Adventure by Balloons!
A true story worth telling again! I don’t know why this story has always intrigued me but it has to be one of the most outrageous and funniest ones I have ever come across. Maybe I like it because it is something I would have done in my own youth but now that I am married and have a few children, my responsibilities keep me from these adventures or maybe it is my wife and her threat to leave me if I ever get killed in such an act of stupidity!
Seems, in Long Beach, Larry Walters, 33, attached a bunch of helium balloons to his lawn chair plus supplies of a six pack of beer, a B-B gun and a CB radio. When all seemed right, his wife had gone shopping, the wind was just so and no previous engagements were holding him back, so he got comfortable in his lounge chair, tossed off the few anchor bricks holding him down, waved goodbye and then his chair was slowly air born…up UP AND AWAY! Within moments his brilliant thought of a nice little adventure moved from his backyard into an international event! For his Ten Dollar craft suddenly rose into the currents and up drafts where he was really carried high, lifting his unscheduled flight to a 16,000 foot level where he unexpectedly appeared on hundreds of radar screens as an unidentified object. Radar controllers from three nearby airports were alerted and the heavy sky traffic had to be diverted into emergency patterns. It was a clear day, no trouble seeing this strange unbelievable sight as witnessing pilots hesitantly reported their sightings to ground controllers, trying to explain this new form of transportation to their controllers and radar engineers who were going crazy. To descend, he just used the BB gun to pop the balloons as needed and he was in near full control. He managed to control his descent rather well and when he got a few feet of the ground he jumped off with high satisfaction.
Okay, the FAA didn't think it was that funny nor that great of an adventure: and due to one little mistake a bit of Long Beach was blacked out because his tethers snagged on some power lines, hey no big deal I would say! Our friend and adventurer of unusual devices was found out and darned if the authorities did not make him pay a fine of $1500. Just imagine this, you had paid your standard $400 dollars to fly from just beyond the mountains and your flight was descending into the Los Angeles basin when you were looking out the planes window and there just a few feet above your plane you saw this guy leaning back in a aluminum lounge chair which seemed to be suspended by a bunch of colorful party balloons. Now this might be hard enough to try and convince the attendants but to tell her that this guy you were watching out the window had a gun in one hand and was waving a hello to you with a cold one in the other hand…might make a few folks request an immediate seat change. And just your luck by the time you did convince the stewardess to look outside, the floating aberration would have risen out of sight and for sure the airport security would be waiting for you when everyone got off the plane. No offense to the FAA nor to the pilots that had to be diverted that day but my hat goes off to Mr. Larry Walters and his one of a kind adventure. Isn’t it better than hearing another story of some organization sponsoring 30 philosophers on a fifty million dollar hike up some mountain that has been climbed so many times it is already worn down a half mile from its original height? Or another expedition to Africa to study how some lost tribe eats juicy bugs and their eyes turn white? So to that adventurer right near to our own backyards, that guy who dare challenge those massive airlines with his ten dollar lounge chair; one heroic citizen who tried to start another great mode of transportation. We thank you for your moment of glory and a great story of refreshing humor!
Hey Larry, if your not totally crazy, please contact us for a follow up on the other great stories you might have…Floating Around!
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