This story has been widely
disbelieved by skeptics, but it really happened.
Rich Buhler was hosting a radio talk show from
Los Angeles in 1982 when Larry Walters' historic flight took place
in from nearby San Pedro and he covered the story for his
audience. It was widely reported by the news media at the time
and Larry Walters became something of a folk hero for his daredevil
solo flight.
According to published reports, Walters was employed as a truck
driver in Southern California. On July 2, 1982, he fastened 42
surplus balloons to a lawn chair and launched from his girlfriend's
San Pedro home. He carried various supplies with him as well
as a CB radio and a BB gun to shoot balloons one at a time to
descend. He didn't realize how powerful the buoyancy of the balloons
was. When he cut a rope holding him to terra firma, he took
off with such a jolt that another anchor rope broke under the stress
and he shot upward so quickly that his eyeglasses flew to the
ground. He floated around the L.A. basin for several hours and
reached altitudes of up to 16,000 feet. According to an
article in the New York Times the next day, Walters was spotted by
pilots from both TWA and Delta Airlines. It was cold at 16,000
feet and he started shooting some of his balloons to descend, but
dropped his BB gun and had to wait for his rig to come down on its
own. He landed in a residential neighborhood in Long Beach
where got tangled in some power lines, causing a power
blackout. He told reporters that his weather balloon flight
had been a dream of more than 20 years. Larry Walters died
eleven years after his flight from what the Los Angeles Times
described as a self-inflected gunshot wound.
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Many exaggerated or simply inaccurate
stories have circulated around the Web regarding Walters' flight. The
following facts have been confirmed from interviews with his friends and
family, and by analysing a recording of his CB radio transmissions.
- Larry was launched from his girlfriend Carol Van Deusen's backyard in
San Pedro, California with the assistance of another friend, Ron Richlin.
- Larry dropped his glasses during lift-off, but had a spare pair with
him, and radioed his "ground crew," saying, "I can see
perfectly don't worry." (Later in the flight, when his girlfriend
reported she had found his glasses, he replied "Well, that's good
news.")
- Larry did not pass near LAX, but rather Long Beach airport, where TWA
and Delta airlines pilots sighted him and reported him to the tower.
- Larry came down in a residential area north-east of Long Beach
airport.
- Larry did not drop his gun during lift-off.
- Larry did float over Long Beach harbour but did not float out
to sea.
- Larry did not, as some newspapers reported, purchase the balloons
from an Army Navy surplus store, but a balloon supplier.
- Larry's intention was that this would be a long-distance flight, and
he planned for it accordingly. Newspapers incorrectly reported that his
plan was "to lazily float around the area and then come back down in
a few hours."
- Larry was not rescued by a helicopter, but rather came down on
his own will while possibly trying to land in an open field.
- Larry's chair was a piece of patio furniture, not a folding lawn
chair.
- Larry gave the lawn chair away to a neighbourhood kid. Today that
same person still has the chair (with ballast water jugs and tethers
still attached).
- Larry paid $1,500 after battling the FAA. Of 4 total charges, some
were dropped (it was decided that his lawn chair did not need an
airworthiness certificate) and Larry admitted to one other (not
establishing and maintaining two-way contact with the airport control
tower). According to the FAA, "The flight was potentially unsafe,
but Walters had not intended to endanger anyone".
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