Talk:Lawnchair Larry flight: Difference between revisions

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Idol!

Walters has been my idol ever since I heard about him years ago. The reporters and news media and of course the FAA all act as though he committed some major sin but Cripes, practically every kid I grew up with would have loved to try the same thing. This old United States has gotten so square, I can't stand to talk with most people anymore.

Frankly I think Larry must have been quite ingenious as well as cool headed to have kept his wits about him and have come through unscathed, in spite of such a long flight, the extreme altitude for an open air flight, and the bad luck of alighting on a power line.

If I'd been a Hollywood person, I'd have made a movie about Larry in a minute, and especially since he carried it off right in their own backyard.

Many, many thanks to Wikipedia for locating and printing up this story. I have never seen any of it in print before and was thrilled to find the Wiki' article through Google.com. - R B Britton, Charlottesville, Virginia 3/12/2004

wow thanks

this man( larry walters) has been great to me in many way he jsut went to of his way to make his dream come true and that is very nice to see some people do it just makes u wate to reach for your own dreams!

Dubious facts

The sentence about Larry first getting the idea when sitting in his backyard in a lawn chair is dubious, and I have marked it as such. It is in conflict with facts known to his biographer, Mark Barry, who has reported that Larry first got the idea to use balloons at age 13. I will do some more checking and may come back and remove those sentences. paul klenk 16:28, 5 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

How is it contradictory that (1) he first got the idea to use balloons at 13 and (2) he sat in a lawnchair and thought that would be a good way to fulfull his childhood dream? Answer: It isn't contradictory. Are you still smoking crack when you write this stuff?

Sears ad

There is no mention of him doing the Sears for allegedly the same model of patio chair he flew, complimenting its sturdy design. I don't think that one's a hoax, I've seen scans of the ad on the net.

If you can send me a link, I'd be happy to work it into the article. paul klenk 05:42, 20 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

My bad, it was a Timex magazine ad. Allegedly he launched with a Timex wristwatch. Snopes sez 'Timex paid him $1,000 in 1992 to appear in print advertisements featuring "adventurous individuals wearing Timex watches"'. It was part of a campaign.

http://www.markbarry.com/lawnchairman.html is the most official source. It does not discuss the ad nor corroborate that he took off with one but under "Appearances" it does mention a Timex magazine ad. I was unable to track down a scan of that ad, I'm not sure if I ever saw it so it's questionable if a scan exists. Given the history of unsubstantiated additions to the story it's worth questioning, but Mark Barry does mention it and perhaps he would be the best person to verify that with.

Also there is a hilarious audio tape from the CB's emergency "REACTS" system he called on his CB. This covers talk between himself and his ground crew and later talk with an extremely confused air traffic control. That tape is quoted on Mark Barry's page and he supplies the audio file so I believe it to be authentic. It is found nowhere on the web but his site.

In the recording he mentions altitude several times, it appears his launch equipment must have also included an altimeter (as well as a Timex). At one point in the recording he says "my altimeter reads ..." so he does seem to have brought one.

Yeah, I know about Mark Barry.com, I've corresponded with Barry himself. This subject is a doozy. We can definitely work more material into the piece.

I have been inspired to appear as Walters in New York's Village Halloween Parade. I will put my body through a lawn chair, with fake legs hanging over the front, and large clusters of white helium balloons tied to the chair. If I have time and money, I would really like to walk on 3 to 4 foot stilts -- I'm looking for a stilter instructor in one of NYC's circuses -- to make it appear that I'm really floating above the crowd. paul klenk 06:42, 20 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Contradictory facts in article

The middle of the article claims that Larry planned to just hover for a little while, but the bottom of the article, about the Myths, says that he planned for a long flight and that that was his intentions all along. This needs to be resolved- both sentences can't be right.Andrewdt85 04:23, 17 January 2006 (UTC) 04:23, 17 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Comment on "Contradictory facts in article": Mark Berry's online biography notes that a primary strap was intentionally cut, and a secondary strap accidentally snapped. This implies that he may have wanted 1) hover at some height, tethered to the ground, in which case he might still have wanted to spend a long time up in the air; or 2) he wanted to stick his toe in the water, so to speak, before actually being launched; or 3) he wanted a controlled ascent to a certain height to ensure he was free of obstacles before being cut loose. Therefore, both sentences may actually be correct.

