffs of Dover. That must
have been a scenic 4-hour ride for a guy in an office chair! Three years later, he tried
to go trans-Atlantic (yes, you heard it right, transatlantic on balloons!) but the attempt
wasn’t a success and he had to land in Newfoundland. By the way, that guy recreated the house that
was in the Up movie for a National Geographic feature.
Another traveler who was brave enough to try cluster ballooning abroad was from England.
He flew 15 miles over South Africa on October 20, 2017.
The Guinness Book of World Records currently features the longest duration flight by helium
balloons that lasted 13 hours, 36 minutes, and 57 seconds. An American adventurer flew
across North Carolina. He was also the first cluster ballooner to start his journey during
the day and fly through the night on 57 balloons.
Do you think it’s fun or totally crazy to fly on helium balloons? Let me know down in
the comments! If you learned something new today, then give this video a like and share
it with a friend. But – hey! – don’t go anywhere just yet – especially in a balloon!
We have over 2,000 cool videos for you to check out. All you have to do is pick the
left or right video, click on it, and enjoy! Stay on the Bright Side of life!