LEGEND: On July 2, 1982, a truck driver from California flew 16,000 feet into the sky… in a lawn chair.
Larry Walters, 33, from San Pedro, had always dreamed of flying. He bought 42 helium weather balloons, tied them to a regular Sears lawn chair, strapped on a parachute, packed a BB gun (to shoot balloons for descent), a CB radio, sandwiches, and a six-pack of beer.
He expected to float a few hundred feet above his backyard.
He cut the rope — and shot straight up like a rocket to 16,000 feet.
He drifted directly into the main approach path for Los Angeles International Airport. Two airline pilots radioed the tower reporting a man in a lawn chair holding a gun at 16,000 feet.
For 45 minutes he floated over Los Angeles, freezing, too scared to shoot any balloons in case he fell. Eventually he started popping them one by one and slowly came down.
He landed tangled in power lines in Long Beach, causing a blackout. When police arrested him and asked why he did it, Walters replied:
“A man can’t just sit around.”
The FAA fined him $4,000. He became a national folk hero — “Lawnchair Larry” — and later inspired the movie *Up*.
One of the greatest true American stories of pure, ridiculous, beautiful ambition.
