The article is dated July 2, 1982, so there's no way this man was inspired by the movie "UP", which was released 27 years later. He did this because he wanted to be an Air Force pilot, but he had poor eyesight.

I remember reading about this guy 25 years ago. This qualifies as jurassic news.

Bathia_Mapes: The article is dated July 2, 1982

"Inspired by the movie Tootsie" then.

unyon: This qualifies as jurassic news.

It's always nice to be present at the birth of a new meme.

Jurassic News goes in my TF wallet, to be used later.

csxtrainwreck: Bathia_Mapes: The article is dated July 2, 1982

"Inspired by the movie Tootsie" then.

No, that would involve balloons in his shirt.

This will probably get fixed soon, but it's "buoyed", not "bouyed"

Good story, but old as hell. Jurassic, niiice.

/ There's a pic somewhere of this guy floating up and away

/ohh, sad ending

The headline is full of fail...

I was not expecting the suicide at the end of that article.

Approves

I'd say Up is inspired by this guy, not the other way around.

Let me guess...the article was about Larry Walters...

...reads article...

...notes that subby didn't...

...what's old is new again, I guess. Or maybe it's still old.

/when it says "This Day In Tech" and the date is "1982", it's NOT news.

Slow news day, Wired?

I was amused until the end:

"After that, Walters essentially withdrew from public life, spending a lot of time hiking in the San Gabriel Mountains outside Los Angeles and doing volunteer work for the U.S. Forest Service.

In 1993, only 44, he committed suicide in the Angeles National Forest by shooting himself in the heart."

It sounds like he died as sad, lonely person.

Anybody remember "Danny Deckchair?"

The movie was forgettable, but Miranda Otto was fabulous.

Bathia_Mapes: The article is dated July 2, 1982, so there's no way this man was inspired by the movie "UP", which was released 27 years later. He did this because he wanted to be an Air Force pilot, but he had poor eyesight.

Wait. How's an article from 1982 on the interwebs? They didn't even have internet then. Someone went through the archives and had to copy this?

Actually, the article is dated July 2, 2009, but was written about something that took place in 1982. The distinction is subtle, but it's there.

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/thisdayintech/2009/07/balloons.jpg

What forty two eight foot weather balloons do not look like.

haynesjgator: I was amused until the end:

"After that, Walters essentially withdrew from public life, spending a lot of time hiking in the San Gabriel Mountains outside Los Angeles and doing volunteer work for the U.S. Forest Service.

In 1993, only 44, he committed suicide in the Angeles National Forest by shooting himself in the heart."

It sounds like he died as sad, lonely person.

yea thats a shiatty ending to a cool story

http://cheezburger.com/default.aspx?preview=1&source=http%3A//images.cheezburger .com/imagestore/2009/7/2/fa09b113-5727-45a6-b664-fe3d41e3e66c.jpg&top=jurassic&b ottom=news!!!1!!&middle=&font=Impact&color=White&size=50&bold=false&italic=false &underlined=false&style=outline&opacity=100&topalignment=left&middlealignment=le ft&bottomalignment=left

Jon Bon Jovi wanted for questioning.

more details on snopes (I always thought it was an UL but snopes rates it TRUE)

http://www.snopes.com/travel/airline/walters.asp

I think I know someone who will reject this reality, and substitute his own.

/just saying

Preka: Actually, the article is dated July 2, 2009, but was written about something that took place in 1982. The distinction is subtle, but it's there.

Plus Wired wasn't even around in 1982.

A good article. Has all the facts (or enough so the reader doesn't feel like they're missing some), is written engagingly enough that the reader can visualize what happens, and has a tragic ending. :(

haynesjgator: It sounds like he died as sad, lonely person.

Dang. IIRC, Robert Fulghum in one of his essays referred to this guy as a hero of his for the balloon stunt. Maybe life got the better of him, or he was just plain crazy from the start.

ah....fail for me.

Who shoots themself in the chest? He should have bought a few more baloons and simply ascended until epoxia killed him.

Otherwise, the only sensible way to go is by renting a wood chipper.

Didn't I see this on mythbusters a few years ago?

amazing the kind of crap that gets greenlighted lately

Obviously inspired by "Gone with the Wind".

Oh, yeah...and hat's off to that brass balled son of a biatch.

b2theory: Who shoots themself in the chest? He should have bought a few more baloons and simply ascended until epoxia killed him.

Otherwise, the only sensible way to go is by renting a wood chipper.

How could a boss in World of Warcraft kill him? Silly. IMO he should have just gone UP until he ran out of oxygen.

Nowadays the USAF can just send otherwise promising recruits with bad vision to an eye surgeon for a little corrective lasering.

ensign_noname: Didn't I see this on mythbusters a few years ago?

Hence the reference to Adam Savage I made.

What the actual Larry Walters might look like.
Actually, he HAD a parachute, but was afraid to use it.

Mark Barry went to great trouble to detail everything about Larry Walters and his flight on his website (new window)

Including the hilarious CB audio recording (new window) from REACTS, the "911" type service on CB channel 9. That contains a HILARIOUS part where the tower asked for his departure point, he gives his street address, and the tower's like "no which AIRPORT" and he clarifies that he DID take off from his address.

There is an urban legendized version of his flight which includes things like being blown out to sea and towed back by a helicopter (didn't happen, probably impossible too).

He probably was spotted by a TWA pilot, but there's no way the pilot would have seen the BB gun in his lap. That plane probably spotted him 20 miles out and passed him with miles of clearance, passing at over 300 mph. They'd be able to report a balloon cluster with a suspended object. No doubt this would be of prime interest to ATC. The FAA took awhile to charge him because they weren't sure how to file it, seeing as he had no license to suspend.


