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RandalFlagg
Stranger
Registered: 06/15/02
Posts: 15,608
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I'm thinking about unnecessarily risking my life to do this
#7156223 - 07/10/07 12:08 PM (16 years, 7 months ago) |
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070710/ap_on_re_us/flying_lawn_chair
105 balloons put lawn chair pilot in air
BEND, Ore. - Last weekend, Kent Couch settled down in his lawn chair with some snacks — and a parachute. Attached to his lawn chair were 105 large helium balloons.
Destination: Idaho.
With instruments to measure his altitude and speed, a global positioning system device in his pocket, and about four plastic bags holding five gallons of water each to act as ballast — he could turn a spigot, release water and rise — Couch headed into the Oregon sky.
Nearly nine hours later, the 47-year-old gas station owner came back to earth in a farmer's field near Union, short of Idaho but about 193 miles from home.
"When you're a little kid and you're holding a helium balloon, it has to cross your mind," Couch told the Bend Bulletin.
"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. "This is as close as you can come to jumping on them. It's just like that."
Couch is the latest American to emulate Larry Walters — who in 1982 rose three miles above Los Angeles in a lawn chair lifted by balloons. Walters had surprised an airline pilot, who radioed the control tower that he had just passed a guy in a lawn chair. Walters paid a $1,500 penalty for violating air traffic rules.
It was Couch's second flight.
In September, he got off the ground for six hours. Like Walters, he used a BB gun to pop the balloons, but he went into a rapid descent and eventually parachuted to safety.
This time, he was better prepared. 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.
He took off at 6:06 a.m. Saturday after kissing his wife, Susan, goodbye and petting his Chihuahua, Isabella. As he made about 25 miles an hour, a three-car caravan filled with friends, family and the dog followed him from below.
Couch said he could hear cattle and children, and he said he even passed through clouds.
"It was beautiful — beautiful," he told KTVZ-TV. He described the flight as mostly peaceful and serene, with occasional turbulence, like a hot-air balloon ride sitting down.
Couch decided to stop when he was down to a gallon of water and just eight pounds of ballast. Concerned about the rugged terrain outside La Grande, including Hells Canyon, he decided it was time to land.
He popped enough balloons to set the craft down, although he suffered rope burns. But after he jumped out, the wind grabbed his chair, with his video recorder, and the remaining balloons and swept them away. He's hoping to get them back some day.
Brandon Wilcox, owner of Professional Air, which charters and maintains planes at the Bend airport, said Thursday that Couch definitely did it. Wilcox said he flew a plane nearby while Couch traveled, and a passenger videotaped the flying lawn chair.
Whether Couch will take a third trip is up to his wife, and Susan Couch said she's thinking about saying no. But she said she was willing to go along with last weekend's trip.
"I know he'd be thinking about it more and more, it would always be on his mind," she said. "This way, at least he's fulfilled his dream."
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Yoschie99
nomad


Registered: 11/24/99
Posts: 3,149
Loc: center of earth
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Re: I'm thinking about unnecessarily risking my life to do this [Re: RandalFlagg]
#7156244 - 07/10/07 12:16 PM (16 years, 7 months ago) |
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i call shotgun in the chase car!

yos-
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Innominate



Registered: 06/12/05
Posts: 2,136
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Re: I'm thinking about unnecessarily risking my life to do this [Re: Yoschie99]
#7156266 - 07/10/07 12:24 PM (16 years, 7 months ago) |
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This reminds me of that video where the astronaut guy goes really far up, almost into space, and parachutes down. IF anyone could find that video it would be great.
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RandalFlagg
Stranger
Registered: 06/15/02
Posts: 15,608
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Re: I'm thinking about unnecessarily risking my life to do this [Re: Innominate]
#7156277 - 07/10/07 12:26 PM (16 years, 7 months ago) |
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That's from the movie, "The Right Stuff". It's a recreation of a true event where Chuck Yeager wanted to see how high a plane would go. He went almost into space and the jet engines stalled out. He had to bail out. The air was so thin that he had to wait for many minutes until he got to an altitude where he was able to pull his parachute cord. Total badass.
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Innominate



Registered: 06/12/05
Posts: 2,136
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Re: I'm thinking about unnecessarily risking my life to do this [Re: RandalFlagg]
#7156290 - 07/10/07 12:29 PM (16 years, 7 months ago) |
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That sounds pretty cool, but I was talking about this one-
Edit- The Google video one is much better quality-
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1120619888350136916&q=first+man+in+space
Edited by Innominate (07/10/07 12:44 PM)
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WhiskeyClone
Not here


