I happened to catch the Art Bell show on the radio today. His show discusses UFO's, Paranormal activities, Area 51, conspiracy theories and such like.
The topic today was an hour long show about the late Larry Walters, more commonly recognised for his successful flight over the LA area in a multiple weather balloon powered, lawn chair.
The background to the story is actually very interesting, and Mark Barry has created a web-site which includes various details of the planning (yes it was planned) and various photographs of the actual vehicle and flight.
There is also an audio file of the recorded conversations between Larry, his girlfriend (who was really freaking out) and various agencies, including an extremely confused ATCO trying to figure out what exactly was going on. As soon as they took to the air, they phoned LAX and advised them of their activities!
The real story is actually much more interesting than the Darwin Award summary, and for anyone involved in Aviation, it is really worth reading - I think it qualifies to be in this forum.
The actual lawn-chair has been rediscovered and is going to be exhibited in the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum - pretty cool!
Larry, a lawnchair and some weather balloons - the real story!