Lawn Chair Larry

We're back! After a 7-year break, Mistakes Were Made returns with a high-flying tale—literally. In this episode, Bacon tells Mike the bizarre history of people who tried to fly using helium balloons. From lawn chairs to church pews, it turns out some folks really took “lightheaded” to new heights.

EPISODE 31 - Lawnchair Larry
In this episode of Mistakes Were Made, we dive into the strange history of helium balloon flight attempts, including the infamous Lawnchair Larry and other balloon-powered adventurers. If you love weird history, historical mistakes, or funny stories about real-life stunts gone wrong, this podcast is for you. Subscribe to Mistakes Were Made for more episodes about history’s biggest blunders, epic fails, and bizarre moments.

MISTAKES WERE MADE PODCAST
Comedians Robert Bacon and Mike Kauffman explore some of history’s biggest blunders—mixing well-researched storytelling with a dose of humor. It’s history, but with more laughs and fewer homework assignments.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome to Mistakes were made a podcast where we wait
approximately seven years between posting episodes. It's been seven years.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Oh my god, is it? Wow? Since the last one
of these that you and I did seven years? Okay,
so turn.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
Fourth, twenty eighteen. What was her last episode?

Speaker 2 (00:33):
I you know, some of those years okay, in our defense,
some of those years we have excuses. We got a
pandemic in one of them, we got I had a
kid in two of them. You had a kid in
one of them. That's three years. That's four years I
took care of four years.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
You got married in one of them, married in one
of them.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah, that takes a long time. You got to planned
the wedding, the thing.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
So you know, you can't talk about mistakes and history.
You got to move on with your life.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
I think what we need to do is basically apologize
to everyone for twenty nineteen. Sorry, where we have no
no excuse, no excuse.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
We were just lazy.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
In twenty nineteen, we were really aware the world was
a normal place where you could shake hands with strange
and sneeze on people and it was fine. It was
just rude.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
You know, That's what I missed the most of being
able to sneeze on people.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
Yeah, it was just it was just a rude thing
to do, not, you know, just terrifying.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah, you know, Mike and I haven't done an episode
in a while. It was like, hey, buddy, let's let's
catch up and let's talk because I have since then,
I moved to Boston and then lived in Boston and
now have moved back to Chicago, and Mike Goufman has
left Chicago and he lives in Pittsburgh.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
And I took a hard, hard line on I was
going to talk to you while you were in Boston.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
No. You you disagreed with that move from the start.
You were like, no, I'm like, I'm moving to Boston.
You said, bad idea.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
Say well, let me call me when you move back
to Chicago and get married and have I put a
lot of stipulations on me.

Speaker 1 (02:18):
You did.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
Thanks, Thanks for checking all those boxes.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
I really appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
Thanks.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
Yeah. Yeah, so we've both been married, we both have kids.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
Now what happened to us?

Speaker 1 (02:28):
Well, you know, we got older and we're gonna like
to talk about history because this was this was something
that I wrote literally seven years ago.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
Did you really just is that old? This is from
the books. This is you have to blow the dust
off it.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
But did I opened up the iPad which battery was swelling?

Speaker 2 (02:49):
Second, then that's an old iPad. Yeah, it's an iPod.
It's not an iPod, it's.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
An iPod video. It's gonna be really hard to read
on this little thing.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
Good.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
It was literally the next episode up on the docket,
and then we just never did it.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
I'm so sorry. That's that's me. Sorry, I'm so sorry.
Oh man, this is great. Thank you for resurrecting this,
and thank you for for being a go getter. And
even you just had a kid, you just had a kid,
you're still like, hey, I got energy, which I don't
know where that's coming from.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
It's you know, I got paternity leave. So now's the
best time to do it. And you know what the
best part is, I don't have to edit this episode
at all. It's been it's been seven years. This should
be a seven hour long episode.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
Great, Yeah, we have a lot to catch.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
All right, are you ready to you already hear the story?
I am several stories and you'll see the theme. You'll
see the theme.

Speaker 2 (03:49):
Okay, great, all right, don't all right? Yeah, don't expect
me to be sharp also, you know before Yeah, good point,
all right, fair, fair point, the here we go.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
Larry Walters was born on April nineteenth, nineteen forty nine,
in Los Angeles, California. Larry was a dreamer with a
fascination for aviation.

Speaker 2 (04:10):
Sorry, what year again, I missing? Forty?

Speaker 1 (04:12):
Nineteen forty nine, Larry warnings, Yeah, nineteen forty nine.

Speaker 2 (04:17):
Born.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
Unfortunately, Larry suffered from poor eyesight, and this prevented him
from becoming a pilot because I don't know, I don't
They didn't have LESA.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
Yet, no, which we both have gotten and one of us,
one of us regrets it.

Speaker 1 (04:34):
Oh yeah, oh I love mine. You don't let me
know who regrets it now? Just because you're blind. Now, Oh,
that's another thing we've got to talk about.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
Uh. Yeah, it didn't it didn't take. It didn't take. Yeah,
is that an option?

Speaker 1 (04:48):
It did?

Speaker 2 (04:49):
And then it wore off, and so I'm back to
being blind. Wow. Yeah, godd really wanted you to wear glasses.
Should I didn't know? You became religious seven years seven,
very prominent number in the Bible, by the way, seven
after seventh seven, that's where they got it. So Larry Walters.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
Instead of becoming a pilot, Larry Walters he became a
truck driver, but he never abandoned his ambition to take
to the skies. He was known for his quirky personality
and determination to achieve unconventional goals.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
Okay, I think he goes on to start SpaceX.

Speaker 1 (05:31):
Continue a few years later. This is many years later.
On July second, nineteen eighty two, after weeks of preparation
and planning, Larry finally decided to achieve his dream of flight.
Larry had purchased weather balloons from a military surplus store
in Los Angeles. You can buy.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
Anything in nineteen eighty two. You can buy anything. I
mean it was Amazon, but it was at the Army
surplus store. You can buy it. Yes.

Speaker 1 (06:06):
Oh, they have like six different kinds of grenades.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
Okay, great, I just can't. Just don't touch them. In
the story.

Speaker 3 (06:13):
You just say, hey, no kids in this place, all right, Larry,
what do you have to there?

Speaker 1 (06:24):
So these these weather balloons, they're four feet in diameter
when they're deflated, and they expand to almost double that
size when they are inflated, so they're almost about eight
feet in diameter. So these are these things are huge?
And yes, weather balloons were relatively accessible to the general
public at this time.

Speaker 2 (06:41):
Okay, what are you film like helium?

Speaker 1 (06:44):
Yep, okay, yep, yep. We're using using a standard aluminum
lawn chair purchased at Sears. He then tied forty five
helium filled weather balloons to.

Speaker 2 (06:58):
It, which which in nineteen eighty two. You know he
also probably haggled for that chair. He wasn't gonna it
wasn't gonna pay full price. I want to pay full
price with us. Is coming to guarantee see yours. I
think it had a lifetime guarantee on it too.

Speaker 1 (07:14):
I don't, sir, Yeah, it's it's just a standard lawn chair.
I don't you know. I don't know why you're asking me.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
Somebody questions how how if I dropped it from let's say.

Speaker 1 (07:26):
Fifty feet, why are you dropping it from fifty feet?

Speaker 2 (07:29):
Okay, let's say one hundred.

Speaker 1 (07:30):
Feet from any height? Look, I just want to know.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
I just want to know if you stand behind your product.

Speaker 1 (07:39):
I do I stand behind this launch lawn chair that
it stays on the lawn. I don't know why you're
asking me all these questions about from a height for
what is this well?

Speaker 2 (07:48):
Is it equality product or is it equality price?

Speaker 1 (07:50):
That's a quality product. Don't question Sears. You know what,
I don't want you to have this chair.

Speaker 2 (07:54):
Get out of my Roebuck. What happened to Roebuck?

Speaker 1 (07:58):
Nobody, nobody cares what happened store? Row? Okay, Roe went
out and he never came back. Okay, it's Sears now
all right, and leave my store. You can't buy this chair.
I don't trust you.

Speaker 2 (08:14):
I don't know what other store I'm gonna go to,
but I'm going to another store.

Speaker 1 (08:17):
There is none. We own the world, baby, we always will.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
I'm going to go to Willis, the Williths department store exactly.

Speaker 1 (08:28):
Nobody even knows what that is. I wish that's if
that would have happened, it would have saved us the story.
So he secured the chair with a tether to his
jeep and equipped himself with a pellet gun to shoot
the balloons for a controlled descent.

Speaker 2 (08:46):
How many balloons you got on this thing?

Speaker 1 (08:48):
Forty five?

Speaker 2 (08:49):
Jesus, that size forty five four foot inflated to.

Speaker 1 (08:54):
Eight eight feet.

Speaker 2 (08:55):
Yeah, forty five, forty five of the forty five times eight.
Now that's math. But that is huge. It's a giant
thing flying through the sky.

Speaker 1 (09:07):
He's the uphouse with the lawn chair, all right, Larry, yeah, right,
the house.

Speaker 2 (09:13):
You're absolutely right.

Speaker 1 (09:15):
Along with that pellet gun. He brought with him the essentials,
which included sandwiches, beer, a Cbee radio, and a camera.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
And he's got a Cbee radio. Nice.

