On 14 May 2007 08:10:58 -0700, quietguy wrote
in om:

John Deakin included this link in his latest "Pelican's Perch" column
on AvWeb.com:

http://home.earthlink.net/~quade/lawnchair.html


http://www.markbarry.com/amazing/lawnchairman.html
The Official Site Of "The Lawn Chair Pilot"
(dedicated to the family, friends, and fans of Larry Walters)


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Did you hear my hour long interview on the national Art Bell radio
talk show on June 4th, 2001? What about my two TV shows on "The
Discovery Channel" and "The Learning Channel?" Click here to read
about them.

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INTRODUCTION:
I first heard about Larry Walters' historic balloon flight around
1995. After doing some research to confirm it was true, I then
published what I knew about it on my aviation web site in 1999.
After doing so, I received many emails from all over the world
concerning this amazing story. But simply put, most of my readers
did not believe this story was true. Therefore, to set the record
straight, I went right to the source who was there when it
happened -- Larry's family. For the past several years, I have
interviewed Larry's girlfriend Carol and his mother and sisters. I
also spoke with REACT, the CB radio monitoring organization, and
was given permission by them to publish the audio file of the
actual flight from 1982. I believe I have the most accurate
information concerning Larry's flight (not all of which is
published on this web site at this time).

This page was put together to give my visitors 100% accurate
information about Larry's flight. Most other web sites that have
information on this story are not totally correct. But that's what
happens on the Internet and is why you should use this site as
your first resource.

What you are about to read and listen to is a by-product of many
years of research and interviews. And the audiotape that you will
listen to is so rare that not even Larry's mother knew it existed
until I told her about it.

This is probably the most complete and accurate web page about
Larry Walters' incredible flight currently on the Internet. A lot
of time and effort went into the research and the building of this
page and I hope you will enjoy it. I am also the first to publish
this audio file on the Internet.



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HISTORY OF THE FLIGHT:
When Larry Walters was 13 years old, he went to a local Army-Navy
surplus store and saw the weather balloons hanging from the
ceiling. It was then he knew that some day he would be carried
aloft by such balloons. This obsession would be with him for the
next 20 years. On July 2nd, 1982, Larry tied 42 helium-filled
balloons to a Sears lawn chair in the backyard of his girlfriend's
house in San Pedro, California. With the help of his ground crew,
Larry then secured himself into the lawn chair which was anchored
to the bumper of a friend's car by two nylon tethers. He took with
him many supplies, including a BB gun to shoot out the balloons
when he was ready to descend. His goal was to sail across the
desert and hopefully make it to the Rocky Mountains in a few days.
But things didn't quite work out for Larry. After his crew
purposely cut the first tether, the second one also snapped which
shot Larry into the LA sky at over 1,000 feet per minute. So fast
was his ascent that he lost his glasses. He then climbed to over
16,000 feet. For several hours he drifted in the cold air near the
LA and Long Beach airports. A TWA pilot first spotted Larry and
radioed the tower that he was passing a guy in a lawn chair at
16,000! Larry started shooting out a few balloons to start his
descent but had accidentally dropped it. He eventually landed in a
Long Beach neighborhood. Although he was entangled in some power
lines, he was uninjured. ...