[Vision2020] Oregon Man Flies 193 Miles on a Lawn Chair and 105 Balloons

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (July 10, 2007) the Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St. Paul,
Minnesota) with thanks to Rick Benson of UI Facilities -

--------------------------------------------------------

Oregon man flies 193 miles on a lawn chair and 105 balloons
Associated Press

http://tinyurl.com/23wgcp
Balloons suspend Kent Couch in a lawn chair as he floats in the skies near
Bend, Ore., Saturday. Couch, on his way to Idaho, carried a global
positioning system device, a two-way radio, a digital camcorder and a cell
phone.

BEND, Ore. - Last weekend, Kent Couch settled down in his lawn chair with
some snacks - and a parachute. Attached to his lawn chair were 105 large
helium balloons.
 
Destination: Idaho.

With instruments to measure his altitude and speed, a global positioning
system device in his pocket, and about four plastic bags holding five
gallons of water each to act as ballast - he could turn a spigot, release
water and rise - Couch headed into the Oregon sky.

Nearly nine hours later, the 47-year-old gas station owner came back to
earth in a farmer's field near Union, short of Idaho but about 193 miles
from home.

"When you're a little kid and you're holding a helium balloon, it has to
cross your mind,'' Couch told the Bend Bulletin.

"When you're laying in the grass on a summer day, and you see the clouds,
you wish you could jump on them,'' he said. "This is as close as you can
come to jumping on them. It's just like that.''

Couch is the latest American to emulate Larry Walters - who in 1982 rose
three miles above Los Angeles in a lawn chair lifted by balloons. Walters
had surprised an airline pilot, who radioed the control tower that he had
just passed a guy in a lawn chair. Walters paid a $1,500 penalty for
violating air traffic rules.

It was Couch's second flight.

In September, he got off the ground for six hours. Like Walters, he used a
BB gun to pop the balloons, but he went into a rapid descent and eventually
parachuted to safety.

This time, he was better prepared. The balloons had a new configuration, so
it was easier to reach up and release a bit of helium instead of simply
cutting off a balloon.

He took off at 6:06 a.m. Saturday after kissing his wife, Susan, goodbye and
petting his Chihuahua, Isabella. As he made about 25 miles an hour, a
three-car caravan filled with friends, family and the dog followed him from
below.

Couch said he could hear cattle and children, and he said he even passed
through clouds.

"It was beautiful - beautiful,'' he told KTVZ-TV. He described the flight as
mostly peaceful and serene, with occasional turbulence, like a hot-air
balloon ride sitting down.

Couch decided to stop when he was down to a gallon of water and just eight
pounds of ballast. Concerned about the rugged terrain outside La Grande,
including Hells Canyon, he decided it was time to land.

He popped enough balloons to set the craft down, although he suffered rope
burns. But after he jumped out, the wind grabbed his chair, with his video
recorder, and the remaining balloons and swept them away. He's hoping to get
them back some day.

Brandon Wilcox, owner of Professional Air, which charters and maintains
planes at the Bend airport, said Thursday that Couch definitely did it.
Wilcox said he flew a plane nearby while Couch traveled, and a passenger
videotaped the flying lawn chair.

Whether Couch will take a third trip is up to his wife, and Susan Couch said
she's thinking about saying no. But she said she was willing to go along
with last weekend's trip.

"I know he'd be thinking about it more and more, it would always be on his
mind,'' she said. "This way, at least he's fulfilled his dream.''

--------------------------------------------------------

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"Madness does not always howl.  Sometimes, it is the quiet voice at the end
of the day saying, 'Hey, is there room in your head for one more?'"

- Author Unknown