California truck driver Larry Walters had always wanted to be an airplane pilot, but poor eyesight prevented him from fulfilling his ambition. Undeterred, he decided to build his own flying contraption, which resulted in a crazy adventure in the skies above Los Angeles in the summer of 1982. After buying 45 weather balloons and several tanks of helium from his local Army-Navy surplus store, Larry strapped the balloons to an aluminum lawn chair, which was in turn anchored to the bumper of his jeep. He then packed beer, sandwiches and a loaded pellet gun so that he could pop a few of the balloons when he was eventually ready to descend. His plan was to float gently up to a height of about 30 feet above his back yard and come back down a few hours later but when he severed the cord tying the lawn chair to his jeep, he instead streaked into the sky as if fired from a cannon. Rather than levelling out at 30 feet, he levelled out at 16,000 feet.
There he stayed, drifting, cold and frightened, for more than 14 hours. To his horror, he found himself crossing the primary approach corridor of Los Angeles International Airport and a helicopter was sent to investigate after disbelieving airline plots radioed in to report that they had passed a man in a lawn chair with a gun. Finally he summoned up the courage to shoot a few balloons and descend but as he came down the hanging tethers caught in a power line, blacking out a Long Beach neighbourhood. He eventually came to ground in a residential area of Long Beach and was immediately led away in handcuffs by waiting members of the Los Angeles Police Department. When a reporter asked him why he had done it, Larry replied nonchalantly, “A man can’t just sit around.” He was subsequently fined $1,500 for violating airspace and enjoyed fleeting fame as a talk show guest. — From The Mammoth Book of Weird News (borrow free)
