#lawnchair larry

[diamondnokouzai]

"Well, ah, stay safe and try not to chud it up." Recorded to Lawnchair Larry in 1982.

[uhhhhmanda]

I need you guys to know that the average weather balloon is, at sea level, about 5 feet in diameter, so, roughly equivalent to an entire bunch of party balloons. This guy had 45 of those bastards tied to an aluminum-framed lawnchair.

(image sources)

Larry Walters of Los Angeles is one of the few to contend for the Darwin Awards and live to tell the tale.

When his friends cut the cord anchoring the lawnchair to his Jeep, he did not float lazily up to 30 feet. Instead he streaked into the LA sky as if shot from a cannon. He didn’t level off at 100 feet, nor did he level off at 1000 feet. After climbing and climbing, he leveled off at 16,000 feet.

At that height he felt he couldn’t risk shooting any of the balloons. So he stayed there, drifting cold and frightened with his beer and sandwiches, for more than 14 hours. He crossed the primary approach corridor of LAX, where startled Trans World Airlines and Delta Airlines pilots radioed in reports of the strange sight.

Eventually he gathered the nerve to shoot a few balloons, and slowly descended. Larry was then arrested. Larry’s efforts won him a $1,500 FAA fine, a prize from the Bonehead Clubof Dallas, the altitude record for gas-filled clustered balloons, and a Darwin Awards At-Risk Survivor.

(Fact Source) Follow Ultrafacts for more facts

[insurguitor]

The Flying Tailor and Lawnchair Larry Gotta be two of my favorite people in history <3

[freackthejester]

What would be really insane is if they found the sub and only one guy was left because he killed the others like in that song "Timothy"

My take on this issue of the day is that I am being a bit of a ghoul, and I'm at peace with that. The most powerful thing that I have is my attention, and that is not going to do anything to help those people. Whether I gloat or worry about their souls, the rescue effort is, very similar to the Evergiven being stuck, going to continue at the pace the professionals are giving it, and nothing I do is going to change that.

Wait, here's a meme I just made

It really is a horrible way to die, but that's why we have to make jokes about it. Humor can serve several purposes, and processing the anxiety brought up by just the concept of being stuck inside a metal pill that looks like a fleshlight while you shoot around in deep sea currents every hour it becoming more clear that help can't get you and that unlike the Titanic, no one will be able to find your little ship to gawk at you, because you are so so small and fleshy:

Like, that's horrific. See how I had to say the thing about the sex toy in the last paragraph? That's because we need a distraction from the gravity of it, that really thinking just gets too maudlin too quickly.

Big ups to the hugely empathetic people who are horrified, and keep bringing the conversation back to the idea that this awful thing is happening to real flesh and blood people. Your way of living in this world sounds fucking exhausting and I can't do it.

[becomingkatie]

I just edited a Wikipedia article for the first time!

After listening to my bff Karen (a person I've never met) tell me the story of the Lawnchair Larry flight, I went to the wiki to read more about it. It said the chair was on display at the Udvar-Hazy Center (my fav museum!) and I got so excited because I live near there and then wondered how I hadn't seen it on any of my visits. I looked up the Smithsonian's log of the artifact and discovered that it isn't actually at the Udvar-Hazy Center anymore, but is at the National Air and Space Museum on the mall.

My little "everything must be correct always" heart couldn't just leave the wiki article with incorrect information about its current display location, so I updated it. And now my hands are sweaty because even though I included the reference I feel like someone is going to come after me for editing the page.

[ragbonehair]

Ok this is an odd coincidence I was telling my partner about Lawnchair Larry yesterday

FOR LARRY WALTERS, WHO DREAMED SINCE HE WAS A CHILD OF USING BALLOONS TO FLY; WHO IN 1982 SPEND FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS OF HIS TRUCK-DRIVING DELIVERYMAN SALARY TO BUY SUPPLIES, INCLUDING ONE LAWN CHAIR, FORTY-TWO BALLOONS, AND A HELIUM TANK, WHICH HE USED TO INFLATE THE BALLOONS, ARRANGING THEM IN A RING AROUND THE LAWN CHAIR, A STURDY ALUMINUM TYPE FROM SEARS, IN WHICH HE LAUNCHED HIMSELF ALONG WITH HIS PELLET GUN AND WATER JUGS A THOUSAND FEET A MINUTE INTO THE CALIFORNIA SKY, WITH THE GOAL OF CLEARING THE SAN GABRIEL MOUNTAINS TO REACH THE MOJAVE; WHO AGAINST ALL ODDS FLEW, FROM A BACKYARD IN SAN PEDRO TO LONG BEACH, AN IMPERFECT MAN ON AN IMPERFECT FLIGHT PATH, WHO BROUGHT HIS CAMERA BUT DIDN’T USE IT; WHO, UPON HIS ARREST BY THE LONG BEACH POLICE, WAS QUOTED AS SAYING A MAN CAN’T JUST SIT AROUND…..

