0:00

When I was a young boy about 13 years

0:02

old, I was in an army, Navy surplus store, saw

0:05

a weather balloon dangling from the ceiling. And

0:07

I just got the idea to put, to inflate these balloons.

0:11

And I figured if I had enough of them, it'd lift me. The

0:13

idea was just, you know, to float.

0:20

Hi, everybody. My name is Shawna, and

0:22

this is the American English Podcast.

0:25

My goal here is to teach you the English spoken

0:27

in the United States through common

0:29

expressions, pronunciation tips, and

0:32

interesting cultural snippets or stories.

0:35

I hope to keep this fun, useful, and

0:37

interesting. Let's do it.

0:42

Hi, everyone. Welcome back.

0:45

Today, we have a very

0:47

fun topic that we're going to discuss.

0:50

It's all about lawn chair

0:53

Larry and cluster ballooning.

0:56

I know right now you're probably thinking,

0:58

what in the world are those

1:01

two things? And don't worry, I'm

1:03

going to cover it all. In

1:06

the introduction to this episode,

1:08

you heard a brief recording

1:11

of lawn chair

1:13

Larry. He was on the

1:16

David Letterman Show way back

1:18

in 1982, right after he took flight in his lawn chair.

1:25

If you're interested in seeing the full

1:28

interview with lawn chair

1:30

Larry, or as I should say, Larry

1:32

Walters,

1:34

be sure to type in Larry

1:36

Walters interview with David

1:39

Letterman, 1982, into YouTube, and

1:42

you will find that video.

1:44

I highly recommend it.

1:48

In 2009, an animated

1:50

Pixar film came out called

1:53

Up, where an old man attached hundreds

1:55

of helium balloons to his house, and he was about to jump

1:58

off a building. and

2:00

set course towards South America.

2:04

A few years later, a real man

2:06

from North Carolina named

2:09

Jonathan Trapp

2:11

built a house just like the one in

2:13

the movie Up. He attached

2:15

over 300 helium balloons

2:18

and flew up to 20,000 feet. That's

2:22

where the airplanes fly. He's

2:24

still alive and he's the first man to

2:27

ever take flight in a

2:29

house. Today's story

2:32

is about adventure and about the

2:34

individuals who seek it with

2:37

an extraordinarily unique

2:39

hobby

2:40

called cluster ballooning.

2:43

First of all, what's a cluster? A

2:45

cluster is a group of

2:48

similar things, things that

2:50

are close together. You might

2:52

see a cluster of people around

2:56

someone who's serving ice cream.

2:59

Everyone is in the same area.

3:01

Everybody wants a scoop. It's a

3:03

cluster of people.

3:05

In the hobby cluster ballooning,

3:08

you'll see a cluster or a

3:10

bunch

3:11

of helium-filled balloons attached

3:14

to an object such as a chair,

3:16

a boat, or

3:19

as I mentioned with Jonathan Trapp, a

3:21

house. The pilot

3:24

of this aircraft, so

3:26

to speak, will sit in that

3:29

object as they fly or as

3:31

they're lifted off the ground

3:34

with those helium balloons.

3:37

One story in particular we're

3:39

focusing on today is a man named Larry

3:42

who took flight in his

3:44

lawn chair. A lawn chair,

3:47

as you may know, is a light foldable

3:49

chair that you keep in your backyard

3:52

if you're having a picnic, you might bring it to the

3:54

park with you.

3:56

But Larry took flight

3:59

in his lawn chair. He attached his lawn

4:01

chair to clusters

4:04

of balloons, groups of

4:06

balloons.

4:08

I hope you get a laugh from this

4:10

true story

4:12

and you'll have a crazy story

4:14

to tell your friends at your next

4:16

dinner party. If you would like

4:18

the transcripts and mp3

4:21

that go along with this lesson, a

4:23

quiz to test your

4:25

listening comprehension,

4:27

and the podcast reader to work

4:30

on your pronunciation,

4:32

be sure to sign up to season 3

4:36

or all premium content.

4:38

You'll find the links in the episode notes.

4:47

Just about 15 minutes away from

4:49

where I currently live is

4:51

a place called North Hollywood.

4:54

Many moons ago, many years ago,

4:56

in 1949, Larry Walters was born there. Larry

5:03

Walters wasn't a Hollywood

5:06

star, he was just a normal kid

5:08

with big dreams.

5:11

One of those was becoming an airline

5:13

pilot.