More poor logic:

What's the point of a parachute at 100ft? It's not going to open in time. Strapping on a parachute would seem to indicate an intention to go a lot higher.
- It's possible he just showed more foresight than you give him credit for.
What was Larry's experience with parachutes in the first place? An experienced skydiver wouldn't hesitate to bail out of a balloon floating above 2000ft (or less for some). We consider that sort of thing fun.
At 16,000 feet, many folks would black out from hypoxia - not to mention it's near freezing at 16k. Anything above 14k puts most people at risk of hypoxia, and the time it would take a balloon to go from 14k to 16k and then back to 14k has to be more than a few minutes.
- What is the source of 16,000 feet and how did they know? Touchdown Turnaround 05:23, 19 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I still thing there's a good bit of myth and misinformation in this article. In short, we must consider the likelihood that Larry lied about his intentions to escape prosecution. Rklawton 07:35, 6 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think most people would black out from hypoxia at 16K. People go to Everest base camp all the time without supplemental oxygen, and that's 17K. Not doubting that hypoxia will knock you out, just questioning the height at which that happens for most people. Jrhoadley 13:01 24 December 2006 (UTC)

Bullet #9, under myths dispelled, stats that "Larry's chair was a piece of patio furniture, not a folding lawn chair." However Bullet #11, just below it, makes reference to "his lawn chair".

The movie?

Wasn't there a fictionalized version of Mr. Walters' story released last year. It featured the basic element of the balloons on a chair, but then had him land far away where he fell in love. While certainly not an exact adaptation, it must've been influenced by his story and deserves some mention.

The movie is called Danny Deckchair. It's on the TV right now as I type this. The chair with the balloons is probably based on Larry's flight, but the rest of the story is totally unrelated. I'd heard the Larry story, so the movie prompted me to look him up on the net. For information on Danny Deckchair, see http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0337960/.

Urban legend status

The phrase "often mistaken as an urban legend" is a little inaccurate. "Urban legend" does not always mean false; it simply means it's a bit of folklore that is claimed to be true by the person telling it. What passes it from a news story into folklore is the changing of details. For example, every time the Darwin Award e-mail comes around, it claims this happened "last year" or some such (but I highly doubt that e-mail has been circulating since 1983). It's also often told that the man (with no name given) died, thus he was a candidate for that year's Darwin Award. Or sometimes we never hear what happened to him afterward, the story ending with Walters floating above LAX or JFK or the ocean but presumably having plummeted to his death. It's these exaggerations and mutations that make it an urban legend. --Birdhombre 16:47, 23 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Distance?

Approximately what distance did Larry cover? According to Mapquest the distance San Pedro-Long Beach is about 7 miles / 11.5 km by road—maybe someone could come up with more accurate info. Thanks. Maikel 15:20, 2 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Girlfriend?

I have to say that Larry's girlfriend Carol van Deusen appears to be the unsung hero of this epic. The way she stood by her man makes Tammy Wynette look like a pushover, a fair-weather friend and a quitter rolled into one. Is there any more information we could more information get on her, especially on her motivation? Maikel 15:20, 2 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Tammy always was a pushover. That's why she was married five times! It's Carol van Deusen (and Hillary Clinton) who really knows how to stand by her man! Rlquall 01:32, 1 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The play?

In 2003, Bridget Carpenter wrote a play, "UP", centered around a fictionalized version of Larry and his (also fictional) family. The play has since been performed at major regional theaters, including the 2006 season of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon. This seems worth noting in the article. PavelCurtis 18:38, 30 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

For what it's worth, Walters is also mentioned in Robert Fulghum's book, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, which was also turned into a play. --Birdhombre 21:43, 30 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Earlier flight on a tiny seat: Garret Cashman in 1954

I was always confused about this lawn-chair stunt. I'd heard it described as happening in upstate New York, not LA. I finally found the cause: an earlier effort! Garret (Gary) Cashman, age 27, took off from Albany, NY, using 70 weather balloons filled with natural gas and attached to a tiny seat. He rose to 6,000ft and drifted over 25 miles. And this occurred ...September, 1954. Photos of his rig and his flight are in "Illustrated Current News Inc.," 9/13/54 no. 6408, New Haven, CT, as "Former dancing teacher flies aloft in 70 balloons."

Any chance the "Illustrated Current News" of 1954 was anything like the contemporary Weekly World News? Rlquall 01:34, 1 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

No, it appears to be more like "UPI wirephoto" with large-format B&W photos of major news events. Before posting my above comment, I searched on Cashman's name and found it in the "history" section of clusterballoon.org. That site says that the first one to try the idea was professional balloonist Jean Piccard in 1937, with 98 weather balloons, and his son did the same in 1957 and 1962. So it appears that the first amateur cluster balloon was Cashman's. But he used a tiny wooden seat, not a big comfortable lawn chair.--Wjbeaty 03:17, 26 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

@@ Line 41: / Line 41: @@
 More poor logic:
 *What's the point of a parachute at 100ft?  It's not going to open in time.  Strapping on a parachute would seem to indicate an intention to go a lot higher.
+**It's possible he just showed more foresight than you give him credit for.
 *What was Larry's experience with parachutes in the first place?  An experienced skydiver wouldn't hesitate to bail out of a balloon floating above 2000ft (or less for some).  We consider that sort of thing '''fun'''.
 *At 16,000 feet, many folks would black out from hypoxia - not to mention it's near freezing at 16k.  Anything above 14k puts most people at risk of hypoxia, and the time it would take a balloon to go from 14k to 16k and then back to 14k has to be more than a few minutes.