FUCK YES LARRY YOU DID IT BABY

Amelia Gray - FOR LARRY

[laikacore]

it was something i had to do

art by laika wallace

for larry walters, famous for flying over long beach in a chair tied to 43 weather balloons. 

from his wikipedia (no links so the post doesn’t break):

On July 2, 1982, Walters attached 43 of the balloons to his lawn chair, filled them with helium, put on a parachute, and strapped himself into the chair in the backyard of a home at 1633 West 7th Street in San Pedro. He took his pellet gun, a CB radio, sandwiches, beer, and a camera.[citation needed] When his friends cut the cord that tied his lawn chair to his Jeep, Walters's lawn chair rose rapidly to a height of about 16,000 feet (4,900 m) and was spotted from two commercial airliners.[3] He slowly drifted over Long Beach and crossed the primary approach corridor of Long Beach Airport.

After 45 minutes in the sky, Walters shot several balloons, taking care not to unbalance the load. He then accidentally dropped his pellet gun overboard. He descended slowly, until the balloons' dangling cables got caught in a power line at 432 East 45th Street in Long Beach. The power line broke, causing a 20-minute electricity blackout. He landed unharmed on the ground.

suicide tw for under the cut, from his wikipedia in the section on his later life

Later in his life, Walters hiked the San Gabriel Mountains and did volunteer work for the United States Forest Service. He later broke up with his girlfriend of 15 years and could only find work sporadically as a security guard.[14] On October 6, 1993, at the age of 44, Walters died by suicide after shooting himself in the heart in Angeles National Forest.[14]

[lux-atomica]

Lawnchair Larry

On July 2, 1982, Larry Walters made a 45-minute flight in a homemade airship made of an ordinary patio chair and 45 helium-filled weather balloons. The aircraft rose to an altitude of over 15,000 feet (4,600 m) and floated from the point of takeoff in San Pedro, California, into and violating controlled airspace near Los Angeles International Airport. During the landing, the aircraft became entangled in power lines, but Walters was able to safely climb down. The flight attracted worldwide media attention and inspired a later movie and imitators.

[sssaccharine]

I saw the Drunk history with Larry the Lawnchair guy (he basically tied weather balloons to a chair and flew, watch the video) and was like ‘what happened to him? where is he now?’. He fucking broke up with his girlfriend Carol after 15 YEARS and SHOT HIMSELF in the forest. I was not ready. Poor dude flew in a lawn chair 16,000 feet in the air. Honestly what a rollercoaster for 7pm at night. 

[diamondnokouzai]

dont read the wikipedia page for lawnchair larry its actually a bummer

[monky]

I’ve been really into this Wikipedia article lately …have you heard about the lawnchair larry flight?

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

Lawnchair Larry’s wikipedia page is a thing of pure beauty

[finonve]

Loser lawnchair Larry

[traegorn]

June 2nd, 1937

Amelia Earhart disappears over the Central Pacific

June 2nd, 1947

Exactly ten years after Earhart's disappearance, an unidentified flying object crashes near Roswell, NM.

The Airforce claims it was a weather balloon.

June 2nd, 1982

Exactly 35 years after the Roswell crash, Larry Walters (aka "Lawnchair Larry") takes off in a homemade airship, constructed from a lawchair attached to 45 helium filled WEATHER BALLOONS.

WEATHER.

BALLOONS.

COINCIDENCE!?

[chakytron]

The Best of Colin Hanks - Drunk History

The Best of Colin Hanks – Drunk History

The Best of Colin Hanks – Drunk History Category Main Description: Over the years, Colin Hanks has appeared on Drunk History as Lawnchair Larry, astronaut Gordon Cooper, Mr. Rogers and Boy Scouts founder/wolf hunter … TopTrengingTV Hunting the most trend video of the moment, every hour every day 24/7. Youtube Video Data Published At: 2021-01-26T21:00:29Z   Tags:  [‘toptrendingtv’, ‘trend…