Then a miracle occurred on March 12th. I received an email from Jerry (last name protected) who lives in southern California. He saw my web site and had told me that he was the "neighborhood kid" that Larry gave his chair to! My mouth dropped when I read this. It was as if I had found the Ark of the Covenant! Immediately I called Carol and Hazel to let them the know Larry's chair had finally been found and was in the same condition as when he last used it. Needless to say, both of them were somewhat emotional when I told them the good news. Jerry told me he had kept it in his garage for the past 20 years and has never revealed it to the public. But on March 21st, he was going to unveil it his friends and coworkers at a restaurant in Long Beach. The media was invited but did not attend. He asked if I would present Larry's story to the 30-member audience and I did. At the end, Jerry pulled the cover off the chair for everyone to see and touch.

Here are some photos that I took of the lawn chair in Jerry's backyard after he took it out of his garage. It still has 13 of the 35 water jugs still on it, along with the tethering cables.

On Tuesday evening, March 19th, I met Larry's former girlfriend Carol. She still lives in the same house in San Pedro where Larry launched from. The first thing I noticed was how small her backyard was. I could not believe they were able to set up all their equipment from this tiny space. Carol and her mother ate Taco Bell while I went through the many photos of Larry's flight -- most of which has never been seen by the public. I was fortunate enough to be given permission to scan them on my laptop to keep for my records. If they give me their permission, I will publish a few of them on this web site. However, I will keep the rest of them private and will only show them during my public presentations (which you can read about on this page).

On Wednesday evening, March 20th, I met Larry's mother, Hazel, and his two sisters, Kathy and Vera, at Hazel's home in Simi Valley. They offered me some pizza and a Coke as we sat down to talk about Larry. As I began to leave, Hazel gave me a T-shirt that her and Larry had made with a screen print of Larry's flight on the front. I'll wear it proudly.

"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.

Spotted by Airline Pilots

"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."

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.

"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.

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.

Oliver, Myrna. "Larry Walters; Sailed to Fame on Lawn Chair."
Los Angeles Times. 24 November 1993 (p. 16).

Associated Press. "Balloonist Faces 4 FAA Charges."
The San-Diego Union Tribune. 19 July 1984 (p. 22).

People. "A Daredevil's Despair Ends in His Suicide."
13 December 1993 (p. 54).

United Press International. "Lawn-Chair Pilot Faces $4,000 in Fines."
The New York Times. 19 December 1982 (p. 22).

United Press International. "FAA Drops One Charge Against Lawn Chair Pilot."
6 April 1983.

United Press International. "Dinner Defense Fund for Lawn-Chair Balloonist."
5 May 1983.

Life Magazine. Anniversary special.
Jan 1983 vol 6 #1.

There are several different people you will be listening to.
1. Larry Walters (KLW-91602 - "The Lawn Chair Pilot")
2. Carol (Larry's girlfriend)
3. The ground crew (Ron Richlin KRR-91405) based at the launching point (Carol's house)
4. REACT