Lawnchair Larry: The Truck Driver Who Floated 16,000 Feet Over Los Angeles
On July 2, 1982, a 33-year-old truck driver named Larry Walters fulfilled a childhood dream in the most improbable way imaginable. From a backyard in San Pedro, California, he rose into the sky in an ordinary Sears aluminum lawn chair lifted by dozens of helium-filled weather balloons, eventually reaching about 16,000 feet and drifting into controlled airspace near Los Angeles. The flight lasted roughly 45 minutes at altitude, startled airline pilots, briefly blacked out a neighborhood, and turned Walters into an unlikely folk hero known as Lawnchair Larry.
Lawrence Richard Walters was born on April 19, 1949, in Los Angeles. He attended Hollywood High School and carried a fascination with flight from an early age. As a boy of about eight or nine, he was struck by the sight of a woman holding a huge cluster of Mickey Mouse balloons at Disneyland and wondered whether enough of them could lift a person. Around age 13, he saw weather balloons hanging in an Army-Navy surplus store and decided those large balloons were the answer. He experimented with hydrogen and small balloons as a teenager and even completed a high-school science project on the subject, though it earned him only a D.
Poor eyesight prevented him from becoming a pilot. He served as an Army cook during the Vietnam War and later worked as a truck driver in the North Hollywood and San Pedro area. For nearly two decades the balloon idea remained a private obsession. In 1982 he finally decided the time had come. With the help of his longtime girlfriend, Carol Van Deusen, he purchased about 45 eight-foot weather balloons. On the day of the flight he attached 42 of them (accounts sometimes note he later mentioned 43) in four clusters to a Sears lawn chair that had cost around $110. He named the craft Inspiration I.
Walters prepared carefully for what he hoped would be a controlled ascent. He added plastic jugs of water as ballast, strapped on a parachute, and packed a pellet gun to pop balloons for descent, a CB radio, an altimeter, a camera, sandwiches, two liters of Coca-Cola, and a pack of beer. The plan was to rise a few hundred feet, enjoy the view, and eventually drift toward the Mojave Desert. The chair was tethered to a vehicle in the backyard of Carol’s mother’s house at 1633 West 7th Street in San Pedro. When the tether broke earlier than intended, the chair shot upward far higher and faster than expected.
At roughly 16,000 feet Walters encountered freezing temperatures and thinner air. He was initially too frightened to shoot many balloons, fearing an uncontrolled drop. After popping several he accidentally dropped the gun. Despite carrying a camera, he took no photographs, later explaining that he was simply too amazed by the view. Using his CB radio he stayed in contact with the ground and with REACT, a citizens-band monitoring group. In recorded exchanges he calmly identified his situation as an “unauthorized balloon launch,” noted that he was in federal airspace, and asked the operators to inform authorities that he was all right. He described the beige balloons as approximately seven feet in diameter and estimated that about 35 remained. Airline pilots, including those from commercial flights, radioed air traffic control to report a man in a lawn chair at high altitude.
After about 45 minutes Walters managed a descent by dumping remaining water ballast. The balloons’ cables became tangled in power lines in a Long Beach residential area, causing a short electricity blackout of roughly 20 minutes. He was helped down safely. Police arrived, and one officer reportedly checked his driver’s license before noting that the Federal Aviation Administration would be in touch. Walters autographed scraps of balloon material for onlookers and, shortly afterward, gave the lawn chair itself to a neighborhood boy named Jerry Fleck.
The FAA initially proposed a $4,000 fine for several violations, including operating in controlled airspace without proper communication. After an appeal the fine was reduced to $1,500; one charge related to the lack of an airworthiness certificate was dropped because it did not clearly apply to the unusual craft. Walters appeared on Late Night with David Letterman about ten days after the flight and received media attention that included a Bonehead Club of Dallas award. He briefly tried motivational speaking after leaving truck driving, but lasting financial success never followed. The chair he had given away eventually found its way to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum after Fleck preserved it for decades; it has been conserved and placed on public display.
In later years Walters hiked in the San Gabriel Mountains and volunteered with the U.S. Forest Service, speaking of his appreciation for nature’s quiet. He and his girlfriend of roughly 15 years eventually separated, and steady work became harder to find. On October 6, 1993,