Larry Walters

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Cluster ballooning is practiced as an extreme sport

Lawrence Richard Walters , short Larry Walters (born April 19, 1949 , † October 6, 1993 ), became world-famous as Lawnchair Larry (garden chair Larry), also Lawn Chair Pilot (garden chair pilot). On July 2, 1982, he went on an adventurous flight with a self-made flying vehicle, christened “Inspiration I”, which consisted of a garden chair attached to helium- filled weather balloons .

history

It is said from stories that Larry Walters always wanted to fly but was turned down by the USAF, the United States Air Force, because of his poor eyesight . At the age of 13, however, he had the idea of ​​getting into the air with helium balloons, which he had seen in a military shop selling excess supplies from the Navy. In those childhood days he had in mind to attach some of these balloons to his garden chair, to take off about 10 meters and after a few hours to sink back to the ground by shooting a few balloons with an air rifle.

It wasn't until 1982 that he actually put this idea into practice. He learned to skydive. Together with his partner, he set about building a flight vehicle with weather balloons. They bought 45 pieces of weather balloons and helium gas bottles each about (depending on the information 2 m or 7 feet). In order not to arouse suspicion, they used a fake order from his alleged employer, the "FilmFair Studios", which needed the balloons for a TV commercial. They then began assembling them in the garden of his girlfriend's house in San Pedro, California. The balloons were attached to an aluminum garden chair and filled with helium from the bottles. In addition to the air rifle, he also took water canisters, a parachute , CB radio , sandwiches, 2 liters of Coke and a camera with him. He invested about $ 4,000 in the whole operation. He buckled himself into the chair and his partner cut the first of three tethers attached to his jeep .

From this point on, however, things turned out differently than planned: Due to the unexpectedly large buoyancy of the balloon bundle, the other two lines tore before the woman could cut them. He originally expected to ascend about 100 feet, but actually rose rapidly to 16,000 feet (about 4900 m). During the unstable journey, he did not dare to shoot some of the balloons because he feared they would tip over. He drifted over Long Beach and finally into the approach lane of Long Beach Airport , where he was spotted by pilots of approaching planes. Knowing that he had got into an airway, he radioed the airport tower via the general emergency call channel due to the unexpected course of the flight with the CB device. Because of his excitement, he couldn't get around to taking pictures with his camera.

After about 45 minutes in the air it dawned on him that he would have to shoot some balloons after all. After a few shots he lost his rifle and slowly sank to the ground. He wanted to land on a golf course, but headed for a settlement of small houses, over whose houses numerous telephone and power lines were stretched. To reduce the rate of descent, he drained water from the ballast canisters he carried until, after a two-hour journey with a flight of around 20 km, some hanging lines got caught in power cables. A police-initiated twenty-minute power shutdown in the neighborhood of Long Beach allowed Walters to hang down to the ground without risk of electrocution. Back on the ground, he was arrested by the officers from the Los Angeles Police Department who were waiting for him.

The FAA then fined him $ 4,000 for violating flight rules. Walters appealed the verdict and was fined US $ 1,500 in the second instance. Among other things, the court took the view that the claim for “driving a civilian aircraft without a flight license” was void, since a veranda chair does not need a license. Walters pleaded guilty only to have set up no two-way communication with air traffic control. The FAA recognized that "Walters' flight was likely dangerous, but he had no intention of endangering anyone". Walters stated bluntly that if someone finances the complex adventure for him, he would try a second balloon flight, for example in the Bahamas.

Larry Walters later received an Honorable Mention in the Darwin Awards , and has toured through several shows on television and other media. He gave up his job as a truck driver, tried his hand at being a motivational speaker for a while, but ultimately couldn't make a living from the performances. The watch manufacturer "Timex" discovered him in 1992 because of his balloon adventure as an advertising medium, which brought him a financial livelihood. After all, he worked for the US Forest Inspectorate. He committed suicide on October 6, 1993 in the Angeles National Forest .