Speaker 1 (09:28):
The Cbe radio is the only good thing out of
that list. He's got beer. Why why, oh, you know what,
I couldn't go fly in the sky some I've never
done before, done it. I should be a little drunk. No,
I just don't.

Speaker 2 (09:45):
You know, you just don't want if you're up that high,
you might get nervous and you want something to take
the edge off. And I get you don't want any
edges up there. You know, you don't want anything popping
those balloons. You want to be smooth. He's got this thing,
by the way, you said, tied to his jeep.

Speaker 1 (10:00):
Yes, tethered to his jeep.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
So he doesn't take off because it's yes like, So
he's got okay, I heard here, I'm picturing jeep. And
then above the jeep, yep, we've got lawn chair. Launchair
and then above launchair we've got forty five giant bulls. Yes, okay,
cool all right on diagram in my head.

Speaker 1 (10:20):
And he's got a little cooler for his sandwiches, his beer.
He has a cool radio.

Speaker 2 (10:24):
Yeah, he's nextually gonna ask, is it is he holding
the sandwiches and the beer he's actually keeping.

Speaker 1 (10:29):
He's keeping cooler? Yeah, yeah, yeah, this is great. Larry's
plan was to gently rise about thirty feet above the ground.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
Thank god, he had a plan. Yeah, good plant all right.
As long as he has a plan, I'm okay with it,
go for it, laire.

Speaker 1 (10:42):
And he was.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
He was.

Speaker 1 (10:43):
He was planning on leaving San Pedro, California, and then
floating northeast towards the Mojave Desert. However, his calculations were
wildly inaccurate. Someone would say, like he didn't do any
myth upon cutting the heather. Larry didn't rise thirty feet.

(11:03):
He skyrocketed into the sky at astonishing speed, reaching an
altitude of fifteen thousand feet, which is higher than some
commercial flights. Holy, what he's got to say, which isn't beer.

Speaker 2 (11:20):
He's got and he's got his pelic gun. He's rocketing
into the air. He's got his gun, and he didn't
use it. But he didn't use it. I think instead
he was like, all right, I'm a crack of beer.
I'm see where this goes. Let's just see where this goes.
He in the name of science, Let's see where this goes.

Speaker 1 (11:42):
His lack of proper clothing for the freezing temperatures at
that altitude caused immediate discomfort, and the thin air left
him lightheaded, which would just make the beer, you know,
work a little bit stronger, I think up there.

Speaker 2 (11:56):
Yeah, because I don't. He probably only brought a six pack,
and I'm gonna imagine a guy like Larry's going to
need at least twelve to field bus. And so it's
a good thing the air is thinner, you know, oh Man.

Speaker 1 (12:11):
During the flight, Larry cbe radio allowed him to communicate
with friends on the ground. Alarmingly, he drifted into the
controlled airspace of the Los Angeles International Airport.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
Oh No.

Speaker 1 (12:24):
Panicked air pilots reported a man in a lawn chair
flying at the same altitude as their planes Flight two
seven nine. Stop fuck with me. There's no guy with
balloons up there. Just land.

Speaker 2 (12:44):
I'm looking at a man in a lawn chair. I'm
pretty sure it's non bird over.

Speaker 1 (12:49):
But flight four seven two?

Speaker 2 (12:50):
You are?

Speaker 1 (12:51):
Have you been? How many beers have you had in
that cockpit? You know? They affect you more at the
high altitudes.

Speaker 2 (12:57):
You know. Look it's nineteen eighty two, and you know
what I have tell me of the year. You can
fly pretty much with anything on a plane that you
want to. And the stewardesses are very attractive. And I'm
looking at a man in a lawn chair with a
lot of balloons taed to him, and he is drinking
the same bruskie I am.

Speaker 1 (13:16):
What's he drinking?

Speaker 2 (13:18):
We're both tap of the Rockies and this is nineteen
eighty two. I don't blame you.

Speaker 4 (13:25):
I don't think Cours was in.

Speaker 2 (13:27):
La Definitely, I definitely was.

Speaker 1 (13:30):
Have you been Have you been illegally importing Cours from
the Rockies?

Speaker 5 (13:36):
Hey?

Speaker 2 (13:36):
Now, look, I'm a pilot and what I choose to
bring in the cargo area of my plane is entirely
up to me. It's nineteen eighty two, all right, You
don't know. And those mountains, those mountains are in fact blue,
and I know that that is not something that's been
invented yet.

Speaker 1 (13:53):
It's flight for some two are you from the future
a future talk again.

Speaker 2 (14:02):
Hey, I just I just want you to know that
in three years from now, we all lose our rights
and are controlled by the government.

Speaker 1 (14:09):
Uh, but don't worry.

Speaker 2 (14:12):
Don't worry because yolo, you only live once. It's nineteen
eighty two.

Speaker 1 (14:16):
Don't tell me the year.

Speaker 2 (14:20):
Everything I'm saying is a reference from this year and
not from any time in the future. I promise you.
I promise you that backstreets, back by the way, I
just wanted to say that in nineteen eighty two.

Speaker 1 (14:30):
Oh, I think I see I see that guy. I
see the guy in the balloons.

Speaker 2 (14:36):
Does he does he have a mirror or anything? Can
he signal? Can he signal to anybody?

Speaker 1 (14:41):
I think he dropped a couple of sandwiches, a couple
of cold cut spell out.

Speaker 2 (14:47):
You know what's so funny, He said, he's up there.
He's freezing cold because he's way higher than any human
should be. And the good thing is he brought a cooler,
probably with some ice to keep the the sandwich is nice,
and well, you know what, you don't want that meat
going bad. No, at fifteen thousand feet, we don't want
that happened.

Speaker 1 (15:07):
You know, there's bugs up there still.

Speaker 2 (15:09):
Oh, poor guy dives of e Colei.

Speaker 1 (15:13):
Fifteen thousand feet in the air, so air traffic control
had to reroute flights, creating a temporary safety crisis. After
nearly two hours in the sky, Larry finally began to

(15:34):
shoot the balloons to descend. So he was up there
for two hours. He knew he was not where he
was supposed to be, and he still didn't want to
come down.

Speaker 2 (15:43):
Can you imagine just sitting in a chair that high up?
I don't. He didn't in no part of your description did.
It's a he constructed a seatbelt to fasten himself into
this lawn chair, so he's just loose. He's just sitting
in a chair fifteen thousand feet. I am too afraid

(16:05):
of heights to ever do anything like this, Mike, I'm.

Speaker 1 (16:09):
Not afraid of heights.

Speaker 4 (16:11):
That is scary.

Speaker 1 (16:14):
Theyll me sitting on I'm just so big. Me sitting
on any lawn aluminum lawn chair, that's scary like that,
he's going to fold in on itself and just eat me.

Speaker 2 (16:25):
You know, where are you buying your lawn chairs? And
may I recommend Sears robot that's the quality lawn chair
as Larry has proven so.

Speaker 1 (16:39):
After he starts shooting these balloons down, his descent was
a little slower than anticipated. And he good and and
he dropped his pellet gun.

Speaker 2 (16:55):
Oh, no lair thing. The one thing, the one, the
down button. He has no down button anymore.

Speaker 1 (17:06):
You think you like tie the string around the gun,
bring some scissors to cut these strings.

Speaker 2 (17:16):
You're right. And he didn't tie anything to the gun. Yeah,
you think like cooler was strapped.

Speaker 1 (17:23):
In I bet you.

Speaker 2 (17:26):
Secure. He didn't drop a single beer. Beer. Every beer
was perfectly in place.

Speaker 1 (17:34):
You know, when you're like, if you work on the
skyscraper or whatever, your tools have to be tethered to
your belt. You know this guy was. This guy's some
cavalier about his his transportation methods and about how to
get down. He's like, oh, the only thing I have
to get down and he drops it.

Speaker 2 (17:54):
Uh hey, hey, ground is Larry is Larry, And I
just wanted everybody to know I'm up here about uh
circa fifteen thousand feet.

Speaker 1 (18:06):
Yeah, we know we can see a layer. We can
see it. Don't tell me the year, and don't tell
me your height. I know those things. I'm air traffic
control anyway, you.

Speaker 2 (18:14):
Can refer to me by my my call sign, which
is uh high life. And I am h. I'm doing
great up here. I just want to let everybody know
it is nineteen eighty two and I'm sing high.

Speaker 1 (18:30):
It's over all right. So you are you aren't drinking cores,
So the pilot was lying. Nope, I am.

Speaker 2 (18:36):
I am, in fact bringing a beautiful cores course cours.
The it's just called cores. It's nineteen eighty two.

Speaker 1 (18:46):
Remind you the year.

Speaker 2 (18:49):
It's not called heavy or light, it's just cores. And
uh and you can call me call high life.

Speaker 1 (18:56):
You are somebody shoot him out of the sky.

Speaker 2 (19:01):
Hey, please, if you find my gun fire away at
these balloon sky.

Speaker 5 (19:06):
Oh wow, gun, whoa wow, Hey, let's play William two
will help, will help up here.

Speaker 6 (19:15):
I can't hear him too far down You're fifteen thousand
feet in the air.

