A man, a plan, a violation of controlled airspace. Larry Walters was an ordinary truck driver, but he hatched an extraordinary scheme to take to the sky in a lawn chair tied to weather balloons. His stunt made international headlines, inspired movies, and launched an extreme sport.
Content note: This episode includes a discussion of suicide.
Featured image: Larry Walters on Late Night with David Letterman (Image source)
A news report with clips of Larry in flight.
An illustration of the first manned (not sheeped) flight of the Montgolfier brothers’ balloon. (Image source)
A gondola used by scientist Jean Piccard. (Image source)
_-_DSC06301.JPG){kind=link}
Kent Couch, another cluster balloonist, at the start of a record-setting 9-hour flight. (Image source)
A cluster balloonist at a festival. (Image source)
Sources
- Lawn Chair Larry: 1982 Honorable Mention Confirmed True by Darwin
- The First Hot-Air Balloon Flight
- Zeppelin
- Docking on the Empire State Building
- The Evolution of the Commercial Flying Experience
- N897LT Balloon
- How Do You Steer A Hot Air Balloon?
- How Blimps Work
- LN with David Letterman July 12, 1982
- Keep dreaming
- A Brief History of the FAA
- Here’s How High Planes Actually Fly, According to Experts
- TRUCK DRIVER TAKES TO SKIES IN A LAWN CHAIR
- July 2, 1982: Up, Up and Away With 42 Balloons
- Mysteries of Flight: Lawn Chair Larry
- Fly Now, Pay Later
- FAA drops one charge against lawn chair pilot
- The Drifters
- The Lawnchair Pilot
- How the Balloon-Borne “Flying Lawn Chair” Got Into the Smithsonian
- Crash Landing
- Danny Deckchair
- Cluster Ballooning
- Recreational Flyers & Modeler Community-Based Organizations
- Certificated Remote Pilots including Commercial Operators
- Can I Fly My Drone Above 400 Feet? Understanding the Altitude Limit