BS: Flying By the Seat of Your Pants

Subject: RE: BS: Flying By the Seat of Your Pants
From: Metchosin
Date: 26 Feb 03 - 01:46 PM

Well it was Larry's best laid scheme, he certainly took all the stuff that he figured was important to him for the success of the flight.*LOL*

Subject: RE: BS: Flying By the Seat of Your Pants
From: Cluin
Date: 26 Feb 03 - 01:36 PM

I wouldn't have called this particular endeavor one of the "best laid schemes".

Subject: RE: BS: Flying By the Seat of Your Pants
From: Metchosin
Date: 26 Feb 03 - 12:17 PM

Actually, its people like Larry who restore my faith in the ultimate survival of mankind.

We have the mistaken belief of human competence, when in fact we are not so terribly good at most things and we ultimately prevail as a species by dumb luck alone. "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men, gang aft agley".*BG*

Subject: RE: BS: Flying By the Seat of Your Pants
From: Bill D
Date: 26 Feb 03 - 11:58 AM

only on the peons.... ;>))

Subject: RE: BS: Flying By the Seat of Your Pants
From: Gareth
Date: 26 Feb 03 - 11:29 AM

Bobert - A 12 pack ! Would this mean you P****** on the good folks below ??

Gareth *BG*

Subject: RE: BS: Flying By the Seat of Your Pants
From: Bobert
Date: 25 Feb 03 - 10:30 PM

My kind of guy! 'Cept I would have taken a 12 pack so I could stay up longer...

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: Flying By the Seat of Your Pants
From: Metchosin
Date: 25 Feb 03 - 09:43 PM

oh Larry............Larry, Larry Larry.

Subject: RE: BS: Flying By the Seat of Your Pants
From: Bill D
Date: 25 Feb 03 - 09:01 PM

Larry, in his chair

Subject: RE: BS: Flying By the Seat of Your Pants
From: Metchosin
Date: 25 Feb 03 - 08:21 PM

Well good old CBC radio....they may be abit out of date, but there is an essence of truth in some of the things they broadcast....really heartening to know. *BG*

Subject: RE: BS: Flying By the Seat of Your Pants
From: Bill D
Date: 25 Feb 03 - 07:03 PM

remember the "Bloom County" comic strip by Berke Breathed? He had a series on a guy in a wheelchair setting out with weather ballons, with Opus the penguin accidently tied on...lot of adventures! Wonder whether truth inspired fiction, or vice versa?

Subject: RE: BS: Flying By the Seat of Your Pants
From: Cluin
Date: 25 Feb 03 - 06:54 PM

The guy's name was Larry Walters. It was 42 weather balloons strapped to an aluminum lawn chair that took him up to the 16,000 foot height as mentioned. He had a plan though...

He took a 6 pack of beer up with him and a BB gun. When the beer was done, he used the BB gun to shoot out some of the balloons. He ended up crashing down on a power line. Yes, he was spotted by both TWA and Delta airline pilots while up there.

Timex had a series of ads a while back that featured people who had survived freaky things and were modelling different models of their watches. Larry was sporting a $50 "Moon Dial" watch. I still have an old 1991 Life magazine (that I kept for the article of the cleaning-up of the Sistine Chapel Ceiling) with his big dumb face with its shit-eating grin plastered on it. I'm looking at it now. There were 4 ads all together on consecutive pages:

Other "survivors" from the ad series who got a watch from Timex:

Willie Duberry: age 121, credits quitting smokin' an' drinkin' with adding a few years, though his sister made it to 115 (doesn't say whether she was a chain-smoking pisstank though)

Louisa Murray: hit in the head by a bowling ball that fell 3 stories while she was eating a sandwich

DeAndra Anrig: young girl who was flying a kite near an airport when an approaching plane snagged the cord, lifting her 10 feat in the air for 200 feet before she dropped to the ground (she is wearing a cast on her wrist in the photo). The cord broke one of the plane's propellors.

Don't try this at home, folks!

Subject: RE: BS: Flying By the Seat of Your Pants
From: GUEST,Wordless Woman
Date: 25 Feb 03 - 03:16 PM

I remember this story from a number of years ago. There was even a picture in the newspaper. I understand that our high flyer was not eligible for the Darwin award because he survived his experience.

To boldly go where no lawn chair riding knucklehead has gone before.

Subject: RE: BS: Flying By the Seat of Your Pants
From: katlaughing
Date: 25 Feb 03 - 02:35 PM

Good lord, what a nut! Whoever it was did it! What an image it conjures! LOL!

Subject: RE: BS: Flying By the Seat of Your Pants
From: Ebbie
Date: 25 Feb 03 - 02:34 PM

The origin of the story however is not a myth. The feat has been done at least twice.

Subject: RE: BS: Flying By the Seat of Your Pants
From: Metchosin
Date: 25 Feb 03 - 02:02 PM

sorry, just checked and the CBC apparently had passed on an urban myth. Oh well, gave me the best chuckle for a moment that I'd had in days .

Subject: BS: Flying By the Seat of Your Pants
From: Metchosin
Date: 25 Feb 03 - 01:56 PM

How's the weather up there Larry??? Interesting tidbit on the new just now regarding a chap from LA who attached 60 weather balloons to a lawn chair, seated himself in it, cut the tether and rose to 16,00 feet. Apparently he disrupted air traffic and became a menace to air traffic. After 14 hours and oxygen depravation started to set in, he popped some of his balloons and landed safely, where he was promptly arrested. Wow! Got to be a song in this somewhere.