Speaker 1 (19:18):
I'm gonna shoot my brother in the head with a
bellet gun.

Speaker 2 (19:22):
Okay, I can hear you down there, little guy.

Speaker 1 (19:24):
And I just went sting to my conversations. Creep.

Speaker 2 (19:27):
I just want to say I got brought the CB
radio and I had two dreams. Remember one fly high
and two circle back on the second one I forgot
all right, So ultimately, yeah too was the start podcast.

(19:48):
I remember it's nineteen eighty two, there's no podcast.

Speaker 1 (19:54):
Ultimately, he drifted over a long beach neighborhood and became
entangled and lines.

Speaker 2 (20:01):
Oh wow, he's okay, he's dropping dropping.

Speaker 1 (20:04):
He dropped, and this temporarily caused a blackout in the area.
Larry was unharmed and climbed down using a rescue ladder.

Speaker 2 (20:16):
No way, yeah.

Speaker 1 (20:18):
Larry initially bask in the fleeting fame that followed this
daring stunt. His dissent was oh sorry. He appeared on
popular talk shows like The Tonight Show and Late Night
with David Letterman, and his story was covered by major
media outlets. This was huge back in the day. Many

(20:39):
people admired his boldness and ingenuity, even if even as
others criticized the recklessness of his actions, and he was
awarded the Darwin Award.

Speaker 2 (20:50):
For his flat That's amazing. I thought you had to
die to get that. But that's awesome. Up too, Yeah,
they figured his brain is so dead as well, just
give it.

Speaker 1 (21:06):
However, the attention quickly faded and the long term consequences
of his actions begin.

Speaker 2 (21:12):
What what wait what what what? What?

Speaker 1 (21:14):
Long?

Speaker 6 (21:15):
What?

Speaker 1 (21:15):
Why?

Speaker 2 (21:15):
Why?

Speaker 1 (21:16):
Well, apparently you just can't do this, you know, even
though he's one of the first guys to do this.

Speaker 2 (21:22):
Okay, tell that the right brothers. You can't. You can't
just build a plane and fly it. You can't do that.

Speaker 1 (21:30):
Yeah, we would have no right brothers if the FAA
was around before, you know, shut them down.

Speaker 2 (21:36):
Maybe it's local laws, you know, maybe like maybe Dayton,
Ohio was like, uh uh, bros, get out of here.
But then Kitty Hawk, North Carolina was like, whatever you
guys want, you guys.

Speaker 1 (21:45):
Want, you want to try to find the guy we're
not using it. YEA, God's up there.

Speaker 2 (21:52):
Go free do it. Yeah, it's all you to go
for it.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
So the Federal Aviation Administration find him fifteen hundred dollars
for fah. Yeah, the FAH for violating aviation laws. I
did the math. That's a roughly five thousand dollars fine today.

Speaker 2 (22:11):
Slap on the wrist. All right, Larry, you got fame. Larry,
write your book, my man.

Speaker 1 (22:17):
Though the fine was not excessively high, the incident permanently
marked his record. Walters found it difficult to translate his
moment of fame into lasting opportunities. Walters faced difficulty adjusting
back to normal life. His job as a truck driver
no longer fulfilled him, and his brief brush with fame

(22:39):
left him longing for a sense of purpose. Friends and
acquaintances noticed that he seemed restless and dissatisfied years after
his stunt.

Speaker 2 (22:53):
This is getting so dark, it's getting so sad, done
and sad. He's going to go the other direction. He's
going to try to dig a hole to the center
of there. You can do it, Larry. I've already gone
as high as I can go.

Speaker 1 (23:09):
I need a goal as low as I can go.

Speaker 2 (23:11):
Yes, Yes, I'm so curious in what his voice sounds like,
rock driver Larry Walters.

Speaker 1 (23:22):
He often expressed regret over how the flight had overshadowed
other aspects of his life.

Speaker 2 (23:28):
Oh, he was a painter. He's a painter and a sculptor,
and nobody ever appreciated that about him. He had to
take to the sky.

Speaker 1 (23:38):
In interviews, Larry reflected on his feelings of failure and
how the stunt had not brought the fulfillment that he
had hoped for. He spoke about wanting to achieve something
more meaningful but struggled to figure figure out what that
might be. These feelings of aimlessness contributed to a deep
depression that persisted for years. Sadly, Larry Walter's life his

(24:05):
life ended tragically on October sixth, nineteen ninety three. He
died by suicide at the Oh my God. He shot
himself in the heart in a national forest, and his
death is a sobering reminder of the mentical health struggles
he faced as the math of his unconventional quest for adventure.

Speaker 2 (24:27):
Okay Now, Despite.

Speaker 1 (24:29):
The tragic end to his life, Larry Walters remains an
iconic figure in pop culture. His balloon flight has inspired
countless imitators, films, and discussions about ambition, recklessness, and human creativity.
While his story is often remembered for its humor, it
also serves as a reflection on the pursuit of dreams

(24:52):
and the challenges that accompanied unexpected fame.

Speaker 2 (25:01):
Took a twist.

Speaker 1 (25:02):
Yeah yeah, Now, he wasn't the last guy to do it, Mike.

Speaker 4 (25:07):
He was just one of the first, or the first
he was.

Speaker 2 (25:12):
He was the lawn chair pioneer. He was.

Speaker 1 (25:18):
So he started this and just a couple of years later,
in nineteen eighty four. Inspired by Larry Waters balloon flights,
British adventurers Mike Howard and Steve Davis decided to attempt
their own balloon flight. Their goal was in.

Speaker 2 (25:33):
Beard did they bring? Because there's two of them, so
you just got a factor. You have to do the
math on the weight of the beer.

Speaker 5 (25:40):
Yeah, we are we thinking that we need a four
or five points, say, to guess over the seas well,
I'm thinking if.

Speaker 2 (25:48):
We both sit on a keg, right, if we both
are on a keg? He called the two kegs like
a reft.

Speaker 4 (25:55):
Two bungholes on one keg? Are we just sipping out
of the same tap?

Speaker 2 (26:03):
Did you call me a bunghole?

Speaker 1 (26:05):
Now that the bunholes?

Speaker 4 (26:07):
What is on the keg? It's the opening to a keg?

Speaker 2 (26:11):
And is it right?

Speaker 1 (26:12):
All wrong?

Speaker 2 (26:13):
Right and right? But I also thought that you were
you were being cheeky. You called me a bunghole.

Speaker 1 (26:19):
No, I would never call you a bunghole.

Speaker 2 (26:21):
Okay, because we can't get into a fight up there.
We get into a fight up there, one of us
is not coming back.

Speaker 1 (26:29):
Yeah, we got a promise that we're not going to
fight when we get up there. But that's why I
want to make sure that we each have our own
taps for the keg, so we fit enough.

Speaker 2 (26:38):
Beer and and and plenty of fish and chips.

Speaker 1 (26:42):
Obviously, obviously, all right, all right, I'm in. The goal
was ambitious to cross across the English Channel using a
cluster of helium filled balloons attached to a deck chair. However,
their preparations were far less rigorou than their goal demanded.
They used weather balloons, helium tanks, and a lightweight aluminum chair,

(27:06):
but their understanding of aerodynamics and flight safety was minimal.
The pair constructed their flying rig using a sturdy, lightweight
aluminum garden chair. They attached forty two large helium filled
weather balloons to the chair.

Speaker 2 (27:24):
Forty two guys, He had forty five? Right, Yes, I
mean you can't touch Larry, Larry, Yes, he's too good.

Speaker 1 (27:34):
They were out. They probably ordered forty five and they
got to the store and that's all they had.

Speaker 2 (27:39):
They had to weight in line behind other idiots.

Speaker 1 (27:43):
Those forty two balloons did provide enough to carry both men,
and to secure the balloons they used strong nylon chords
tied to multiple points on the chair to distribute the
weight evenly. The chair was modified to accommodate two people,
with both men sitting side by side, the way they

(28:05):
can hold hands, you know.

Speaker 2 (28:07):
And this is how the love seat was invented. The
whole thing was just to tell me about how the
love seats seemed to be. He could comfortably fit two
drunk adult men. Okay, high in the sky. I just

(28:30):
looked up a picture.

Speaker 1 (28:31):
A lawn chair, Larry, you looked a lawn cheer, Larry, stop.

Speaker 2 (28:35):
It, okay, Oh my god, it's beautiful.

Speaker 1 (28:37):
You want to talk about. He's cool, isn't he.

Speaker 2 (28:40):
I think he also had a two liter of pepsis.
It's so good, dude.

Speaker 1 (28:51):
Yeah, doesn't something to the skies, does it? His contraption?

Speaker 2 (28:57):
I see, Okay, I see how he wouldn't fall out
because he's not ropes every which way around him. Basically
he's in a net like it's yeah, and he's wearing
freaking aviators like he looks so cool. He looks so cool.

Speaker 1 (29:19):
So he's gonna the only glasses you couldn't get at
the time. All right, So these guys are sitting side
by side, you know. The first love seat it significantly
increased the weight of the balloons that had it. Yeah,
they had the balloons had to lift more weight, so
it actually kind of worked. They brought with them some

(29:41):
basic equipment, some ballast bags filled with sand for altitude control,
a small cool kit, and a rudimentary system for cutting
balloons in case they needed to descend quickly. So they
cutting the ropes on the balloons so they just fly
away instead of trying to shoot at them with a pelico.

