Press Release: Lawn Chair Larry Grid Flight July 2nd, 2017

It is with great excitement that I host another Lawn Chair Larry Memorial Grid Flight. Our flight will take off from the Flying Burrito Brothers Airport and fly east to the Blake Sea. We will fly over Second Norway and head south and then west. Our flight will end at Komatsu Airport. Please see attached map for flight plan. We will have a free chair available to all participants. There is also an inexpensive one available on Marketplace. Just search Flying Lawn Chair. This is a Fly for Life Event. We are asking that participants make a donation to Relay for Life of Second Life. Donations are optional but much appreciated.

What: Lawn Chair Larry Grid Flight

Where: Start - Flying Burrito Brothers Airport

When: 12:00 PM Sunday July 2rd

Who: All are welcome

Flight Plan Map

Start : Flying Burrito Brothers - Unity Airport elev 53, Westbury (183, 18, 53)

Half Way: Second Norway Lufthavn [ SNO / SLSN ] - Airport, Airport SNO (155, 143, 31)

Finish: Komatsu Regional Airport, St Diabloux (124, 130, 54)



Historical Information

On July 2nd 1982 Larry Walters tied 42 weathers balloons to a lawn chair and took an epic 2 hour flight soaring up to an altitude of over 16,000 feet and flying into the air space above Los Angeles and Long Beach Airports.  Larry landed safely but was immediately arrested. He was not charged immediately because the FFA had to figure out what laws Larry Actually broke.  Larry passed away in 1993 but his legend lived on with many untrue details being added to it. With the advent of the Internet Lawn Chair Larry became an urban legend.
Mark Berry an aviator and owner of “InMotion Simulation, became interested in Larry’s story in 1995. He did some research and found the story to be true. He posted his findings on a website in 1999. He received emails from all over the world and many people did not believe the Lawn Chair flight to be true. So Mark went right to the source and interviewed Larry’s family and friends visited the crash sight and obtained the audio recording of Larry’s flight as he talked on his CB radio to the local REACT team.  

Here is an excerpt of the story from Mark Berry’s Website.
On July 2nd, 1982, Larry tied 42 helium-filled balloons to a Sears lawn chair in the backyard of his girlfriend's house in San Pedro, California. With the help of his ground crew, Larry then secured himself into the lawn chair which was anchored to the bumper of a friend's car by two nylon tethers. He took with him many supplies, including a BB gun to shoot out the balloons when he was ready to descend. His goal was to sail across the desert and hopefully make it to the Rocky Mountains in a few days. But things didn't quite work out for Larry. After his crew purposely cut the first tether, the second one also snapped which shot Larry into the LA sky at over 1,000 feet per minute. So fast was his ascent that he lost his glasses. He then climbed to over 16,000 feet. For several hours he drifted in the cold air near the LA and Long Beach airports. A TWA pilot first spotted Larry and radioed the tower that he was passing a guy in a lawn chair at 16,000! Larry started shooting out a few balloons to start his descent but had accidentally dropped the gun. He eventually landed in a Long Beach neighborhood. Although he was entangled in some power lines, he was uninjured.