Modern sagas

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

Larry Walter's flight is at the center of many modern legends that make the story even more adventurous than it actually was. Larry Walters had radio contact with his "ground crew", his partner Carol Van Deusen and a good friend Ron Richlin during the entire flight. During the flight he was also in contact with REACT ( Radio Emergency Associated Communication Teams , which monitor the emergency radio on CB channel 9), who also have a recording of the radio traffic. When he broke into the air corridor , for example , the logs show the following sentences:

  • REACT: What information do you wish me to tell them (the airport) at this time as to your location and your difficulty? (What information should we pass on to you (the airport) regarding your position and difficulties?)
  • 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. (Uh, the difficulty is, uh, this was an unauthorized balloon launch, and, well, I know I'm in sovereign airspace, and, uh, I'm sure my ground crew has already alerted the relevant authorities. But, uh, give them a call and let them know I'm okay.)

Some of the flawed elements of this modern saga include:

  • Larry actually lost his glasses on take-off, but he had spare glasses with him.
  • He did not fly into the approach corridor of Los Angeles International Airport, but "only" into that of Long Beach Airport, which is approached by planes from TWA and Delta Air Lines , which sighted him and reported it to the tower.
  • Larry did not fly over the open sea, but landed a few miles away in a populated area northeast of Long Beach Airport.
  • Larry didn't lose his air rifle at the start, but only after he had shot several balloons.
  • Larry did not buy the balloons from a military shop, but from a specialist balloon supplier.
  • His garden chair wasn't a folding chair, it was a fairly sturdy patio chair.
  • He gave the chair to a boy in the neighborhood who owns it unchanged, which he didn't notice until the Smithsonian Institute asked if they could display the chair.

Cluster ballooning

Cluster ballooning is an extreme sport in which a balloonist attaches himself to helium balloons using a harness. In contrast to hot air balloons , however, the ride is very restless and almost impossible to control. However, unlike other balloon companions, it can quickly reach great heights - the current Guinness World Record is held by Ian Ashpole, who on October 28, 2001, over Chatteris, Cambridgeshire , United Kingdom , reached an altitude of 11,000 feet with 600 toy balloons ( 3,350 m). The altitude of 12,000 feet attributed to Larry Walters is not recognized as a record because he did not carry an altimeter.

On April 20, 2008, Adelir Antonio de Carli , a Brazilian priest, repeated the story of the garden chair pilot to promote his project in Paraná. He started with 1000 balloons and reached an altitude of 6000 m before contact broke off. Remnants of the balloons were later found in the open sea - the search was canceled on April 29. Body parts recovered on July 4th could be assigned by DNA comparison.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ English-language website translated by Google http://www.kinrara.net/Larry-Walters-flying-a-lawnchair.html
  2. ↑ Note. The weight of the pilot including equipment can be assumed to be at least 60 kg. Each one of 600 balloons must then be able to lift 100 g at a height of 11,000 ft = 3350 m, where there is around 0.7 bar air pressure. According to a rule of thumb, this requires 100 liters of balloon volume in small or medium-sized latex balloons at sea level, but 1.4 times as much at 0.7 bar, i.e. 140 liters. A spherical balloon inflated to a diameter of 70 cm displaces 180 liters of ambient air. This diameter can only be achieved with balloons of the 80 cm nominal diameter. Latex balloons with a nominal diameter of 55, 60, 80, 100, 120, 160 and 200 cm are dipped with a circular disk (manufacturing process) and are called giant balloons by the manufacturer Czermak & Feger, Imst, Tyrol . Under toy balloons are understood rather balloons with 10, 20, 30 and perhaps 40 cm, even if sometimes giant balloons are hochgeschupft with 1-2 m in diameter densely standing audience indoors volleyball default.
  3. ↑ Raymond Colitt: Brazil priest flying party balloons lost at sea , Thomson Reuters . April 22, 2008. Retrieved April 24, 2008. 
  4. ↑ Brazil ends search for ballooning priest , Special Broadcasting Service . April 29, 2008. Archived from the original on April 29, 2008 Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / news.sbs.com.au 
  5. ↑ Identification of Adelir de Carli's incomplete body (in Portuguese) , O Globo . July 30, 2008. 

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Walters, Larry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Walters, Lawrence Richard (full name); Lawnchair Larry (nickname); Lawn Chair Pilot (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American balloonist
DATE OF BIRTH April 19, 1949
DATE OF DEATH October 6, 1993