Pop Culture
On July 2, 1982, Larry Walters made an improvised flight over Southern California by lifting off from San Pedro in a lawn chair rigged to 42 helium weather balloons. The unauthorized trip lasted about 45 minutes, rose to roughly 16,000 feet, drifted into controlled airspace near Long Beach Airport, and ended in Long Beach when the descending chair snagged power lines and caused a brief blackout, though Walters landed safely. A Los Angeles native who had long wanted to fly, Walters became a minor celebrity after the stunt. The episode became one of cluster ballooning’s best-known events, and the chair was later preserved by the Smithsonian.
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