Registered: 06/25/01
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Loc: Longitudinal Center of Canada ...
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Re: I'm thinking about unnecessarily risking my life to do this [Re: RandalFlagg]
#7156298 - 07/10/07 12:32 PM (16 years, 7 months ago) |
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I would shit my pants
-------------------- Welcome evermore to gods and men is the self-helping man. For him all doors are flung wide: him all tongues greet, all honors crown, all eyes follow with desire. Our love goes out to him and embraces him, because he did not need it. ~ R.W. Emerson, "Self-Reliance"
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RandalFlagg
Stranger
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Re: I'm thinking about unnecessarily risking my life to do this [Re: Innominate]
#7156306 - 07/10/07 12:34 PM (16 years, 7 months ago) |
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Oh yeah...I remember hearing about that guy too. That took some balls.
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TMshroom
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Re: I'm thinking about unnecessarily risking my life to do this [Re: Innominate]
#7156310 - 07/10/07 12:35 PM (16 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
Innominate said: This reminds me of that video where the astronaut guy goes really far up, almost into space, and parachutes down. IF anyone could find that video it would be great.
here you go:
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jewunit
Brutal!

Registered: 01/11/07
Posts: 34,264
Loc: Ohio
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Re: I'm thinking about unnecessarily risking my life to do this [Re: RandalFlagg]
#7156347 - 07/10/07 12:45 PM (16 years, 7 months ago) |
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Seeing as this is the Shroomery, it has to be said... That would be awesome while tripping.
-------------------- !
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toastandjam
Tastes Grate, Lesh Philling




Registered: 05/07/06
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Re: I'm thinking about unnecessarily risking my life to do this [Re: jewunit]
#7156408 - 07/10/07 01:01 PM (16 years, 7 months ago) |
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I've always thought it would be great to have a personal helicopter to handle traffic snafus and not be bound by less-efficient routes as necessitated by roads.
Acecraft has one for only 1500 bucks I think....

-------------------- Q: We wanted to see if you had the ability to expand your mind and your horizons... and for one brief moment, you did. PICARD: When I realized the paradox... Q: Exactly. For that one fraction of a second, you were open to options you'd never considered. That's the exploration that awaits you...not mapping stars and studying nebulae... but charting the unknowable possibilities of existence. To carry yourself forward and experience myriad things is delusion. That myriad things come forth and experience themselves is awakening. -Dogen Zenji
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RandalFlagg
Stranger
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Posts: 15,608
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Re: I'm thinking about unnecessarily risking my life to do this [Re: toastandjam]
#7156418 - 07/10/07 01:04 PM (16 years, 7 months ago) |
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Woah...that's really cool.
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TMshroom
one
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Re: I'm thinking about unnecessarily risking my life to do this [Re: toastandjam]
#7156444 - 07/10/07 01:10 PM (16 years, 7 months ago) |
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How about $35,000?
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Innominate



Registered: 06/12/05
Posts: 2,136
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Re: I'm thinking about unnecessarily risking my life to do this [Re: TMshroom]
#7156496 - 07/10/07 01:29 PM (16 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
TMshroom said: How about $35,000?
Yeah. If it was 1500 I would definitely get myself one, but the site says 35k.
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toastandjam
Tastes Grate, Lesh Philling




Registered: 05/07/06
Posts: 752
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Re: I'm thinking about unnecessarily risking my life to do this [Re: TMshroom]
#7156542 - 07/10/07 01:44 PM (16 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
TMshroom said: How about $35,000?
Oops. That should have read 15000. Still not quite right. I remember a while back finding a different company that was getting ready to launch their own version and it was definately less than 35k.
But if you really want to, I mean, a lazy boy, some balloons and a tank? A few hundred bucks?
-------------------- Q: We wanted to see if you had the ability to expand your mind and your horizons... and for one brief moment, you did. PICARD: When I realized the paradox... Q: Exactly. For that one fraction of a second, you were open to options you'd never considered. That's the exploration that awaits you...not mapping stars and studying nebulae... but charting the unknowable possibilities of existence. To carry yourself forward and experience myriad things is delusion. That myriad things come forth and experience themselves is awakening. -Dogen Zenji
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RandalFlagg
Stranger
Registered: 06/15/02
Posts: 15,608
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Re: I'm thinking about unnecessarily risking my life to do this [Re: toastandjam]
#7156553 - 07/10/07 01:49 PM (16 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
toastandjam said: But if you really want to, I mean, a lazy boy, some balloons and a tank? A few hundred bucks?
That's what I was thinking. Also, add in the cost of a spatula to scrape me off of the ground when this all goes horribly wrong.
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TMshroom
one
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Re: I'm thinking about unnecessarily risking my life to do this [Re: RandalFlagg]
#7156595 - 07/10/07 02:02 PM (16 years, 7 months ago) |
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You can use an UMBARALLA to slow down your fall....
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