Lawnchair Larry flight

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File:Cluster Ballooning.jpg
Cluster ballooning was inspired by Larry Walters's experience, although his was not the first.<ref name="suchafeat">Template:Cite book</ref>

On July 2, 1982, Larry Walters (April 19, 1949 – October 6, 1993) made a 45-minute flight in a homemade aerostat made of an ordinary lawn chair and 42 helium-filled weather balloons.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The aircraft rose to an altitude of about Template:Convert, drifted from the point of liftoff in the San Pedro neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, and entered controlled airspace near Long Beach Airport. During the final descent, the aircraft became entangled in power lines, but Walters was able to climb down safely. The flight attracted worldwide media attention and inspired a movie (Danny Deckchair), a musical, and numerous imitators.

Background

File:Larry Walters.jpg
Walters' high school yearbook photo, 1966

Lawrence Richard "Larry" Walters was born in Los Angeles,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and attended Hollywood High School.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He had often dreamed of flying, but was unable to become a pilot in the United States Air Force because of his poor eyesight. He served as a cook in the Vietnam War,<ref name=":0" /> and eventually became a truck driver after he was discharged.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He first thought of using weather balloons to fly at age 13, after seeing them hanging from the ceiling of a military surplus store.

In 1982, he decided to try his flying idea. He intended to float over the Mojave Desert and then use a pellet gun to burst some of the balloons in order to descend safely.<ref name="Letterman1982">Template:Cite AV media</ref>

Preparation and flight

In mid-1982, Walters and his girlfriend, Carol Van Deusen, purchased 45 Template:Convert weather balloons from a military surplus store.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On July 2, 1982, Walters attached 42 of the balloons (although he sometimes quoted 43 in interviews)<ref name="Letterman1982"/> to his lawn chair, filled them with helium, put on a parachute, and strapped himself into the chair in the backyard of a home at 1633 West 7th Street in San Pedro owned by Carol's mother. He took his pellet gun, a CB radio, sandwiches, 2 liters of Coca-Cola, a pack of beer, and a camera.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> When the cord that tied his lawn chair to his Jeep broke prematurely, before the end of a planned delay for notifying the authorities, Walters's lawn chair rose rapidly to a height of about Template:Convert and was spotted from two commercial airliners.<ref name="Letterman1982"/>

He was in contact with REACT, a citizens band radio monitoring organization, which recorded their conversation:

REACT: What information do you wish me to tell [the airport] at this time as to your location and your difficulty?
Larry: Ah, the difficulty is, ah, this was an unauthorized balloon launch, and, uh, I know I'm in a federal airspace, and, uh, I'm sure my ground crew has alerted the proper authority. But, uh, just call them and tell them I'm okay.

After 45 minutes in the sky, Walters shot several balloons with a pellet gun, taking care not to unbalance the load. He then accidentally dropped his pellet gun overboard. Despite having taken a camera, he did not take any photos. He descended slowly, until the balloons' dangling cables became caught in a power line at 423 E 44th Way in Long Beach. The power line broke, causing a 20-minute electricity blackout. He landed unharmed.<ref name="Yahoo">True Story of Larry Walters via Yahoo!Template:Unreliable source?</ref>

Aftermath

Walters was immediately arrested by waiting members of the Long Beach Police Department. Regional safety inspector Neal Savoy was reported to have said, "We know he broke some part of the Federal Aviation Act, and as soon as we decide which part it is, some type of charge will be filed. If he had a pilot's license, we'd suspend that, but he doesn't."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Walters initially was fined $4,000 Template:USDCY 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." Walters appealed, and the fine was reduced to $1,500 Template:USDCY.<ref name="cnn">Template:Cite news</ref> A charge of operating a "civil aircraft for which there is not currently in effect an airworthiness certificate" was dropped, as it was not applicable to his class of aircraft.

Just after landing, Walters spoke to the press, saying:<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=snopes>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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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.{{#if:|

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He also said: <ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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Since I was 13 years old, I've dreamed of going up into the clear blue sky in a weather balloon […] By the grace of God, I fulfilled my dream. But I wouldn't do this again for anything.{{#if:|

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The aircraft was dubbed Inspiration I. Lawn Chair Larry was awarded the title of "At-Risk Survivor" in the 1993 Darwin Awards.

Ten days after his flight, Walters appeared on Late Night with David Letterman.<ref name="Letterman1982"/> He was briefly in demand as a motivational speaker, and quit his job as a truck driver. He was featured in a Timex print ad in the early 1990s,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> but never made much money from his fame.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The lawn chair used in the flight was reportedly given to an admiring boy named Jerry Fleck, though Walters regretted doing so when the Smithsonian Institution asked him to donate it to its museum.<ref name="Barry"/> Twenty years later, Fleck sent an email to Mark Barry, a pilot who had documented Walters's story and dedicated a website to it, and identified himself.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The chair was still sitting in his garage, attached to some of the original tethers and water jugs used as ballast.<ref name="Barry">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The chair was placed on loan to the San Diego Air and Space Museum, where it was exhibited in 2014.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It was later donated to the Smithsonian. After being displayed at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> the lawn chair is now on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Later life and death

Later in his life, Walters hiked the San Gabriel Mountains and did volunteer work for the United States Forest Service. He later broke up with his girlfriend of 15 years and could only find work sporadically as a security guard.<ref name="people">Template:Cite news</ref> On October 6, 1993, at the age of 44, Walters died by suicide after shooting himself in the heart in Angeles National Forest.<ref name="people"/>

Other cluster ballooning events

In 1937, Al Mingalone, an American photographer for Paramount News, used 32 weather balloons for a feature photography assignment at Old Orchard Beach in Maine. While he hung suspended from the balloons by a parachute harness in order to take aerial film footage, Mingalone's mooring rope broke and he was lifted approximately Template:Convert into the air. A clergyman, Father James J. Mullen, spotted the incident, and after a chase of some Template:Convert, used a .22-caliber rifle to shoot out two of the balloons, thus allowing the photographer to return safely to the ground.<ref name="suchafeat" />

Walters's flight spawned imitators and allegedly inspired the extreme sport of cluster ballooning.

  • On New Year's Day, 1984, in Stow, Massachusetts, Kevin Walsh made a flight to Template:Convert with 57 helium balloons and descended by parachute. He was cited with four violations of FAA regulations and fined $4,000 Template:USDCY.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=snopes/>

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|CitationClass=web }}</ref> The balloon was then remotely piloted by the ground team to a safe landing.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The song "Walters" by the American band Pinback from their 2007 album Autumn of the Seraphs is about the event and Walters's life after it.

A comedy musical based on the events, 42 Balloons, debuted at The Lowry in Salford, UK in April 2024.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It had its North American premiere in Chicago on June 10, 2025 at Chicago Shakespeare Theater.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

2003 Australian comedy film Danny Deckchair was inspired by Walters’s story. A documentary called Larry’s Lawnchair is in production as of 2024 by filmmaker Nirvan Mullick, using long-lost footage from Walters’ flight.<ref> Template:Cite news </ref>

The 2003 episode of King of the Hill, "The Miseducation of Bobby Hill", features a subplot in which Bill Dauterive attempts to fly on a lawnchair with weather balloons attached to it, only to be swept away and become lost for several days.

The 2003 episode of Malcolm in the Middle, "Day Care", features a subplot where Reese is inspired to join the heavens by flying on a lawnchair and balloons, only to later crash through the church window.

See also

References

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