The great lawnchair caper

Among other things

By Paul Fugleberg

I see by the daily papers that the hang gliders will be permitted to continue to take off from the top of Mount Sentinel. With appropriate monitoring by Missoula control tower operators and coordinating with the hang gliders, there should be no threat to incoming air traffic.

Hang gliding has long been a Missoula tradition. It would be a shame to lose it.

However, if someone had tried to pull off a stunt like Larry (Lawnchair Larry) Walters did in July 1982, there probably would have been grounds for complaints. Seems that Larry put together a truly unique soaring contraption. The ingredients: A standard Sears lawn chair and 42 helium-filled weather balloons. And he equipped himself with a parachute, life jacket, eight water bottles, two-way radio, a few sticks of beef jerky, and a BB gun.

He called his aerial thingamajig "Inspiration."

He intended to do a rather conservative liftoff, tethered to a friend's car, leveling off at 100 feet, and look around, checking out the practicality of the situation. If all was well, he intended to ride the wind currents, then shoot out the balloons and come to a safe landing in the desert.

But there was a wide gap between theory and reality. The balloons lifted Larry and his lawn chair too fast. The tether rope broke with such force that Larry lost his glasses.

He did have an extra pair — foresight, you know.

At 15,000 feet, Larry thought he'd better start his descent. He shot out seven of the balloons before a gust of wind tipped him forward and he dropped the BB gun. The remaining 35 balloons still provided lift and took him to a frigid 16,500 feet. As he considered parachuting back to earth, the helium started leaking from the balloons and he began descending.

Imagine, if you will, a jet plane approaching for a landing at Long Beach or LAX airports and the pilot radioing something like, "Tower, American flight 222 descending through 16,000 and we just passed a guy in a lawn chair!"

Larry contacted authorities on the radio and explained what was happening. The dispatcher asked what airport had he taken off from. He finally responded "1633 W. Seventh St., San Pedro." [His friend's back yard].

A ground controller asked the color the balloons. "Beige. I'm in a bright blue sky so they should be highly visible."

An hour and a half after his abrupt takeoff, "Inspiration" and its pilot were back on earth, despite getting tangled in power lines in a Long Beach neighborhood.

Larry was fined $1,500 for his lawnchair/balloon caper.

So, Missoula, don't worry about the hang gliders. But if you see someone carrying a lawnchair and a bunch of balloons, then you might call the cops.

Fugle's note: I recall reading or hearing about Lawnchair Larry when the incident occurred. A detailed article in the July 2007 edition of Aviation History Magazine recalls the event.