Speaker 2 (29:59):
Yeah, okay, okay, cool, we've made We've made a good improvement.
It only took two years. It only took two years
for that cutting technology to come into play. What is
the bags of sand? Are you going to drop bags
of sand on people?

Speaker 1 (30:13):
You're gonna drops you go hire.

Speaker 2 (30:17):
Okay, okay, holy cow, all right, bombs away, here we go.
Let's do it. At least I'm going. I like that
they have a buddy. I think the most important thing
with this is to have a buddy. I mean the
Ripe Brothers. Yeah, people, nothing from the Ripe Brothers. It's
that it's you gotta do it with a buddy. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (30:37):
There's a pilot and a co pilot every time, yeah,
every time.

Speaker 2 (30:42):
Yeah, and you get to you gotta take tons otherwise
it's not fair. Uh.

Speaker 1 (30:47):
The setup, however, was highly precarious.

Speaker 2 (30:50):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (30:51):
The balloons were not evenly distributed, leading to balance issues,
and the chair lacked any kind of enclosure or safety harnesses,
leaving the men exposed to the elements and vulnerable during flights.

Speaker 2 (31:03):
Hey, it's only been two years. We get off their backs. Okay.
We can't solve everything in two years.

Speaker 1 (31:10):
That's you know, this.

Speaker 4 (31:11):
Is our schedules that we were doing.

Speaker 1 (31:15):
Right.

Speaker 5 (31:16):
We had uh well, we had tea right, right, we
had tea right only.

Speaker 2 (31:24):
Yeah, you know we'd have a point. We talk about it. Yeah,
you know. I kept saying to Harry is it his name?
Was it your name? Harry Howard? Howard?

Speaker 1 (31:35):
I mean your dad.

Speaker 5 (31:37):
I'm wait, you're Davis had a couple of pints already.

Speaker 2 (31:43):
Flight Howard. I kept saying to Howard.

Speaker 7 (31:46):
Look, it's not rocket sciences, yeah, right, is basically Mary Poppins.

Speaker 5 (31:54):
It's just balloons, right, children got them, the National a Service,
Gottish balloons.

Speaker 7 (32:04):
We were supposed to be doing this. They would have
just let us buy forty two balloons. Be preposterous.

Speaker 4 (32:13):
You gotta stop us, right, you know, if you can't
buy two balloons and so much should say so.

Speaker 2 (32:19):
Yeah, you know you can't buy you can't buy it
much sudo fed in the store right now. And it's
nineteen eighty four.

Speaker 1 (32:28):
You don't have to tell me either.

Speaker 6 (32:30):
Year.

Speaker 1 (32:34):
Howard and Davis aim to launch from a field in Kent, England,
and float across the English Channel and land somewhere in
northern France. Somewhere in northern France.

Speaker 2 (32:44):
People keep saying that we can't do it, mostly mostly
our friends at the pub.

Speaker 4 (32:50):
They don't believe us.

Speaker 2 (32:52):
But I said, we Kent, all right, we're leaving.

Speaker 1 (32:57):
We're leaving now.

Speaker 2 (33:00):
You can't get away from my jokes.

Speaker 1 (33:01):
Oh I'm gonna push you off that thing up there.
So that would their their plan would put them over
the most narrow part of the English Channel. That's what
they wanted to fly over, which is about twenty one
miles wide. The route was.

Speaker 2 (33:17):
I said, Howard, what don't we shoot for the morale
Ve Desert. It was my goal there. He said, how
about the skinniest part of the Egoist Channel? And I said,
all right, fine.

Speaker 4 (33:31):
You always try to shoot too far over the lay first.

Speaker 2 (33:35):
Yeah, I say, if we go to do the English Channel,
let's do the fat part like that. Queen song, Fat
Bottom girls. That song exists, that's actually it does.

Speaker 1 (33:52):
Their route was designed to avoid any major shipping lanes
and commercial air traffic, so they did They did plan
for that one, but they had no formal clearance or
communications with authorities, which left them to the mercy of
the elements. They plan to control their altitude by releasing
sandbags or by cutting away balloons as needed, though they

(34:13):
had no means of steering this contraption, the pair underestimated
several key factors, including the complexity of the cross channel
navigation and the unpredictability of winds.

Speaker 5 (34:27):
Despite these wind anyway, I mean, come on, it blows
one way, it blows the other.

Speaker 4 (34:33):
You come rop back, don't you? How else would you
have a coit?

Speaker 2 (34:39):
Exactly? You can't win. You can't predict wind. You just can't.

Speaker 4 (34:46):
You tell me, you tell me winds. You tell me
win's the wind?

Speaker 1 (34:50):
Right? You tell me when's the wind? Well, you missed it.

Speaker 4 (34:53):
You missed the priest you did.

Speaker 2 (34:56):
I was constantly licking my finger and putting it in
the air. And and it's all you can do.

Speaker 1 (35:01):
That's all you do.

Speaker 2 (35:02):
We watched golf. Should I do it? It's like golf,
all right, and then what did we do?

Speaker 1 (35:16):
The flight began on a calm summer morning. After inflating
the balloons and attaching them to the chair, the pair
ascended into the sky, cheered on by a small crowd
of friends and spectators. All the dollars down at the pub.
We didn't believe that we could do it.

Speaker 2 (35:37):
That's how all this starts. A dare at a pub,
is it is?

Speaker 1 (35:45):
Initially, their ascent was smooth, and they gained at it,
and they gained altitude rapidly, soon drifting over the English countryside. However,
as they approached the channel, things began to go awry.
Drawing crosswinds which they had not accounted for, started pushing
them off course, and the uneven distribution of balloons made

(36:08):
the chair tilt, causing the men to shift their weight
to keep it balanced. Oh boy, this made for an
uncomfortable and nerve racking journey the altitude.

Speaker 2 (36:20):
Yeah yeah, just hang on, hang on that one. Hang
on a minute.

Speaker 5 (36:25):
You move your foot there right over here, and move
the keg a little bit more.

Speaker 2 (36:34):
I'm just trying to get just a refail quick rafill.

Speaker 4 (36:38):
Fill me up one place.

Speaker 2 (36:41):
It might balance us a bit yeah, I'll go a piss.

Speaker 1 (36:51):
The altitude controlled system also proved problematic. They had a
difficult difficulty releasing the ballast bags in a controlled leading
to abrupt changes in altitude, and at one point they
ascended too high, where the air became colder and thinner,
causing discomfort and slight disorientation.

Speaker 2 (37:14):
I don't care how high they were. They wear fifteen
thousand feet know they get over it. Boy, Larry, Larry
chilled up there for two hours. You're eating sandwiches, because
you know what testament to the American spirit?

Speaker 1 (37:36):
The more these we read, there's a bunch, there's more
these we read, you're going to see that Larry was like,
actually pretty great for the first dinner.

Speaker 2 (37:44):
The picture of him looked like caught in the power lines.
He couldn't be cooler.

Speaker 1 (37:52):
So cool foor man, What I wish that was my dad?

Speaker 2 (37:58):
Just like cool guy right there.

Speaker 1 (38:01):
So as they drifted over the channel, the pair realized
that they were moving further off course than they anticipated.
They had no real means of navigating back on track,
and they had to rely entirely on luck for their landing.
Tension grew as they saw ships far below, and they knew,
and this is where they knew that they were in

(38:22):
one of the busy, busiest shipping lanes in the world.
So this is they land in the water. They could
easily be hit by a boat.

Speaker 2 (38:29):
Oh okay, got it all right, all right.

Speaker 1 (38:32):
Despite the challenges, the pair managed to reach France, whoa
about an hour in the air. Their landing was far
from graceful, but they drifted over farmland in northern France
and began descending rapidly. After cutting several balloons, the chair
hit the ground hard, tipping over and throwing the men out.

(38:54):
Fortunately none were injured.

Speaker 2 (38:58):
Sucker.

Speaker 1 (39:02):
Their flight covered approximately thirty miles, and this was a
remarkable distance given the simplicit, simplicity and instability of this apparatus.
Howard and Davis's flight received modest media coverage, but they
were largely largely viewed as imitators rather than pioneers. Their
lack of preparation and chaotic execution made their stunt more

(39:26):
of a curiosity than a significant achievement.

Speaker 2 (39:30):
So yes, yes, yes, is my answer. I think I
think I see where this is all building. You've you've
you've buttered you've butted me up with two stories of
great fame and success and all that. All that's coming
next is for you to ask. And I'm just going

(39:52):
to jump in front of it before you, you know,
before you ask the question and say yes, I'll do it.
Let's do it, to do it, which I get. You
know what, I don't know. You want to start from Chicago,
the windy city. That might help us. We are we
could do it in Pittsburgh and we there are lots

(40:12):
of rivers, so we plenty of things to go over.

Speaker 1 (40:16):
I don't know if you remember this, Mike, but you
know one a long time ago, like seven years ago,
before you left for Pittsburgh after an improv show, you
and I went to Trace Bar at a four am bar,
and we're drinking at that bar, and you know, you

(40:37):
said to me, you said, you know what, Bacon, as
soon as I'm married and have a kid, and you're
married and you have a kid, I want to do
a balloon flight. Yeah, you said, yeah, you remember saying
that to me?