His Timex ad.

BTW, Mark Barry recently tracked down and FOUND his original lawnchair, long thought to be lost to history. The kid he let keep it after he landed had grown up and kept it in the garage all those years, with the milk jug ballasts still tied on.

Listen to that REACTS recording. Wow, with such a panic-prone, shrill-voiced woman on the ground, no wonder he took to the skies.

I thought we had totalfark to edit and redlight/greenlight this stuff?

I was bamboozled into thinking this was new, and cooler.

Oznog: What the actual Larry Walters might look like.
Actually, he HAD a parachute, but was afraid to use it.

Mark Barry went to great trouble to detail everything about Larry Walters and his flight on his website (new window)

Including the hilarious CB audio recording (new window) from REACTS, the "911" type service on CB channel 9. That contains a HILARIOUS part where the tower asked for his departure point, he gives his street address, and the tower's like "no which AIRPORT" and he clarifies that he DID take off from his address.

There is an urban legendized version of his flight which includes things like being blown out to sea and towed back by a helicopter (didn't happen, probably impossible too).

He probably was spotted by a TWA pilot, but there's no way the pilot would have seen the BB gun in his lap. That plane probably spotted him 20 miles out and passed him with miles of clearance, passing at over 300 mph. They'd be able to report a balloon cluster with a suspended object. No doubt this would be of prime interest to ATC. The FAA took awhile to charge him because they weren't sure how to file it, seeing as he had no license to suspend.


His Timex ad.

Thank you so much for that, I'm listening to the audio now.

Really is a fun thing to do.. here's a photo of me doing it last night, taken at about 900 feet or so.



/snicker

baxterdog: I thought we had totalfark to edit and redlight/greenlight this stuff?

I was bamboozled into thinking this was new, and cooler.

I am a big Larry Walters fan, even knowing his tragic end. But even I am perplexed as to why it's "news". It's not an anniversary of his flight.

unyon: I remember reading about this guy 25 years ago. This qualifies as jurassic news.

I read about this a couple of years ago.

/On Fark.com

Some other news for subby:

The space shuttle Challenger blew up.

Can I get in line to punch subby and the moderator in the balls?

Obnox: Some other news for subby:

The space shuttle Challenger blew up.

Dude, no way. That looks like a white puffy version of that sea snake with dangly things hanging off its nose. The one where fish swim right for its mouth.

Well, either that, or its a fried doughnut hole with trails of mold growing out of it.

"In 1993, only 44, he committed suicide in the Angeles National Forest by shooting himself in the heart."


Jesus subby! Have any stories about cute puppies that were run over by a lawn mower while your at it?

FTA: In 1993, only 44, he committed suicide in the Angeles National Forest by shooting himself in the heart

Shoots out balloons to save his life. 11 years later he takes himself out anyway.

Tex_Arkana

Came here for this, leaving satisfied.

/great movie

Ta Dah

baxterdog: I thought we had totalfark to edit and redlight/greenlight this stuff?

I was bamboozled into thinking this was new, and cooler.

The admins do the red/greenlighting. TF has nothing whatsoever to do with which links are approved or rejected.

I was Fairly new with the FAA that day, training at LA Center. It was just flippin great listening to the pilots who first were unsure what it was, than finally one of the LA departures diverted to get a look at him. "Center, You're not going to believe this..."

olddinosaur: Anybody remember "Danny Deckchair?"

The movie was forgettable, but Miranda Otto was fabulous.

shut up!
that movie was eternally memorable because of miranda otto!

/don't make me kick something or other.

Not a single "Flight of the Lawnchair Man" reference. Fark musical-theater geeks, you disappoint me.

Eric the Midget was the first thing to come to mind for me.... Zero point zero!

Though Mark Barry doesn't use it as a resource on his EXCELLENT, one of the great accounts is George Plimpton's tale of the the Larry Walters story in The New Yorker (new window). Plimpton used the account to anchor one of his essay collections.

Ozman: good to see you post about the event again. Did you have a longer account of that day in an earlier thread?

csxtrainwreck: Bathia_Mapes: The article is dated July 2, 1982

"Inspired by the movie Tootsie" then.

That came later - when he killed himself.

Cool story.

/except for the whole shooting himself in the heart part

Oooh! I remember this! He was with a penguin and was trying to get to the South African embassy in D.C. to turn the ambassador black with the Electro-Photo Pigment-izer.

What?

Bigjohn3592: Good story, but old as hell. Jurassic, niiice.

/ There's a pic somewhere of this guy floating up and away

/ohh, sad ending

I agree. It's old, but my first thought was "Sad ending to what was essentially a really cool story".

Funny, I thought UP was inspired by several fark articles over the years

it was an exciting adventure for him. too bad he didn't get help for his depression

TnJed: Oooh! I remember this! He was with a penguin and was trying to get to the South African embassy in D.C. to turn the ambassador black with the Electro-Photo Pigment-izer.

What?

b2theory: Who shoots themself in the chest? He should have bought a few more baloons and simply ascended until epoxia killed him.

Dude, epoxia is the WORST way to go! Haven't you ever seen a mouse caught on a glue board?

/Large caliber to the heart is about the highest percentage shot you can take. The are many, many self inflicted head shots who, if they had the capacity, wish they had gone for the heart shot.

is subby a g*ddamned idiot, or did he failreading comprehension?

i think both.

keerist!

olddinosaur: Danny

Sorry, its one of the greatest movies ever and I don't care who the actors are.

epoch fail, subby.