Who was the guy who flew above Los Angeles in a lawn chair suspended from helium balloons?
A. On July 2nd, 1982, 33-year-old truck driver Larry Walters tied 45 six-foot helium-filled weather balloons to an aluminum lawn chair, and launched himself into the skies above San Pedro, California, a seaside community about 20 miles south of Los Angeles. His northeasterly course carried him over the Long Beach Harbor, then crossed the approach path of Long Beach Municipal Airport. The contraption was reported to air traffic controllers by two airliners on approach to that airport. Walters said he had intended to soar to the Mohave Desert to see an upcoming Space Shuttle landing. But he decided cut the flight short after less than an hour when the rarified air at 16,000 feet left him chilled and lightheaded. Walters missed his intended landing target of a large grassy area in Long Beach, and instead came down tangled in some high-tension power lines. Walters was uninjured, but power was knocked out to a portion of the city when rescuers were forced to cut the lines to get him down. U