Speaker 2 (40:50):
I I do. I do remember saying that. It was
probably three forty five in the morning and gold now
where we call it the Golden Hour of balloon exploration,
And I said, what is this all for? You know, sure,

(41:14):
sure we can get married, Sure we can have children
and pass on, you know, what we know in the
world to another life. But when I think of what
our legacy is, it's going as high as we can,
as far as we can on an illumina. That is

(41:39):
the one thing that I wouldn't change that both of
them got right. Aluminum, that is an under rated metal.

Speaker 1 (41:48):
Yeah, the highest strength to weight ratio. Oh yeah, oh yeah.
Georgia stands as Dad says, you.

Speaker 2 (41:54):
Ever get hit with an aluminum bat, no, you'd be dead.
So yeah, aluminum.

Speaker 1 (42:02):
Unfortunately the story does not here end here. We got
a few of these. Yeah, yeah. John Nino Maya, Nino Maya. Yeah,
John Nino Maya in nineteen eighty seven, No, No Maya,
Nino Maya. In nineteen eighty seven, an American John Ninomaya
was inspired by Larry Walters Walters and decided to give

(42:25):
his the whole balloons tied to a chair thing a try.
Nino Maya's flight was carried out with much more elaborate setup,
though than Walters, and instead of a simple chair, he
constructed a more refined and sturdier platform, a basket of sorts,

(42:46):
oh which would hold the pilot and supplies during his flight.
This system featured fifty two helium balloons.

Speaker 2 (42:57):
Oh, here we go.

Speaker 1 (42:59):
The platform was designed to accommodate not just the weight
of the balloons and the supplies, but it was also
for a radio to maintain radio communication, a parachute for
a new emergency situations, holy cow, a simple control system
to adjust his altitude by releasing sandbags as well. So

(43:23):
he's going with a sandbag method.

Speaker 2 (43:25):
That you said that as if it was new tech.
That's the same thing. It's like all you had. All
you had to do was read an article about both
of these idiots and then be like, you know what
they were missing was I don't think an A bag tech.

Speaker 1 (43:45):
They need an AI sandbag tech.

Speaker 2 (43:47):
This guy added nothing new the platform. He added the
platform his basket.

Speaker 1 (43:52):
He looked at other helium balloons, hot air balloons, and
he was like, hey, you know what they have right
the basket?

Speaker 2 (43:58):
How long though at this point, remember in the eighties,
how long have we had the hot air balloon? A while?
A long time?

Speaker 1 (44:06):
Yeah, a while.

Speaker 2 (44:08):
And the first two guys missed the basket part. They
missed it. They were like, oh, you know, in the
basket like contains everything you're safe in there.

Speaker 1 (44:19):
They're going for comfort. What's more comfortable, basket or chair?

Speaker 2 (44:22):
Chair? I don't set a basket.

Speaker 1 (44:25):
Yeah, I gotta be comfortable when I'm freezing in the feet.

Speaker 2 (44:30):
I made break a sweater. Hey, I hope this guy
had a two later a pepsi as well.

Speaker 1 (44:37):
However, unlike the other cluster balloon attempts, Neemiah's flight was
far more methodical in design, taking into account some of
the lessons learned from the earlier stunts. John's flight had
a grand vision to rise high into the sky using
a cluster of balloons, drift through the air, and experience
the atmosphere near space. He wanted to go higher. He

(45:02):
wanted to go Yeah, the upper atmosphere here where you
could see the curvature of the Earth very well and
see the darkness of space.

Speaker 2 (45:13):
Okay, it was his plan, mister Ninomiyah go, you got
it so.

Speaker 1 (45:21):
Unlike others who sought to cross specific geographical boundaries, Neo
Mayo's aim was less about distance and more about exploring
the sky vertically.

Speaker 2 (45:31):
So what direction on the map do you think you're headed?

Speaker 1 (45:34):
H Up.

Speaker 4 (45:37):
Upp is when I shall go and upp as when
I shall be.

Speaker 1 (45:41):
I want to kiss the sun.

Speaker 2 (45:44):
Oh okay, mister Nanomiah, up okay, where are you from? Sir?

Speaker 1 (45:52):
Me?

Speaker 6 (45:54):
I am from the sky, and that's as way. I
would like to return the sky with me. The sky
shall have me back, and if possible, I shall kiss
the sun.

Speaker 2 (46:08):
You sound like royalty.

Speaker 6 (46:10):
I am sky royalty. You may call me a skywalker
of some sort.

Speaker 2 (46:18):
All right, good luck.

Speaker 1 (46:23):
For some reason I envisioned him on a pogo stick
all the time.

Speaker 2 (46:27):
He probably brought one in the basket. You can hold
a lot in a basket. He probably brought so much
more stuff, because what are you gonna do? You're like,
I got this big basket, I may as well fill
it with stuff.

Speaker 1 (46:41):
His plan was to rise up for as long as
possible and eventually descend using a parachute holy which would
to name him to glide back to safety. So on
October sixth, nineteen eighty seven, John Nehemiah embarked on his flight,
launching from a field in Santa Clara, California. After a

(47:02):
tense and cautious setup, The fifty two balloons were filled
with helium and Neomyah wearing a jumpsuit and a hardis
boarded his balloon system. The initial ascent was slow but steady,
and he gained altitude and marveled at the view. Things
begin to go wrong, however, once Neamyah reached higher altitudes

(47:27):
and around sixteen thousand feet.

Speaker 2 (47:31):
Take that, Larry Walters.

Speaker 1 (47:32):
He is now higher. Yeah, here we go. Neomya's control
over the flight was limited. The system wasn't designed for
any form of directional steering, just like all the other ones,
and there was little he could do once he had
reached the peak of his ascent. At this point, once
he got to sixteen thousand feet, he had a couple challenges.

Speaker 2 (47:55):
One ran out of beer.

Speaker 1 (47:56):
Yeah, no, yait, I forgot to kiss the sky.

Speaker 6 (48:04):
But first I should have touched the rock, tasted the rockies.

Speaker 4 (48:10):
I've screwed it up.

Speaker 2 (48:12):
Well, there goes that sponsorship, Johnny.

Speaker 1 (48:16):
I hear some of the challenges they face. The cold
temperatures at the high altitude began to affect his body,
causing him to become increasingly uncomfortable. He realized that when
currents were carrying him in unpredictable directions, pushing him, pushing
him off his intended course, and the balloons began to
become more unstable as his altitude increased and a few

(48:39):
balloons started to pop, adding to a sense of urgency.

Speaker 2 (48:44):
Oh Despite these.

Speaker 1 (48:46):
Challenges, though, Neamayah maintained control, occasionally releasing ballast bags to
help regulate his altitude. As his altitude began to drop,
John Recci was relieved to see that he was act
on track for a safe landing. His parachute, which was
intended for only if the balloon system had failed, was

(49:07):
no longer necessary. Instead, he was able to slowly descend
at a relatively safe speed and landed in a remote.

Speaker 2 (49:15):
Area of California.

Speaker 1 (49:18):
The landing was not without its difficulties, however, due to
the high speed of the descent caused by the loss
of several of those balloons. John was jerked around during
the landing, and he was fortunate enough to avoid serious injury,
but he was bruised and shaken, probably one of the
worst landings out of all of them. John's flight, while

(49:41):
ultimately ending without major harm, was seen as a cautionary
tale in the world of cluster ballooning.

Speaker 2 (49:47):
Now it's a thing right about in cluster balloon monthly.

Speaker 1 (49:55):
I love that. I love that. I think they should
do it bi monthly.

Speaker 2 (50:01):
I gotta wait every month for that.

Speaker 1 (50:03):
You know, I wait for that second Tuesday. You know,
when that second Tuesday, it's I'm like, God, it's better
be in there. Unlike other famous figures like Larry Waters,
John's attempt didn't receive widespread media attention, but his journey,
you know, was among balloon enthusiasts. Among the balloon enthusiasts,

(50:23):
they liked it. Then we also have in two thousand
and seven, can stop, Wait a minute, Wait a minute,
and we jumped a few years. Everyone like what happened
was there was too many. There was one in eighty two,
another in eighty four, and then another in eighty seven,

(50:44):
so that now it just becomes old hat. And then
in the nineties we were too busy, you know, with
our X games and our playtations, right and sixty fours. Sure,
you know, we were already kissing the sky.

Speaker 2 (50:59):
And the internet. Then yeah and yeah, everybody was like, oh,
I got an email. It's really exciting, exciting times.

Speaker 1 (51:10):
It didn't happen for a long time, but then it
was back in two thousand and seven. Ken Stott an America,
an Australian adventurer, became known for his daring attempt to
fly using a series of helium balloons. Statt's balloon flight
involved using a modified chair back to chairs better be
aluminum better, and then he was going to attach the

(51:34):
helium balloons to that. The setup was similar to other
balloon powered flights, with some notable differences. Stott's chair was
designed for comfort and practicality while still being able to
support the lift needed for the flight. So he what
he learned, He made a comfy chair, which you needed
a more comfy chair.