5:14

He loved the sky and

5:16

airplanes. He was also fascinated

5:19

by balloons. When he was

5:21

a kid, he remembers the zillion

5:25

Mickey Mouse balloons at the entrance

5:27

of Disneyland.

5:29

In 1962, when Larry

5:31

was just 13 years old,

5:34

he went into an Army Navy

5:36

Surplus store, which is

5:39

essentially a store that sells military

5:42

equipment and gear to

5:45

the public. So to people like

5:47

you and me. It's pretty

5:50

fun to visit for anyone who likes

5:52

the great outdoors. You can find

5:54

compasses there, that gadget

5:57

that shows you north, south, east,

5:59

and south. West to help you

6:01

navigate through the wilderness, perhaps.

6:05

You can find Swiss Army knives

6:07

that can both cut a

6:10

rope or even open a can,

6:13

and a bunch of other survival

6:15

gadgets. While inside

6:18

the Army Navy Surplus Store,

6:20

Larry saw helium tanks

6:23

and weather balloons. So a

6:25

weather balloon dangling from the ceiling. Weather balloons,

6:28

unlike your standard latex

6:31

birthday balloon, are large

6:33

balloons. They can expand to 8 feet

6:36

in diameter and are often

6:39

used by meteorologists to

6:41

get information about the

6:43

weather.

6:45

They're

6:47

huge. Anyway, his

6:49

youthful imagination started

6:52

ticking. How many

6:54

helium-filled balloons would

6:57

it take to fly? Could

6:59

a person be lifted off the ground

7:02

with them? He didn't know,

7:05

but the fantasy of flying

7:07

through the sky with a bunch of balloons

7:10

stuck with him. At 18,

7:13

Larry's love for the sky led

7:15

him to enlist in

7:18

the Air Force. To enlist

7:20

means to voluntarily join

7:22

the armed forces, unlike

7:25

the draft, which is when the government says

7:27

people need to join. So Larry

7:30

wanted to enlist in

7:32

the Air Force.

7:34

If he joined the Air Force,

7:36

he could spend all day

7:38

flying through the skies. It was

7:40

his ticket to the clouds. Before

7:44

joining the U.S. Armed Forces,

7:47

you have to get a physical. In

7:50

other words, you need to meet with

7:52

a doctor for a checkup,

7:55

and they ensure that you're in good

7:57

health. They check your height.

8:00

your weight, you need to undergo

8:02

drug and alcohol testing, you

8:05

need to do hearing exams and

8:07

a vision exam because of

8:10

course you need to have good eyesight if you're

8:12

going to join the armed forces. Nowadays

8:15

I'm not so sure with contacts but back

8:17

then you 100% needed

8:20

to have good eyesight. Larry didn't,

8:23

he had poor eyesight so the Air

8:25

Force rejected him. And

8:27

you can imagine his disappointment, he

8:30

decided to go to war

8:32

in Vietnam anyway as a

8:34

cook. But even while cooking,

8:37

he never stopped dreaming of the sky.

8:40

In the summer of 1982, Larry was 33 years old.

8:45

He was not the airline pilot he

8:47

wanted to become, instead he

8:50

drove trucks for a TV company.

8:53

All day and sometimes night,

8:55

he was on the road thinking about life.

8:57

When one day it hit him, he really

9:00

needed to fly. If he didn't

9:03

take action, he'd go

9:05

crazy. He didn't need an airplane,

9:07

he didn't even need a pilot's license.

9:10

All he needed was balloons,

9:12

string, a rope,

9:15

lots of helium and a heck of

9:17

a lot of courage. So he called

9:19

up his girlfriend Carol and told her, imagine

9:24

how that conversation went. How

9:28

would you respond if your significant

9:30

other, your partner told

9:33

you that they wanted to take flight attached

9:36

to a bunch of balloons? Would

9:39

you be supportive? Would

9:41

you convince them not to do it? Would

9:44

you laugh? What would you say?

9:47

Carol already knew that Larry

9:49

was incredibly fascinated by balloons.

9:52

So she told him, quote, well,

9:56

it's best you do it and get it out

9:58

of your system. In other words,

10:00

do it just so you stop thinking about

10:02

it. Not only was she going

10:05

to help him with emotional

10:07

support, she would help him financially

10:10

as well. Carol, his girlfriend,

10:13

chipped in $3,000 to $4,000 for

10:17

this project.

10:18

In an interview on David Letterman

10:21

after his flight, Larry said, quote,

10:23

she went heavily into debt

10:26

to see my dream come true.

