Larry Walters facts for kids

Lawrence Richard Walters, known as "Lawnchair Larry", was an American truck driver. On July 2, 1982, he flew high into the sky. He used a homemade flying machine. He called it Inspiration I. It was made from an ordinary outdoor chair. It also had 43 large balloons filled with helium. Walters went up more than 15,000 feet (about 4,500 meters). He started in San Pedro, California. He flew into an area near Los Angeles International Airport. This area was only for airplanes. Many newspapers wrote about his flight. He became famous for his unusual adventure.

A sailor with a weather balloon similar to ones Larry Walters used

Larry's Amazing Balloon Flight

Dreaming of Flight

Larry Walters always dreamed of flying. He wanted to be a pilot in the United States Air Force. But he could not because his eyesight was not good enough. When he was 13, Larry first thought about using weather balloons to fly. He saw them hanging in a military surplus store. Twenty years later, he decided to try his idea. He planned to tie a few large balloons filled with helium to his lawn chair. He wanted to float about 30 feet (9 meters) above his backyard. He planned to stay there for several hours. He brought a pellet gun to shoot some balloons. This would help him come back down softly.

Getting Ready to Launch

In 1982, Larry and his girlfriend, Carol Van Deusen, bought 45 large weather balloons. Each balloon was eight feet (2.4 meters) wide. They got helium tanks from a balloon company. They told the company the balloons were for a TV commercial.

They went to a backyard in San Pedro. Larry tied the balloons to his lawn chair. He filled them with helium. He put on a parachute. He used belts to hold himself safely in the chair. He also took his pellet gun, a CB radio, sandwiches, cold beer, and a camera. His friends cut the rope that held his chair to his Jeep. Larry's lawn chair then shot up very quickly. Soon, he was 15,000 feet (4,500 meters) high in the air.

What Happened During the Flight

At first, Larry was scared to shoot any balloons. He thought he might tip over and fall out of the chair. He could not control which way he moved. He slowly floated over Long Beach. He then moved into the space where airplanes landed at Long Beach Airport.

He used his CB radio to talk to people on the ground. Someone recorded his conversation. Larry asked them to tell the airport what was happening. He also asked them to tell everyone he was okay.

After 45 minutes in the sky, he shot several balloons. But then he accidentally dropped his pellet gun. He slowly went down. Cables hanging from the balloons got caught in an electrical power line. This caused a blackout in a Long Beach neighborhood. The power was out for 20 minutes. Larry was able to climb safely to the ground.

After the Big Flight

Arrest and Fame

The Long Beach Police Department was waiting for Larry. They arrested him right away. A reporter asked Larry why he did it. Larry simply said, "A man can't just sit around."

Larry was given a fine for breaking U.S. Federal Aviation Regulations. The fine was later reduced.

Larry became famous for his adventure. He won a top prize from the Bonehead Club of Dallas. He was on TV shows like The Tonight Show and Late Night with David Letterman. He also received a special prize in 1982 from the Darwin Awards.

The TV show MythBusters later tried a flight similar to Larry's. They used a rope to keep the chair from going too high. One of the show's hosts went up about 30 meters (100 feet). He came down slowly by shooting balloons with a pellet gun.

Larry's Later Life

Larry gave the lawn chair from his flight to a boy named Jerry. Larry later realized this was a mistake. The Smithsonian Institute wanted to put the chair in its museum. Twenty years later, Jerry contacted Mark Barry. Barry is a pilot who wrote about Larry Walters. The chair was still in Jerry's garage. It even had some of the original ropes and water jugs.

Larry said he had dreamed about flying this way for twenty years. He felt that if he had not tried it, he would have gone crazy. He did not think reaching his goal would cause so much excitement or make so many people laugh.

After his flight, he quit his job as a truck driver. He appeared in a Timex advertisement in the early 1990s. He also gave speeches to help people feel more confident. But he never made a lot of money from being famous. Larry enjoyed hiking in the San Gabriel Mountains. He also did volunteer work for the United States Forest Service. He sometimes worked as a security guard.

Larry Walters died in 1993. He was 44 years old.

Other Lawn Chair Balloonists

Kent Couch owns a gas station in Bend, Oregon. He flew 240 miles (386 kilometers) in his lawn chair on July 7, 2007. He landed in a field near Idaho. He traveled about 22 miles (35 kilometers) per hour. He tied 105 large helium balloons to his lawn chair. Couch used plastic bags filled with water to balance the balloons. He used a BB gun to shoot balloons and start coming down. He tried again and learned how to let helium out more carefully. On July 5, 2008, Couch reached his goal. He flew to another state and landed his lawn chair in western Idaho. The trip was 240 miles (386 kilometers) and took 9 hours and 12 minutes.

On April 20, 2008, a Brazilian Roman Catholic priest named Adelir Antonio de Carli flew using a chair and 1000 helium balloons. He did not check the weather forecast. He got caught in a storm. He had a GPS but did not know how to use it. He crashed into the sea. The Brazilian navy found his body on July 4, 2008. This sad flight also won him a 2008 Darwin Award.

Many other people have tried flying with balloons in a similar way. Some may have even gone higher than Larry did.

Related pages

• Cluster ballooning, a modern and safer way to fly with many balloons.

Images for kids

• 

  Cluster ballooning is said to have been inspired by Larry Walters's experience, although Walters was not the first to perform such a feat.

See also

In Spanish: Larry Walters para niños