Speaker 2 (51:56):
Holy count he learned.

Speaker 1 (51:59):
Imagine reading about all those other ones and being like,
you know what the problem was, chair wasn't comforty enough.

Speaker 2 (52:04):
Twenty years of R and D from eighty seven to
two thousand and seven, and all we improved was at
chance a bit comfie in it, you know, when you
had touched to be all lumpy.

Speaker 1 (52:26):
Uh So his Stott's flight, like many other extreme balloon stunts,
encountered several challenges that tested his endurance in preparation. The
launch went relatively smoothly as Stott ascended into the sky. However,
the nature of the flight meant that Stott was at

(52:46):
the mercy of the weather conditions, just like all of them,
just like all of them. He had to carefully manage
the balloons to ensure that they didn't become too inflated
or too loose. As Stott gained altitude, Dude, the weather
balloons began to behave unpredictably. Balloon expansion was a concern
because now you're up there, you have less less air pressure,

(53:09):
so the balloons get bigger and bigger. Oh in there.
As helium expands at higher altitudes due to decrease air pressure,
The wind conditions also became an issue. The unpredictable winds
at high altitude made it difficult to control his movement.
He needed to maintain constant focus on adjusting the ballasts

(53:30):
and releasing weight to steer the flight. He also had sandbags.
This is the sandbag way it works. You gotta have them.
As Stutt flew higher, the air thinned and it became
harder to breathe, and the low temperatures also made him uncomfortable.
Are you noticing a like everyone wants to go up there.
It's oh my god, it's cold and I can't breathe,
and then I can't get down.

Speaker 2 (53:51):
You know they don't. No one seems to be aware
of that that it's this. Nobody talked about how cold
it was up there when they asked, like Larry Walder, like,
what was it like up there? Fifteen thousand feet? Super cool?
It was just the coolest thing. You wish you could
do it, And I recommend it to everybody. And that's
all I'm gonna say always.

Speaker 1 (54:14):
Yeah, you get down. How was it? Oh? It was great.
I'm so glad. I spent all that time doing and
then almost just my life dying. I'm so glad. Yeah. Yeah, definitely,
definitely cool. Definitely do it. You should definitely try it.
Definitely give to the shot. Holy shit, fucking waste of time,
Jesus Christ. You know, his descent became trickier than expected

(54:35):
because the balloons didn't behave the way that he thought
they were going to, so it was kind of an
uncontrolled descent. But the flight did end with him managing
to land safely. Wow, it was more of a crash,
but he didn't have any major injuries. The public was
intrigued by this stunt but and there was admiration for

(54:57):
his courage, but the unpredicted ability of his flight caused concerns.
Then the next year, in two thousand and eight. Kent Couch.
Kent Couch, great name, Kent Couch in a couch.

Speaker 2 (55:12):
I think I have an idea what he's going to
strap the balloon? There we go.

Speaker 1 (55:19):
Kent Couch from Oregon. He game well known for his
unconventional and daring cluster balloon flight in two thousand and eight.
Like many before him, he was inspired by Larry Walters.
In nineteen eighty two, Kent constructed a homemade platform designed
to hold a small cabin like frame which he would

(55:41):
sit in during the flight.

Speaker 2 (55:42):
He's the old man from up Well.

Speaker 1 (55:46):
It was because the apparatus consisted of one hundred and
five weather balloons whole filled with helium. Those were tied
to that cabin and couch included several items like a
GPS device, radio communication equipment, and several supplies such as food, water,
and a parachute. Unlike some past attempts, Couch carefully tested

(56:10):
and adjusted his balloon rig multiple times before the final flight,
ensuring that he would be stable enough to carry him
through the air in a significant distance. He even included
a ballast control system and released ballasts and increments. Same
thing sandbags is what he was using. Kent Couch's ambitious
goal was to travel a significant dis distance from Bend,

(56:34):
Oregon to Idaho. Flight that's two hundred miles.

Speaker 2 (56:40):
Wow wants to go nice.

Speaker 1 (56:43):
His specific plan included aiming for a safe but gradual descent.
Couch carefully monitored weather conditions and timed his launch for
optimal weather, ensuring that calm winds and clear skies. He
wanted altitude management. He planned to control his height by
adjusting the back ellis, releasing sandbags at key points, allowing

(57:03):
him to maintain a consistent and manageable altitude.

Speaker 2 (57:06):
Only killing a couple people. Who's going to be underneath?

Speaker 1 (57:10):
Look at all those balloons up there. I died and
he wanted to navigate to Ohio. So, while Couch did
not have traditionary sorry sorry, sorry?

Speaker 2 (57:26):
What was that last part?

Speaker 1 (57:27):
Idaho? Sorry? Idaho?

Speaker 2 (57:28):
Did? No one in their right mind goes through this
much trouble to go to Ohio. I'm sorry, and I
apologize and apologize. If Bacon your fan is from Ohio,

(57:49):
I went to school in Ohio and you don't.

Speaker 1 (57:52):
I don't need to return.

Speaker 2 (57:53):
No one needs to go to Ohio. I wouldn't go
through this much trouble I'm three hours away from Ohio,
but it's just too far to.

Speaker 1 (58:02):
All right, So we wanted to get to Idaho. He
used GPS to track his progress. So in July third,
two thousand and eight, Kent Couch took off. Took off
from his home in Bend, Oregon, and the flight began
with a slow and steady rise into the sky as
the one hundred and five balloons lifted him off the ground.

(58:22):
The launch was filmed by Couch and his friend, and
the video quickly gained attention for its uniqueness and audacity.
And I have a YouTube.

Speaker 2 (58:33):
This is great. This is two years or so after YouTube,
so yeah, this better exists.

Speaker 1 (58:38):
Oh, we have to hold on, we have to listen
to this. Jimmy Johnes commercial.

Speaker 2 (58:43):
Freaky Fast. Is that can't count? I think? So, Oh,
everybody's in support of this. There's an event staff. That's

(59:04):
not a house, that's like a bumper boat. That's like
what you'd be on a duck pond with like you know,
paddle and a route and paddle boat it is you
said it was a cabin.

Speaker 1 (59:21):
Yeah, that's what the plan was. And then it just
turned into a like a steel kind of structure.

Speaker 2 (59:27):
Oh, man, it does look comfy though.

Speaker 1 (59:29):
It looks like a comfy seat.

Speaker 2 (59:31):
And that's, you know, something we got right in the
thirty years of testing.

Speaker 1 (59:35):
Let's see here, despite facing these okay, let's see here,
it took off. Eventually, everything thing went smoothly. The weather
was calm, and Couch was able to navigate the blue
and rig by releasing ballast bags, and he reached eight
thousand feet. But the wind direction wasn't playing to is.

(59:55):
It wasn't helping him out. He kept getting pushed off course,
so that wasn't working out out for him. And cold
temperatures once again, everybody is really surprised.

Speaker 2 (01:00:05):
Oh not what cold? Wait a minute, what nobody said
that was going to be cold? Wait a minute, this
is not okay. Look, you know you put in all
the time, you do all the research, and then just
you just have no idea how cold it's going to be.
Nobody brings uswater.

Speaker 1 (01:00:25):
Yeah, everyone dresses in bikinis. For some reason, A Couch
found himself heading east towards Idaho a bet, but he
was much further south than he planned, okay, and he
eventually had to make a controlled descent into northeast Oregon
about one hundred and ninety three miles from his starting point,
So he almost got those two hundred miles you just got.

Speaker 2 (01:00:46):
Oh, he just went way the wrong direction.

Speaker 1 (01:00:48):
Yeah, okay. And even though was descent was in a
remote ara area of Oregon, he ended up being caught
in some power lines.

Speaker 2 (01:00:57):
That's that's classic. That's glad he's pulling the walters.

Speaker 1 (01:01:01):
Yeah, but he was, He remained, He exited unscathed, he
was fine. His flight garnered widespread media attention, as you
could see from that YouTube video. He was celebrated as
a daring individual who pushed the limits of what's possible
in cluster balloon flight. The story was covered by many
news outlets, and he appeared on various talk shows, becoming

(01:01:24):
a symbol of extreme adventuring.

Speaker 2 (01:01:27):
So there is is it just now legal in two
thousand and eight? It's fine.

Speaker 1 (01:01:33):
No, he got a bunch of fines as well. Okay,
all these people are getting fines for what they're doing.

Speaker 2 (01:01:39):
Okay. I say, there was like a thirty person events
staff there helping him out and getting excited about it.
So I'm like, okay, you seem to be okay with
this now.

Speaker 1 (01:01:48):
But they paid it. Now, there's three more people that
do this. Three more and I'm just going to cover
one more. Well also, no, yeah, three more, and you're
not including us. Oh yeah, well we're going to be
the next ones after that. Yes, yes, I hope you've
been taking notes.

Speaker 2 (01:02:08):
So what we have. I've been writing down the number
of balloons that everyone did forty five, forty two, fifty two,
one oh five, and I think that's where they went wrong.

Speaker 1 (01:02:25):
Okay, how many are you going to have?

Speaker 2 (01:02:28):
Depends on the sides of our aluminum house.

Speaker 1 (01:02:33):
Okay, and how much how much cores we bring that
also is going to affect.

