As he made about 40 kilometres an hour, a three-car caravan filled with friends, family and the dog followed him from below.Ĭouch said he could hear cattle and children, and he said he even passed through clouds. Saturday after kissing his wife, Susan, goodbye and petting his Chihuahua, Isabella. 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. Like Walters, he used a BB gun to pop the balloons, but he went into a rapid descent and eventually parachuted to safety. In September, he got off the ground for six hours. Walters paid a $1,500 penalty for violating air traffic rules. Walters managed to surprise an airline pilot, who radioed the control tower that he had just passed a guy in a lawn chair. It's just like that.''Ĭouch is the latest American to emulate Larry Walters - who in 1982 rose five kilometres above Los Angeles in a lawn chair lifted by balloons. "This is as close as you can come to jumping on them.
"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. "When you're a little kid and you're holding a helium balloon, it has to cross your mind,'' Couch told the local Bend Bulletin newspaper. Nearly nine hours later, the 47-year-old gas station owner came back to earth in a farmer's field near Union, Ore., short of Idaho but about 310 kilometres from home. With that, Couch headed into the Oregon sky. With instruments to measure his altitude and speed, a global positioning system device in his pocket, and about four plastic bags holding 19 litres of water each to act as ballast - he could turn a spigot, release water and rise. Attached to his lawn chair were 105 large helium balloons.
Last weekend, Kent Couch settled down in his lawn chair with some snacks - and a parachute.
0 kommentar(er)
