Lawn Chair Balloonist to ride again, with co-pilot

I love this crazy guy. Now he has a friend.


FILE- This July 5, 2008 file photo shows Kent Couch riding a lawn chair rigged with giant party ballons after taking off from his gas tation in Bend, Ore. Couch is planning to fly again July 14, 2012, in a tandem rig with Iraqi adventurer Fareed Lafta on a flight they hope will take them some 400 miles. It is a warm-up for a flight the two men are planning for this fall in Iraq. (AP Photo/Jeff Barnard, File) — AP

GRANTS PASS, Ore. — Four years ago, Kent Couch made headlines by floating through the clouds in a lawn chair hoisted by party balloons from Oregon to Idaho. He's going to fly again, this time with a buddy sitting on a second lawn chair at his side. They are planning to take off July 14 from the parking lot of Couch's gas station and convenience store in Bend, Ore., the way he did in 2008 when he floated 235 miles to an Idaho farm field.

FILE- This July 5, 2008, file photo shows Kent Couch lifting off from his gas station in Bend, Ore., riding a lawn chair rigged with more than 150 giant party balloons for a flight that ended 235 miles away in an Idaho farm field. Couch plans to fly again July 14, this time with Iraqi adventurer Fareed Lafta in a tandem rig they hope will go 400 miles to Montana. It is a warm-up for a flight planned for this fall in Iraq. (AP Photo/Jeff Barnard, File) — AP

"We can't hit above 18,000 feet (because of federal flight restrictions), but we can make a good run at, I imagine, 400 miles or plus" in distance, which should put them in southwestern Montana after an overnight flight, Couch said.

18,000 Feet ? In a lawn chair and some party balloons?

I think this was the guy spotted by a commercial Airliner last time. I would of loved to heard that radio call.

In 2008, things went much more smoothly. After lifting off at dawn July 5 with the help of scores of volunteers, he floated at 35 mph across the high desert, reaching his goal of crossing the Idaho border. That's when he pulled out his trusty Red Ryder BB rifle to shoot out enough balloons to come to earth just in a pasture outside the tiny farming community of Cambridge, Idaho.

Of course it has to be a "Red Ryder BB Gun"...

Couch is waiting for his favorite anti-gravity style of lawn chairs to go on sale before putting his latest flying rig together with parts he buys at the local hardware store. The others were bought by a museum. He will need more than 350 5-foot-diameter balloons filled with helium to lift the two of them, plus 800 pounds of Ballast - red Kool-Aid in 40-gallon barrels.

Special Lawn Chairs? Kool-Aid? You can't make this stuff up.

We know who he is.......But, I still have to call this a UFO.....

UT-San Diego

Balls much larger than those balloons. I really enjoy the crazies that do things like this. They make the world a much more interesting place. Thanks for sharing the story!

I feel like doing this in Iraq is sort of asking for trouble. Perhaps they will change that plan after the warm up run.

Nobody upon Nobody
Beats the the Original

Lawn Chair Larry

when asked by a reporter why he had done it, Walters replied, "A man can't just sit around."

R.I.P. Lawn Chair Larry

reply to post by spoonbender



These guys are nuts...

Thanks for sharing "Lawn Chair Larry".

Classic

Has any one told him that when you win a Darwin award you actually lose!

Doing what he is doing is actually fairly darn safe. I fly balloons for a living and it is no big deal to fly a cluster balloon. Kent Couch will with any luck remember the Federal Aviation Regulations this time around.

Kent is far from a great cluster balloonist. You want to meet a great one look up John Ninomiya. He is far better at what he does than Kent ever will be.

www.clusterballoon.org...

reply to post by Mamatus


I had no idea there were so many people doing this.

This seems just crazy to me...I wish I had the guts and skill.

reply to post by whyamIhere


As I said in my post, I fly balloons for a living. Sadly most of the folks that go are older and looking to check off that "Bucket List" item.

Right after they get done they often regret being afraid of it. There is something just not right about waiting until you are almost dead to try something new. How sad to live in fear of something that likely won't kill you.

Statistically more people die everyday driving, than die ballooning. That is per 1000 passengers flown and 1000 people driving.

Never let your emotions stop you from doing something you want to do. Put the emotions down and take out a calculator. Investigate the accident rates from a logical perspective rather than an emotional one, and your entire world will get bigger and less scary. You will find yourself able to do more, learn more and experience more.

Never forget my very own never going to be famous quote "A life without risk is a life not lived"