Speaker 2 (01:02:39):
Look, there's a whole there's a formula here, obviously, is
what we're learning. There's a formula that has to go
into It's beer times chair, beer times chair plus pepsi
and and it's you just got to balance the equation.
If you balance it with sandbags and sand bangs.

Speaker 1 (01:03:00):
I think you don't forget pelic gun knife, Oh, sandwiches.

Speaker 2 (01:03:06):
You're still on pelic gun. Larry Walters is the only
one who did the pelic gun. And then everyone said,
we don't need that anymore, we need sandbags.

Speaker 1 (01:03:14):
I like the pelic gun.

Speaker 2 (01:03:15):
I like your traditionalist you want to go back to
the roots in what worked, What worked?

Speaker 1 (01:03:21):
The man he did it? Why not just a real gun,
actually full on gun and gun.

Speaker 2 (01:03:28):
Also you don't know, Yeah, you don't know what kind
of birds? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:03:32):
Hunting?

Speaker 2 (01:03:34):
All right, all right?

Speaker 4 (01:03:35):
Cool?

Speaker 2 (01:03:35):
Who do you want to tell me about? Who's Who's
the last one? Who's next?

Speaker 1 (01:03:42):
Last one? I want to tell you about two thousand
and eight.

Speaker 2 (01:03:45):
It was a popular year for this.

Speaker 1 (01:03:46):
Huh, Yeah, I did the same year. David Blaine, I'm
familiar an American magician, illusionist, and quote endurance artist wild
known for his incredible feats of physical and mental endurance.
In two thousand and eight, Blaine performed the feet known

(01:04:07):
as quote the Daredevil stunt.

Speaker 2 (01:04:11):
He can levitate. He actually can levitate. So this isn't fair.

Speaker 1 (01:04:15):
Why doesn't he just levitate all the way? Why does
he need balloons? We've already seen you.

Speaker 2 (01:04:19):
Come on data.

Speaker 1 (01:04:24):
It's a daredevil stunt where he ascended into the sky
with a cluster of helium balloons. Blaine's team of engineers
and experts designed a customized platform to allow him to
float in mid air while maintaining some degree of control
over his ascent and descent. The setup included forty helium
filled weather balloons, allowing him to reach a calculated altitude

(01:04:47):
of over twenty four thousand feet.

Speaker 2 (01:04:50):
That's what they expected.

Speaker 1 (01:04:52):
What a custom platform that he was attached to with
a harness control ropes. The balloons were attached control ropes
that allowed Blaine to adjust his position in the air,
and an altitude control system where Blaine had a system
of release valves and ballast bags that he would use.

(01:05:13):
So there was release valves to let air out of
the balloons, but also still the sandbag method. It's the
best way.

Speaker 2 (01:05:19):
Yeah, yeah, okay, cool, okay.

Speaker 1 (01:05:23):
So the key objectives of this flight would be breaking
the world record for highest balloon flight, so he was
hoping to reach over twenty four thousand feet that's why
he was going for this, Oh my god, and enduring
psychological and physical stress. Blaine intended to endure the discomfort
and the possible danger of the flight, which would test

(01:05:45):
his limits both mentally and physically. I mean, he's gonna
get a little cold ace, and he wanted to have
a spectacular descent. Where Blaine's flight was designed as a
visual and emotional journey with the aim of bringing him
down safely. To Earth in a way that would create
a dramatic climax for his audience. Wow, all right, how

(01:06:08):
does he seem to have ruined it?

Speaker 2 (01:06:11):
He has ruined it.

Speaker 1 (01:06:12):
He's ruined it because he's got a whole.

Speaker 2 (01:06:14):
Team of people preparing, he's got all his money put
into it. I mean, that's why we like the Ripe Brothers,
because they were like the boostrap story. They just did it. Yeah,
this guy, come on, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:06:26):
You just I'm gonna have I'm gonna pay people to
do it, and I'll stand on there and make a
dumb face exactly. On September fifth, two thousand and eight,
David Blaine performed the stunt, taking off from Roosevelt Island
in New York City. At the start, the flight was
quite smooth. Blaine ascended steadily and the spectators in the
ground could see him floating high above the city. He

(01:06:47):
passed ten thousand feet, then fifteen thousand feet, and continued
upwards towards his goal. However, as he ascended as the
ascent continued, a few issues begin to emerge. One once again,
balloon expansion. As Blaine ascended into thinner air, the helium

(01:07:09):
balloons expanded, which caused them to shift unpredictably. So you
have all these balloons in a cluster. I guess we
haven't really talked about this, and it's solid and well.
You have them positioned and attached to your platform. You
know evenly the way that they are positioned being pulled

(01:07:30):
up in the sky. Right. But as you go up,
some of them get bigger than others, and it pushes
pushes them out of the way, and it starts messing
with all the cables and cords, and then it starts shifting,
and then all of a sudden, your straight platform is
now askew. You spilled beer all over yourself and get
a bunch of rockies on your pants. Also, he had

(01:07:54):
altitude issues. As he reached higher altitudes altitudes, the air
temper dropped and Blaine began to feel the effects of.

Speaker 2 (01:08:03):
The cold a little bit.

Speaker 1 (01:08:04):
Jilli. Yeah, who'd have thought? He was in a confined
space with little ability to move, and the lack of
oxygen at these altitudes made it difficult to breathe and
maintain focus.

Speaker 2 (01:08:16):
Sir, is there a video on him the whole time
or do we just have to take his word? Like
once he goes up, is he just curled up in
a ball being like, O, I'm so cold. There has
to be footage of this, Yeah, there has to be.

Speaker 1 (01:08:29):
Despite these challenges, Blaine pressed on and at one point
he even cut the tether that connected him to the ground.
Oh so he had a tether that was that high?

Speaker 2 (01:08:40):
Are you kidding me? That's that's a ridiculously long rope.

Speaker 1 (01:08:44):
Yeah. So, as the flight continued, Blaine passed the twenty
four thousand feet and broke the previous world record for
highest ascent with helium balloons. Blaine landed safely in the
New Jersey area, where he was greeted by his team.
The public reaction was mixed on this one. Many admired

(01:09:06):
his bravery and resilience, while other question the whole safety
and psychological toll of such a stunt. Also, it's been
done so many other times before then it was again.
It was done in twenty ten by a guy named
Jonathan Trapp. Uh, you know, same thing. August fifth, twenty ten.

(01:09:27):
He flew across the English Channel with the English balloons.

Speaker 2 (01:09:32):
But that's that part this time.

Speaker 5 (01:09:34):
Yeah right, Yeah, he got one hundred and fifty balloons,
he did, and one Mary Poppin's umbrella.

Speaker 1 (01:09:42):
It's all you really needed.

Speaker 2 (01:09:44):
I'm gonna break a record for most balloons.

Speaker 4 (01:09:49):
I'm gonna break a record for the most point strength
in this bar.

Speaker 1 (01:09:55):
I did the do he you know, same thing. Everyone
goes off, they don't go exactly where they want to go.

Speaker 2 (01:10:08):
He was it.

Speaker 1 (01:10:11):
Oh yeah, Jonathan Trapp did I already?

Speaker 2 (01:10:14):
Yeah, Jonathan Trapp is one hundred and fifty billions English Channel.

Speaker 1 (01:10:17):
They get bigger and he read about eight thousand feet
in his.

Speaker 2 (01:10:23):
Warm hours with warm at eight thousand yeah, so.

Speaker 1 (01:10:26):
He went twenty two miles and made a smooth landing.
He was good. Then the next year, twenty eleven, was
Tom Morgan, same old thing, God damn it. He had
control ropes, he had the sandbags, he had communication equipment.
He you know, his goal was to go across the
English Channel again, just like everybody else. But this time

(01:10:47):
he got blown off course. He had win problems, you know,
same thing as he had, lack of control, loss of altitude,
drifted off course and that was really it. That is
so far you know, the history of people trying to
fly with balloons.

Speaker 2 (01:11:09):
It's as if someone in the early eighties wrote a
book called like How to Fly with a bunch of
balloons or how to be a balloonist or whatever. What
are these people? What is it called balloon? What was
the was the name of the month?

Speaker 1 (01:11:31):
O magaz Oh? Yeah, the dang it title? Remember, but
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:11:37):
Yeah exactly. It's as if somebody wrote the book and
they just said here's how you do it, and then
everyone was like, well, I guess that's how you do it.
I don't think there's any you can't mess with perfection,
can't change it. That's right, that's perfect, let's do it.

Speaker 1 (01:11:52):
Well, what I think it's not an original idea, like
we all saw it in those old cartoons. You know,
it's just like, oh, you give you give a small
one helium balloon and they fly off, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:12:04):
Seen.

Speaker 1 (01:12:05):
For some reason, it wasn't until the eighties till someone
actually was like, oh, you know that terrifying thing that
I saw on the cartoon, I'm going to try to
do that.

Speaker 2 (01:12:14):
I I'm wondering how many balloon Well, first of all, okay,
it is two thy twenty five me the year I no,
I don't have to tell you the year. Can I
go buy helium balloons? Can I go buy balloons? And
helium right now.

