As for the lawn chair guy. He claimed his launch at that particular time and place was an accident too. And it may have been because IIRC he lost his glasses, his gun (to come down with) and his radio at (or more likely just 1 or 2 of those, I forget).
Yeah, if something weighs less than about 260 lbs, doesnt carry more than 5 gallons of gas, and can only go about highway speeds (I forget the exact number) you don’t need a license to fly it. But the FAA still has some pretty strict rules on what you do with it, like where you fly it.
One might suspect that the FAA has even more strict rules regarding balloons since you cant control them as easily. And maybe even more so for unmanned ones since no one is at the wheel.
My impression is the FAA gets pretty darn pissy about “accidents” that were reasonably preventable. IMO this was solidly in the preventable category.
If the FAA was in charge of roads, I’d WAG that about 90 percent of drivers in accidents wouldnt have a drivers license anymore.
Walters did not lose his gun during his flight and had a radio with him, because he was in contact with people on the ground. His balloon ascended faster than he thought, so he didn’t shoot the balloons until he was stable. Gradually he shot enough of them to come down.
In the Wife Swap video, the dad talks about how he was abducted by aliens one night and the aliens told him that he and his wife are the descendants of aliens. Er…yeah.
Speaking about Larry Walters, I think his flight is about the funniest thing I have ever heard about. Apparently an airliner saw him and I can’t help thinking of the pilots aboard the jet casually looking out their window and seeing some guy floating along in a lawn chair with a gun. I can’t help but believe they questioned their sanity for a few moments. Can you imaging being a passenger and looking out your window to see Larry floating out your window.
I believe he was charged by the FAA of operating an aircraft that did not have a current “Air Worthiness Certificate” or something like that.
YES. From the day I heard about that, that became perhaps the number one thing in this world that I might have realistically seen with my own eyes that I would choose over all others if I could.
On GMA one of the older kids said he saw Falcon crawling around under the balloon. A possible scenario is that he’s crawling around under there and Dad yells at him. He gets sad and hides. In the mean time, the rest of the family is futsing with the balloon and it comes loose. They look around and don’t see Falcon and the other boy says he last saw him under the balloon. Dad, who is obviously in a constant state of spaz flips out and assumes the kid is in the balloon, despite the fact that he should know full well that the thing isn’t big enough to lift off with the kid.
In watching the video of the balloon breaking loose, it’s pretty obvious by the way it’s moving that there couldn’t be a kid in there.
I could tell you some stories about a few of the pioneers of the early hot air ballooning community. Crazy shit, involving makeshift oxygen storage systems consisting of glued together black plastic garbage bags & plastic tubing.
In the CNN interview, the family is sitting there while Wolf Blitzer is asking them questions. At one point Blitzer asks why didn’t the kid answer when everyone was calling his name. Everybody looks at the kid and, I think, the father repeats the question to the kid. **WTF? They waited until they were all seated in front of CNN’s cameras, before asking the kid why he didn’t answer? Wouldn’t that have been the very first thing they’d ask him, as soon as they found him? **That whole family seems to be seriously dysfunctional, and I have a hard time believing that the father is any kind of scientist.
And why did they just happen to be recording the balloon when it broke free? And it was obvious from that video that there was no basket, and there was nothing as heavy as a child aboard.
Well I assume that they knew, but the audience/CNN didn’t and they were just asking it as an interview question. The reason for the parent to repeat the question to the kid was that the children had no microphones–they were repeating it so the kids could hear it.
If it was a hoax…how in the world did they get a 6 year old to hide and stay quiet for all that time? And how could they have known it would get so much TV coverage? The balloon stayed aloft for some time and covered what, 50 miles? But it could have come down immediately with no big chase/drama etc., right?
Mr. Walter’s famous lawnchair launch actually predated the ultralight regulations (specifically, Part 103) by some years. Although ultralights did exist at the time, they were technically regarded as hang gliders… oh nevermind. The point is, the rules were different back then and in no way accounted for flying lawnchairs. Remarkably enough, they do now.
But you are correct - violating controlled airspace with a lawnchair in the manner in which he did was and still is very much Against the Rules.
And, by the way, the speed limit is 63 mph in level flight, the weight limit for powered ultralights is 254 pounds, and unpowered (which is would apply in this case) 155 pounds. Just for accuracy’s sake.
Um… yes and no. Balloons actually have right of way over almost everyone else due to a lack of maneuverability. On the other hand, balloonists are supposed to take reasonable steps to avoid being total assholes and inconveniencing a lot of people.
I’m a cynical fuck, but I somehow end up even giving some whackjobs the benefit of the doubt. Another plausible scenario:
Dad’s barking at the kids while tampering with his balloon. Meanwhile the kids conspire a practical joke to play on dad. Tell Falcon to run off and hide, while the other kid(s) claim they saw Falcon take off with the balloon. Unreasonable panic and behavior ensues.
That thing could barely support itself. And why is the little kid in the hot seat. It was the other 2 kids that drove this circus. This whole thing smells.
I believe that and several other charges were dismissed. At the time, the FAA didn’t have a means to issue an air worthiness certificate for such an aircraft. Think nowadays you could get one under the experimental homebuilt regulations pertaining to sport pilot aircraft in the unpowered lighter-than-air category… IF you could convince an inspector the thing actually was airworthy. Or just build it compliant to Part 103 and airworthiness certificates are not necessary.
Somewhere in the country the other Wife Swap woman is sitting in front of the TV with her family, pointing at it and screaming “See? See? I freakin’ told you!”
