[HCRA] Balloon Flight: Any volunteers?

Tue Jul 10 12:29:10 EDT 2007

So here is my proposal for the next VWS balloon flight. Anyone silly enough 
to volunteer to be our pilot?

HI HI

Dan S
KO1D

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Man flies 193 miles in lawn chair

    * Story Highlights
    * Man uses 105 helium balloons for lift, plastic bags of water for 
ballast
    * Kent Couch, 47, flew 25 mph while wife, dog followed in car below
    * In 1982, Larry Walters flew lawn chair three miles above Los Angeles

BEND, Oregon (AP) -- Last weekend, Kent Couch settled down in his lawn chair 
with some snacks -- and a parachute. Attached to his lawn chair were 105 
large helium balloons.

Destination: Idaho.

With instruments to measure his altitude and speed, a global positioning 
system device in his pocket, and about four plastic bags holding five 
gallons of water each to act as ballast -- he could turn a spigot, release 
water and rise -- Couch headed into the Oregon sky.

Nearly nine hours later, the 47-year-old gas station owner came back to 
earth in a farmer's field near Union, short of Idaho but about 193 miles 
from home.

"When you're a little kid and you're holding a helium balloon, it has to 
cross your mind," Couch told the Bend Bulletin.

"When you're laying in the grass on a summer day, and you see the clouds, 
you wish you could jump on them," he said. "This is as close as you can come 
to jumping on them. It's just like that."

Couch is the latest American to emulate Larry Walters -- who in 1982 rose 
three miles above Los Angeles in a lawn chair lifted by balloons. Walters 
had surprised an airline pilot, who radioed the control tower that he had 
just passed a guy in a lawn chair. Walters paid a $1,500 penalty for 
violating air traffic rules.

It was Couch's second flight.

In September, he got off the ground for six hours. Like Walters, he used a 
BB gun to pop the balloons, but he went into a rapid descent and eventually 
parachuted to safety.

This time, he was better prepared. The balloons had a new configuration, so 
it was easier to reach up and release a bit of helium instead of simply 
cutting off a balloon.

He took off at 6:06 a.m. Saturday after kissing his wife, Susan, goodbye and 
petting his Chihuahua, Isabella. As he made about 25 miles an hour, a 
three-car caravan filled with friends, family and the dog followed him from 
below.

Couch said he could hear cattle and children and even passed through clouds.

"It was beautiful -- beautiful," he told KTVZ-TV. He described the flight as 
mostly peaceful and serene, with occasional turbulence, like a hot-air 
balloon ride sitting down.

Couch decided to stop when he was down to a gallon of water and just eight 
pounds of ballast. Concerned about the rugged terrain outside La Grande, 
including Hells Canyon, he decided it was time to land.

He popped enough balloons to set the craft down, although he suffered rope 
burns. But after he jumped out, the wind grabbed his chair, with his video 
recorder, and the remaining balloons and swept them away. He's hoping to get 
them back some day.

Brandon Wilcox, owner of Professional Air, which charters and maintains 
planes at the Bend airport, said Couch definitely did it. Wilcox said he 
flew a plane nearby while Couch traveled and took photos of the flying lawn 
chair.

Whether Couch will take a third trip is up to his wife, and Susan Couch said 
she's thinking about saying no. But she said she was willing to go along 
with last weekend's trip.

"I know he'd be thinking about it more and more, it would always be on his 
mind," she said. "This way, at least he's fulfilled his dream."

All AboutBend (Oregon) • Oregon

Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/07/10/flying.lawn.chair.ap/index.html

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