Speaker 1 (01:12:31):
Oh, you cannot buy weather balloons. I can't buy weather
balloons and buy helium balloons. Yes, okay, and weather balloons
are just more solid well, yes, weather balloons are huge
and thick and made of like like, yeah, can withstand.
I don't think you could, well one. You don't want
to buy that many helium balloons because one of the
things I don't know if we ever covered it on

(01:12:52):
this podcast, was the Cleveland Balloons celebration where they release
all those balloons and it was a environmental disaster. Boat
been a boat capsized and they couldn't find the people
because there were so many balloons in the water.

Speaker 2 (01:13:08):
Oh my god.

Speaker 1 (01:13:09):
Yeah, that was that's a horrible one too. You don't
want to do that.

Speaker 2 (01:13:11):
That's bad for the environment.

Speaker 1 (01:13:13):
But also yeah, no, you are allowed to have a drone,
so I wonder how many drones we could attach there.

Speaker 2 (01:13:19):
It is. That's the new version. That's the twenty twenty
five version. We've been waiting.

Speaker 1 (01:13:25):
Yeah, okay, I got one drone. It can't lift anything.

Speaker 2 (01:13:28):
It just feel like like all the like drone taxi
conversations and the just private companies just doing their own
testing trying to figure that out. That feels very similar
to this, like just just a guys like I build
a big drone. Drones. Yeah, the more accessible drones become

(01:13:50):
and cheaper drones become, that's what we're looking at. We're
looking at people just.

Speaker 1 (01:13:53):
Being all right, getting our kids lifetime. Yes, they're going
to see that. You're going to be getting around drones.
I guess would we call them drones? So is that
point they're just quad copters or something?

Speaker 2 (01:14:06):
Sure, I do think it's going to be a blend
of new tech and old tech. That's always the.

Speaker 1 (01:14:12):
First on there get down by a pelt gun.

Speaker 2 (01:14:15):
I think it's going to be a drone, a large
drone and ropes coming off of that drone two, an
aluminum lawn chair. I think that is that is never
going away. That is what makes this work.

Speaker 1 (01:14:32):
That's what the one constant has been, the aluminum launchair.

Speaker 2 (01:14:37):
Even even for the folks, the blokes across the pond,
it was aluminium.

Speaker 1 (01:14:42):
There you go. They had to do it. You know what,
I bet you now it wouldn't be that. It would
be the you know, the fake wood and iron deck
Anon deck because at least you're a bit more secure
and a little bit more leaned back, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:14:57):
And as salt life sticker and uh and some some
Margaritaville plan as ascend into the sky.

Speaker 1 (01:15:05):
Well, that's what I want to do, Mike. I want
you and me to go to every Margaritaville in the
country via.

Speaker 2 (01:15:10):
Balloon All right, Challenge Accepted.

Speaker 1 (01:15:15):
That's that's the next podcast we do. It's called Challenge Acceptance.

Speaker 2 (01:15:21):
Oh boy, We're just we record from way up high
on a CBE radio because it's one of the essentials.

Speaker 1 (01:15:30):
Yes, cord light, sebe radio, sandwiches, lawn chair, sandbags, five things.
That's what you need to tell you.

Speaker 2 (01:15:41):
You ascend until the mountains turned blue, and that's how
you know you're at the bruising altitude and then you're
good go by.

Speaker 1 (01:15:50):
Your face good God, terrifying. So you go, Mike. Uh,
that's the story of balloon flight. That's know, that's where
we're heading. A story seven years in the making.

Speaker 2 (01:16:06):
That's amazing. When is the last The last one was
like twenty eleven. We haven't nobody's nobody's trying since I mean.

Speaker 1 (01:16:12):
Yeah, it's ripe, it's ready to go. Yeah, I feel
like now only somebody like David Blaine would have to
do it again.

Speaker 2 (01:16:23):
I feel like somebody who could get permission to like, yes,
you have to.

Speaker 1 (01:16:28):
Have permission, you have to have something. I mean, we
have had that one guy, Tod jump out of the
you know, he went into basically space and Skydove, remember that.

Speaker 2 (01:16:39):
He was in.

Speaker 1 (01:16:39):
That was a while ago too, I think.

Speaker 2 (01:16:41):
I do vaguely. But you've seen the picture of launcher Larry.

Speaker 1 (01:16:49):
Yeah, do you want to share your screen?

Speaker 2 (01:16:52):
It's so good. Yeah, I can try. Look at this dude.
Oh oh my god, he's in the Smithsonian. Yeah, that
chair is in the Smithsonian. Uh, here you go. You
guys are gonna love listening to this. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:17:13):
You know, if you still subscribe to this, you know,
thank you for staying subscribed.

Speaker 2 (01:17:17):
Uh you know, thank you, sir.

Speaker 1 (01:17:20):
If you want to see it, new stuff all the time.
Every Thursday, I have a live stream show called Internet
Supreme Court. You can go to Internet Supreme Court dot
com check out all our stuff. And right now we're
looking at lawn chair Larry and a black and white photo.

Speaker 2 (01:17:34):
You know, it's just so good.

Speaker 1 (01:17:36):
So much stuff is just yeah, and you can see
that he's really you know, he's really safe in there
with all this chords around him.

Speaker 2 (01:17:47):
Look at that chair. Wow, I can't.

Speaker 1 (01:17:51):
It's the standard aluminum chair that has you know, the
aluminum frame and then the like plastic.

Speaker 2 (01:17:58):
Woven what those what are he's got? Oh, he's got
water jugs on there. Those were his ballasts the way
I'm down.

Speaker 1 (01:18:08):
They didn't know that was the way I'm down. Still
wasn't enough though, he was way off. Great shirt though.

Speaker 2 (01:18:15):
I hope that chair is in the Smithsonian. I hope
it is.

Speaker 1 (01:18:18):
It is the chair I think the chairs in the Smithsonian.
It's the first one to do it. He was the
most famous one to do it. There it is, there's
a chair. If you're at the Smithsonian, you can go
check it out. I guess it wasn't plastic. It was
more of like those rubber strappy that weave that woven
strappiness or whatever. And it's really sad that go down.

(01:18:42):
You could see, uh, you could see him on David Letterman.
Scroll down a little bit more, keep going, keep going
there he is, oh yellow shirt. Yeah, you know he's
on David Letterman.

Speaker 2 (01:18:53):
You know he's.

Speaker 1 (01:18:55):
Has that beautiful mustache. He did something that nobody else did. Yeah,
and it just you know he also came around in
a time where you know, flashes of fame like this,
a lot of people didn't experience it. Now, if this
happened now, like there's so many people that have experienced
this kind of like flash of the pan fame, and

(01:19:17):
he probably would have been able to have somebody to
talk to, and he probably would it wouldn't have had
the negative social stigma of going to therapy or something
like that. Yeah, that you know what, that's what happens
if you're the first person to do it a long
time ago.

Speaker 2 (01:19:30):
Poor guy, I know, I'm really saying, Yeah, he's so cool.
It's so cool because it's like we had the guts
to do it. Uh, I don't know, there's just so
there's so much that's a shame. That's a shame that
it didn't work out for him because of that.

Speaker 1 (01:19:48):
I mean, think of all the stories that I told you,
of all the people who tried the one you're only
going to remember launch hair Larry, that's it, and maybe
David Blaine. But because that's for other reasons.

Speaker 2 (01:19:58):
Right right, Yeah, all these other guys exactly, they're just
they're copycats. As you said, Yeah, well done, Lon chair Larry,
thank you. For being a pioneer. Sir, thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:20:10):
Anything that you have to promote, Mike, just for life.

Speaker 2 (01:20:14):
I get, yeah, I got, I got. I got two kids,
and I hope that they, you know, they grow up
and they become very very famous and uh and uh

(01:20:35):
successful and talented and uh, you know, I can retire
and uh, I don't have to work.

Speaker 1 (01:20:47):
Taught her to do something where she makes a lot
of money, and then I could just stop doing stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:20:52):
Here's here's the thing. Somebody has to be Taylor Swift's parents.

Speaker 1 (01:20:57):
Okay, I can do that.

Speaker 2 (01:20:58):
I can, I can, I can do that. Yeah, job,
but I think you could do it. Yeah, no, I
don't know. I don't have anything to promote, but I
am looking forward to Wow twenty thirty two when we
do the next one.

Speaker 1 (01:21:18):
How about this, Mike, how about you guys stay subscribe?
People still listen to this podcast all the time. I could.
You know, I'm very surprised. I get people reaching out.
They really like it, and you know, maybe I'll reach
out to you again. We'll record another one. Maybe it
won't take so long.

Speaker 2 (01:21:36):
I would love I would love that and uh yeah
maybe this year. And you don't have you know, twenty
twenty five, and I don't have to tell you what
yar it is, but I know what it is. Yeah,
this year, this year'd be great. Any year. I'll do
it any year. Yeah, that's it, man, this is very cool.
Thank you for pulling this one out of the archive

(01:21:57):
and teaching me something. I am fascinated by lawn chair Larry.
I'm probably gonna go watch that David, let him and
clip and learn a little bit about the guy because
this was super fun. Well, these other guys, forget them.
I don't care. I don't care about any of these
other dudes, copycats. I don't even remember.

Speaker 1 (01:22:14):
All right, thanks for listening.