The Man Who Flew with Balloons: Larry Walters' Epic Adventure

Many kids dream of becoming pilots one day. Such was the case with Larry Walters, who was born in Los Angeles. At the age of 13, he started dreaming of flight after seeing weather balloons hanging near U.S. Air Force bases. Over the years, he crafted a plan for personal aviation. As an adult, he tried to join the U.S. Air Force but was disqualified due to poor eyesight. He became a truck driver but never gave up on his dream.

At 33, Walters decided to take matters into his own hands. On March 23, 1982, he bought a plastic chair, tied 45 colorful weather balloons filled with helium to it, and donned a parachute, knowing full well he might rise too high. Armed with an air rifle to control his ascent, if necessary, his fiancée, Carol, warned him about planes in the sky and the danger of his stunt, but Walters insisted everything would be fine. It was not.

The chair Walters used to fly

When his friends cut the cord tying his chair to the ground, Walters soared to 15,000 feet! The force of the balloons was so strong that instead of drifting over the neighborhood, Walters shot upwards alarmingly fast, with no sign of slowing down. Once aloft, he informed Carol that he didn't see much aside from houses below. As he rose higher, he realized the plan to descend by popping some balloons was too risky; he could land abruptly. So, he decided to sit tight and hope for the best.

As temperatures dropped, he could no longer sit idly. He tried to reassure Carol but acknowledged he was in trouble. Instead of drifting toward the desert as planned, his flying contraption began crossing the sea. He entered the airspace of Los Angeles International Airport, startling the pilots.

Afraid of drifting over the ocean, Walters knew it was now or never. He started popping balloons with his air rifle, but even that didn’t solve his predicament. When his gun slipped from his grasp, it forced him to descend, but Walters feared more than anything else landing on power lines. Luckily, his friends on the ground informed authorities about the unfolding drama, leading to a temporary local electricity cut. Moments later, his flying machine got caught on power lines, but Walters emerged unscathed.

Walters spent an hour and a half airborne, covering over 20 miles across Los Angeles. Once he landed, residents greeted him eagerly, and he remarked, "By Hashem's grace, I fulfilled my dream. But I wouldn’t do it again for anything." The authorities, however, were not amused. Once they confirmed he was unharmed, the Los Angeles police took him into custody. Ultimately, five months later, Walters was fined $4,000 for various aviation offenses.

This bizarre stunt propelled him into the limelight, but sadly, he met his end about a decade later.