Lawrence Richard Walters, nicknamed Lawnchair Larry or the Lawn Chair Pilot, (April 19, 1949 – October 6, 1993) took flight on July 2, 1982 in a homemade aircraft, dubbed Inspiration I, that he had fashioned out of a Sears patio chair and 45 helium-filled weather balloons. He rose to an altitude of 16,000 feet (3 miles) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...eadgrl/thud.gif and floated from his point of origin in San Pedro, California into federal airspace near Long Beach airport. The account of his flight was widely reported in newspapers. The feat is noted as a true urban legend.
Pop culture references
- Larry Walters' flight is referenced in the third season of the Fox Comedy Arrested Development, wherein George Bluth Sr., inspired by a television program about Walters, attempts to use a deck chair rigged with helium balloons to escape from house arrest.
- The story of Walters also inspired the romantic comedy Danny Deckchair.
- There is also an easter egg in Sim City 4 that shows a man in a lawn chair attached to balloons, floating across the city, an obvious reference to Larry Walters.
- Larry's flight is described in Neil Halstead's song "Hi-Lo and Inbetween" on his solo album "Sleeping on Roads"
- The final segment of the musical 3hree (produced by Hal Prince in Philadelphia in November 2000, music and lyrics by Robert Lindsey Nassif, book by Peter Ullian) is called Flight of the Lawnchair Man and is based on Larry's story.
- Larry's flight was parodied in the SpongeBob SquarePants episode The Sponge Who Could Fly.
- The possibility of Larry Walters' flight was confirmed on an episode of Mythbusters.
|
)
