Lucruri de provocat "Ce?!"

Larry Walters. Cel ce cutezã a se înãlţa unde vulturii plutesc.

Larry Walters a devenit un erou personal pentru mine. Un adevãrat pionier al aerului care nu a renunţat la visul sãu de a zbura. Acesta este primul lucru pe care trebuie sa îl stiţi despre acest om, dincolo de toate întâmplãrile hazlii si ideile fãrã strãlucire de geniu ce urmeazã a fi redate.

Larry avea doar 13 ani atunci. S-a dus la un magazin care vindea din surplusul armatei şi marinei Statelor Unite şi a vãzut baloane meteorologice agãţate de tavanul încãperii. Poate cã soarele creea reflexii jucãuşe pe suprafaţa lor ce îi aminteau de magie, poate cã era în aer un miros plãcut de imperialism, de zile de glorie peste populaţii înapoiate care îi cerşeau cu disperare civilizaţia, poate era doar realizarea cã sunt lucruri pe care le poţi face pentru simpla mândrie de a le fi fãcut, poate erau toate la un loc.... Singurul lucru cert este cã atunci cand Larry a ieşit din magazinul acela era sigur ca într-o zi acele baloane îl vor duce spre alte locuri mai înalte.

Se prea poate ca acest lucru sã se fi transfomat într-o obsesie pentru urmãtorii 20 de ani. Pe data de 2 iulie, 1982 Larry a legat 42 de baloane umplute cu heliu de scaunul sãu de grãdina. Decolarea urma sã se consume în curtea iubitei lui, în localitatea americana San Pedro, din statul California.

Eroul nostru a ancorat scaunul de apãrãtoarea unei maşini şi cu ajutorul echipajului de la sol s-a instalat în obiectul zburãtor neverosimil. Înarmat cu provizii serioase (printre care 6 doze de bere şi chipsuri), era hotãrât sã traverseze deşertul şi sã ajungã pânã la Munţii Stâncoşi în câteva zile. Drept sistem de ghidare a hotãrât sã foloseascã cea mai iubitã invenţie chinezeascã a generaţiei mele: un pistol cu bile. Acesta funcţiona ca un sistem grozav de ajustare al altitudinii, în profida faptului ca putea opta doar pentru o altitudine mai micã....

Bineînţeles, decolarea nu s-a  desfãşurat fãrã emoţii... Atunci când echipajul a tãiat primul cordon ombilical din cele 2 care îl ţineau pe Larry la sol, al doilea a cedat imediat. Astfel, eroul nostru a traversat distanţa de 4876 de metri pe verticalã cu o vitezã atât de teribilã încât ochelarii lui au dat bir cu fugiţii şi-au fãcut cale întoarsã, spre pãmântul cu mult mai matern. Un pilot aflat în trecere a raportat turnului de control cã zboarã pe lângã un om într-un scaun de grãdinã...

Vãzând acestea, primul instinct al eroului nostru a fost sã spargã din baloane; eu unul trebuie sã recunosc cã mi-aş fi pierdut de mult calmul într-o asemenea situaţie şi aş fi început sã plâng precum un fecior rãzgâiat. Dupã ce a spart o mânã de baloane Larry a scãpat, accidental, pistolul....

Într-un final Larry a aterizat într-un cartier din Long Beach nevãtãmat, deşi aterizarea s-a produs pe linii de înaltã tensiune, fapt soldat cu întreruperea furnizãrii de electricitate pentru bãştinaşi. Poate cã autoritãţile nu au fost încântate ( Larry s-a ales cu o amendã de 4000$), însã eroul nostru a intrat în tolba cu legende a conştiinţei naţionale americane; povestea sa este arhicunoscutã; pânã şi cei ce nu au auzit vreodatã de Larry Walters îi cunosc povestea cu mai multe sau mai puţine înflorituri.

Lui Larry i s-a închinat şi un imn:

În spiritul veridicitãţii aduc si dovezi!

Articole în care Larry şi-a fãcut apariţia:

Truck Driver Takes to Skies in Lawn Chair
From The New York Times 3 July 1982
Spotted by Airline Pilots
The police said Mr. Walters went to a friend's house in San Pedro Thursday night, inflated 45 six-foot weather balloons and attached them to an aluminum lawn chair tethered to the ground.
This morning, with half a dozen friends holding the tethers, he donned a parachute, strapped himself into the chair and had his friends let him up slowly.
Minutes later, he was calling for help over his citizens band radio.
"This guy broke into our channel with a mayday," said Doug Dixon, a member of an Orange County citizens band radio club. "He said he had shot up like an elevator to 16,000 feet and was getting numb before he started shooting out some of the balloons."
Mr. Walters then lost his pistol overboard, and the chair drifted downward, controlled only by the gallon jugs of water attached to the sides as ballast.
The ropes became entangled in a power line, briefly blacking out a small area in Long Beach. The chair dangled five feet above the ground, and Mr. Walters was able to get down safely.From The New York Times 19 December 1982
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 18 (UPI) Larry Walters, the lawn-chair pilot who catapulted to fame when balloons lifted his contraption 16,000 feet into the sky, faces $4,000 in fines for violations cited by the Federal Aviation Administration."If the F.A.A. was around when the Wright Brothers were testing their aircraft, they would never have been able to make their first flight at Kitty Hawk," said Mr. Walters, who plans to challenge the fines.
Mr. Walters, a 33-year old truck driver from North Hollywood, surprised himself and several airline pilots July 2 with his aluminum lawn chair tied to 42 weather balloons. He had to pop some with a pellet gun to land.From The Los Angeles Times, 24 November 1993 (by Myrna Oliver, Times Staff Writer)
Larry Walters, who achieved dubious fame in 1982 when he piloted a lawn chair attached to helium balloons 16,000 feet above Long Beach, has committed suicide at the age of 44.Walters died Oct. 6 after hiking to a remote spot in Angeles National Forest and shooting himself in the heart, his mother, Hazel Dunham, revealed Monday. She said relatives knew of no motive for the suicide. "It was something I had to do," Walters told The Times after his flight from San Pedro to Long Beach on July 2, 1982. "I had this dream for 20 years, and if I hadn't done it, I would have ended up in the funny farm."
Walters rigged 42 weather balloons to an aluminum lawn chair, pumped them full of helium and had two friends untether the craft, which he had dubbed "Inspiration I."
He took along a large bottle of soda, a parachute and a portable CB radio to alert air traffic to his presence. He also took a camera but later admitted, "I was so amazed by the view I didn't even take one picture."
Walters, a North Hollywood truck driver with no pilot or balloon training, spent about two hours aloft and soared up to 16,000 feet -- three miles -- startling at least two airline pilots and causing one to radio the Federal Aviation Administration.
Shivering in the high altitude, he used a pellet gun to pop balloons to come back to earth. On the way down, his balloons draped over power lines, blacking out a Long Beach neighborhood for 20 minutes.
The stunt earned Walters a $1,500 fine from the FAA, the top prize from the Bonehead Club of Dallas, the altitude record for gas-filled clustered balloons (which could not be officially recorded because he was unlicensed and unsanctioned) and international admiration. He appeared on "The Tonight Show" and was flown to New York to be on "Late Night With David Letterman," which he later described as "the most fun I've ever had."
"I didn't think that by fulfilling my goal in life -- my dream -- that would create such a stir," he later told The Times, "and make people laugh."
Walters abandoned his truck-driving job and went on the lecture circuit, remaining sporadically in demand at motivational seminars. But he said he never made much money from his innovative flight and was glad to keep his simple lifestyle.
He gave his "aircraft" -- the aluminum lawn chair -- to admiring neighborhood children after he landed, later regretting it.
In recent years, Walters hiked the San Gabriel Mountains and did volunteer work for the U.S. Forest Service.
"I love the peace and quiet," he told The Times in 1988. "Nature and I get along real well."
An Army veteran who served in Vietnam, Walters never married and had no children. He is survived by his mother and two sisters.
LONG BEACH, Calif, July 2 (AP) A truck driver with 45 weather balloons rigged to a lawn chair took a 45-minute ride aloft to 16,000 feet today before he got cold, shot some balloons out and crashed into a power line, the police said.
"I know it sounds strange, but it's true," Lieut. Rod Mickelson said after he stopped laughing. "The guy just filled up the balloons with helium, strapped on a parachute, grabbed a BB gun and took off."
The man was identified as Larry Walters, 33 years old, of North Hollywood. He was not injured.
The Federal Aviation Administration was not amused.
A regional safety inspector, Neal Savoy, said the flying lawn chair was spotted by Trans World Airlines and Delta Airlines jetliner pilots at 16,000 feet above sea level."We know he broke some part of the Federal Aviation Act, and as soon as we decide which part it is, some type of charge will be filed," Mr. Savoy said. "If he had a pilot's license, we'd suspend that. But he doesn't."
"Since I was 13 years old, I've dreamed of going up into the clear blue sky in a weather balloon," he said. "By the grace of God, I fulfilled my dream. But I wouldn't do this again for anything."
Lawn-Chair Pilot Faces $4,000 in Fines
The F.A.A. has cited him for four violations of the Federal Aviation Act, including operating a "civil aircraft for which there is not currently in effect an airworthiness certificate" and operating an aircraft within an airport traffic area "without establishing and maintaining two-way communications with the control tower."
Larry Walters; Soared to Fame on Lawn Chair