It seems that one Kent Couch of (who lives in Bend, Oregon) wanted to do a little flying over the weekend, but he accomplished his goal a bit differently than most normal people. According to the Associated Press, he "settled down in his lawn chair with some snacks — and a parachute. Attached to his lawn chair were 105 large helium balloons."
"Nearly nine hours later, the 47-year-old gas station owner came back to earth in a farmer's field near Union, short of Idaho but about 193 miles from home." "'When you're a little kid and you're holding a helium balloon, it has to cross your mind,'" Couch told the Bend Bulletin. "'When you're laying in the grass on a summer day, and you see the clouds, you wish you could jump on them,'" he said. "'This is as close as you can come to jumping on them. It's just like that.'"
"Couch is the latest American to emulate Larry Walters — who in 1982 rose three miles above Los Angeles in a lawn chair lifted by balloons. Walters had surprised an airline pilot, who radioed the control tower that he had just passed a guy in a lawn chair. Walters paid a $1,500 penalty for violating air traffic rules."
It's one thing to be bold and go where no one has gone before, but this guy (just like Larry Walters) is definitely messing around with the law of gravity, if not common sense. These kinds of stunts are fairly harmless unless, of course, you suddenly lose altitude! As for me, I plan to enjoy life while firmly planted on terra firma.
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2 comments:
That is so cool. I would love to do that if I knew I would not die!
There is an entertaining movie about a man in Australia who floated hundreds of miles in a lawnchair and helium balloons and landed in another part of that country. It's called "Danny Deckchair" and is based on a true story. I think I would be scared to be up so high just sitting in a chair!
Nancy
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