# Going aloft with balloons and a lawnchair
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-aloft-with-balloons-and-a-lawnchair/361298
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
**Created:** [June 19, 2006, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-aloft-with-balloons-and-a-lawnchair/361298 "2006-06-19T15:12:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2006, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-aloft-with-balloons-and-a-lawnchair/361298/1 "2006-06-19T15:12:33Z")
[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3\_131.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_131.html)
This was fictionalized in the movie _Danny Deckchair_ three years ago… anyone see it? The preview made it seem pretty light-hearted (no helium pun intended), as I remember. Was the original deckchair guy credited in the movie?
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### Author:  [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2006, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-aloft-with-balloons-and-a-lawnchair/361298/2 "2006-06-19T15:59:13Z")
In the aftermath of poor Larry’s 90 minute flight, the meteoric plunge of his remaining life is a cautionary tale. Larry got high without drugs, and look what happened! :eek:
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2006, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-aloft-with-balloons-and-a-lawnchair/361298/3 "2006-06-19T16:19:37Z")
> [@Elendil's Heir](#):
>
> Was the original deckchair guy credited in the movie?
I am pretty sure that when [Cutter John](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutter_John) repeated this in his wheel chair that [Berke Breathed](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berke_Breathed) did not give poor Larry credit either.
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### Author:  [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2006, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-aloft-with-balloons-and-a-lawnchair/361298/4 "2006-06-19T17:07:57Z")
> [@AskNott](#):
>
> …the meteoric plunge of his remaining life is a cautionary tale. Larry got high without drugs, and look what happened! :eek:
Yes! Obvious unspoken moral to the story: keep your chair firmly planted on your porch and smoke some weed.
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### Author:  [@Pedro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pedro)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2006, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-aloft-with-balloons-and-a-lawnchair/361298/5 "2006-06-19T17:34:48Z")
What a great story! If you listen to the audio tape of the CB radio traffic with Larry on [this](http://www.markbarry.com/lawnchairman.html) site, it’s unbelievable how calm Larry is during the whole flight, chatting idly on his CB. What a character! Two commercial airline pilots reported seeing a man floating in a lawn chair holding a gun at 16000ft. It’s hilarious! It’s people like this that… that… give credence to urban legends…? Wherever you are, rest in peace Larry the Lawn Chair Pilot and stay proud.
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### Author:  [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2006, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-aloft-with-balloons-and-a-lawnchair/361298/6 "2006-06-19T17:43:51Z")
I actually tried to do this when I was a kid with trash bags and candles. It wasn’t too long after I melted my first trash bag that I figured out this method of flying wouldn’t work. :rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2006, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-aloft-with-balloons-and-a-lawnchair/361298/7 "2006-06-19T18:57:03Z")
> [@control-z](#):
>
> I actually tried to do this when I was a kid with trash bags and candles.
Mr. Wizard or The A-Team?
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### Author:  [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2006, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-aloft-with-balloons-and-a-lawnchair/361298/8 "2006-06-19T19:02:52Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#):
>
> Mr. Wizard or The A-Team?
Not Mr. Wizard, we didn’t have cable back then. Maybe A-Team. 😃
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### Author:  [@Ins\_Outs\_What-have-yous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ins_Outs_What-have-yous)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2006, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-aloft-with-balloons-and-a-lawnchair/361298/9 "2006-06-19T19:19:13Z")
Why is that article dated 28-Oct-1988 if Cecil describes the death of Larry in 1993?
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2006, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-aloft-with-balloons-and-a-lawnchair/361298/10 "2006-06-19T19:49:16Z")
> [@ArchitectChore](#):
>
> Why is that article dated 28-Oct-1988 if Cecil describes the death of Larry in 1993?
Columns sometimes get appended with (undated) new information and retain their oritinal print date.
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### Author:  [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2006, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-aloft-with-balloons-and-a-lawnchair/361298/11 "2006-06-19T21:16:15Z")
Larry’s flight was also recreated in one of the very first episodes of Mythbusters, with Adam Savage standing in for Larry. Amazing episode.
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### Author:  [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2006, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-aloft-with-balloons-and-a-lawnchair/361298/12 "2006-06-19T23:44:43Z")
> [@control-z](#):
>
> Not Mr. Wizard, we didn’t have cable back then. Maybe A-Team. 😃
_Watch Mr. Wizard_ premiered on NBC, March 3, 1951.
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### Author:  [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2006, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-aloft-with-balloons-and-a-lawnchair/361298/13 "2006-06-20T00:01:16Z")
Note that he wants his friend to notify LAX, but he’s closer to Long Beach airport.
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### Author:  [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2006, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-aloft-with-balloons-and-a-lawnchair/361298/14 "2006-06-20T01:47:11Z")
> [@John W. Kennedy](#):
>
> _Watch Mr. Wizard_ premiered on NBC, March 3, 1951.
I did not know that, I only heard of him from the early days of Nickelodeon.
He was a B24 bomber pilot in WW2 also!
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### Author:  [@Ins\_Outs\_What-have-yous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ins_Outs_What-have-yous)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2006, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-aloft-with-balloons-and-a-lawnchair/361298/15 "2006-06-20T11:18:49Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#):
>
> Columns sometimes get appended with (undated) new information and retain their oritinal print date.
Ah.
I suppose I should have assumed that.
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### Author:  [@Foghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foghead)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2006, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-aloft-with-balloons-and-a-lawnchair/361298/16 "2006-06-20T11:45:20Z")
Note also that this historic event is recreated in an episode of the Discovery Channel show MythBusters. Unfortunately in their case the tether does not break; Adam only reaches an altitude of about 75 feet. Still, the episode gives you an appreciation for the logistics involved.
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2006, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-aloft-with-balloons-and-a-lawnchair/361298/17 "2006-06-20T14:40:32Z")
> [@control-z](#):
>
> > [@John W. Kennedy](#):
> >
> > Watch Mr. Wizard premiered on NBC, March 3, 1951.
>
> I did not know that, I only heard of him from the early days of Nickelodeon.
The Nickelodeon series contained an experiment with a drycleaning bag and a bit of Sterno.