# What was the smallest manned lighter-than-air craft? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 18, 2003, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-smallest-manned-lighter-than-air-craft/169511 "2003-04-18T06:31:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-smallest-manned-lighter-than-air-craft/169511/1 "2003-04-18T06:31:52Z")
Well, this question’s pretty straight forward, and doesn’t involve existential debating or technical trivia only known by a half dozen dead Soviet scientists. I’m sorry if that disappoints. That said, I was wondering…what was the smallest MANNED lighter-than-air craft ever built? And were there any designed that would have been smaller? Well, thanks for your time, Ranchoth ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-smallest-manned-lighter-than-air-craft/169511/2 "2003-04-18T07:02:13Z")
I’d guess the lawn-chair-cluster of balloons gizmo would almost certainly have to be the smallest. Its payload was a human and about 5 lbs of chair. Oh, and a couple of pounds for the .BB Gun used for altitude control. Which the dumb idiot dropped. ---
**Author:** ![ChalkPit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@ChalkPit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChalkPit)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-smallest-manned-lighter-than-air-craft/169511/3 "2003-04-18T08:22:41Z")
Are we including the lifting bag or just whats suspended underneath ? Lawnchair Larry used waaaay too many balloons, which is why he got into such probs in the first place. If you’re gonna design a lighter-than-air craft to be as small as possible, then you would obviously want to build it for a pilot who was very light and didnt need much lifting volume. I’m sure one-man hot air balloons exist (cant think of a cite OTTOMH) ---
**Author:** ![ChalkPit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@ChalkPit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChalkPit)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-smallest-manned-lighter-than-air-craft/169511/4 "2003-04-18T08:29:37Z")
Here’s one of many sites concerning one-man balloons. [http://www.parabounce.com/](http://www.parabounce.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-smallest-manned-lighter-than-air-craft/169511/5 "2003-04-18T09:49:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ChalkPit \* > \*\*Are we including the lifting bag or just whats suspended underneath ? > \*\* Including the lifting bag, if that’s practical. Thanks for the one-man balloon site, Chalkpit. Do you happen to have a bead on the smallest _airship_ (i.e., a Blimp or Dirigible), by any chance? ---
**Author:** ![Sock\_Munkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Sock\_Munkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sock_Munkey)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-smallest-manned-lighter-than-air-craft/169511/6 "2003-04-18T11:28:21Z")
I have seen a small one man pedal-powered blimp on TV but I don’t know of any sites on it. It was pretty cool though, looked about 50 feet long. ---
**Author:** ![ChalkPit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@ChalkPit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChalkPit)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-smallest-manned-lighter-than-air-craft/169511/7 "2003-04-18T11:43:51Z")
I saw a program recently about a human powered blimp, but it had at least 3 guys in it. It was pretty small though - 40 ft maybe. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-smallest-manned-lighter-than-air-craft/169511/8 "2003-04-18T15:18:32Z")
“Lawnchair Larry” was the subject of one of Cecil’s columns: [Did somebody once go aloft in a lawn chair tied to a bunch of helium balloons?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_131.html) ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-smallest-manned-lighter-than-air-craft/169511/9 "2003-04-18T16:07:50Z")
Didn’t Gallagher (the prop comic) have a special that started with him flying a pedal powered dirigable (or blimp)? I think he crashed and broke his arm while filming it. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-smallest-manned-lighter-than-air-craft/169511/10 "2003-04-18T16:16:26Z")
I do recall that Gallagher bit, though I think he crashed and broke his arm while roller-waterskiing behind a watermelon-mobile. That crazy Gallagher! ---
**Author:** ![Sock\_Munkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Sock\_Munkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sock_Munkey)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-smallest-manned-lighter-than-air-craft/169511/11 "2003-04-18T17:08:18Z")
Yep, the Gallagher bit was where I saw the pedal-blimp. I think he was being pulled behind a car made to look like a boat when he broke his elbow roller-waterskiing. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-smallest-manned-lighter-than-air-craft/169511/12 "2003-04-18T20:33:45Z")
Well, air has about a thousandth the density of water (or person), so your envelope would need at least a thousand times the volume of a person. For a very lightweight person, I make that about 2m by 4m by 5m. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-smallest-manned-lighter-than-air-craft/169511/13 "2003-04-18T20:34:53Z")
In a blow a few weeks ago my kite (two 10’x2’ parafoils) carried me a few feet off the ground for about a hundred yards.