10:29

So they got out their credit cards and

10:32

went shopping. First,

10:35

they bought an incredibly sturdy

10:38

aluminum chair for $109. And

10:43

Larry would sit in the lawn

10:45

chair while flying. That

10:47

was his aircraft. Then

10:50

they bought over 40 weather balloons,

10:53

just like the ones Larry had seen in

10:55

the Army Navy surplus store

10:58

when he was 13 years old. But

11:01

it's not like you can just go to the store

11:03

and buy 40 weather

11:04

balloons. That might raise some

11:07

questions. In order to get

11:09

those balloons, he faked documents

11:12

stating that they would be used in a TV

11:15

commercial.

11:16

Imagine that. What

11:18

else might you need if you are flying

11:20

in a lawn chair? Going

11:22

up was easy. Larry

11:25

decided that in order to descend,

11:27

he would shoot the balloons with

11:29

a BB gun. The fewer helium

11:32

balloons he was attached to,

11:34

the quicker the chair would descend.

11:36

He bought a $950 BB gun

11:38

to shoot those balloons down. Then

11:44

he got a $900 parachute in

11:46

case of an emergency landing.

11:49

A life vest in case his

11:52

aircraft went in the wrong direction towards

11:54

the Pacific Ocean. He got

11:57

an altimeter to measure

11:59

his altitude. or his

12:01

elevation, and a CB

12:04

radio, which is also

12:06

known as a two-way radio to

12:09

communicate with ground control.

12:13

Ground control was essentially

12:15

his girlfriend, Carol, and his

12:17

buddy, Ron. And of

12:19

course,

12:20

we can't forget the helium.

12:22

The helium cost $3,000. Carol bought that.

12:26

So

12:29

Larry planned out his trip. He'd take

12:31

off from Carol's backyard in

12:33

San Pedro, California,

12:35

fly over the San Gabriel Mountains

12:38

at 7,000 feet,

12:41

and then he'd land in the Mojave

12:43

Desert, which is also

12:45

in California.

12:47

The trip was about 50 miles.

12:51

July 2, 1982 was the day of his flight.

12:57

Larry and his buddy

12:59

tied 42 of those 8-foot

13:02

weather balloons to his new lawn

13:04

chair. They had tested

13:06

each balloon previously, and

13:09

each one could carry about 14 to 15 pounds.

13:13

Then he attached about two dozen

13:16

jugs of water for ballast.

13:19

Ballast is heavy material

13:21

like sand, gravel,

13:23

or water

13:24

used to create stability

13:27

to stabilize his aircraft.

13:30

It could also be used as a brake system.

13:33

If for some reason he shot too

13:35

many balloons and started to descend

13:38

too quickly,

13:39

all he needed to do was to empty

13:41

out some of the ballast, some of those gallons

13:45

of water,

13:46

and he would be lifted up again.

13:48

Pretty easy, right?

13:50

So the morning of his flight,

13:52

he dubbed his chair and cluster of

13:55

balloons, Inspiration

13:57

One. After all, he

13:58

felt pretty as if he was a kid.

14:01

weeks earlier, E.T. came

14:03

out in theaters

14:04

and we all remember that scene where Elliot

14:07

and E.T.

14:08

fly on a bike in front of the moon,

14:11

right? Also, days

14:13

earlier, NASA went to

14:15

space in a space shuttle called

14:17

Columbia.

14:19

Now, Larry's dream was

14:21

about to come true. In English,

14:23

we could also say Larry's dreams

14:26

were coming to fruition.

14:29

Larry's main concern was

14:32

that he would get hit by an

14:34

airplane because after reaching

14:36

an altitude of 500 feet,

14:39

you're in federal airspace.

14:42

Airspace that's controlled by the FAA,

14:45

the Federal Aviation Administration.

14:49

He told Carol that it would be absolutely

14:51

essential to notify

14:54

the FAA and nearby

14:56

airports about 30 minutes

14:58

before launching.

15:00

He wasn't sure how they'd react

15:03

to this news of him flying with

15:05

balloons, but

15:07

he wanted to inform them anyway.

15:10

What makes this story both funny

15:12

and epic is that nothing

15:15

went according to plan. Once

15:18

the balloons were inflated and

15:20

Larry was in his chair with his

15:22

BB gun,

15:23

his two-way radio, parachute,

15:27

life vest, sandwich, and

15:29

a two-liter bottle of Coke,

15:31

a gust of wind blue,

15:33

and snapped the wire that

15:36

connected him to the ground, that

15:39

connected him to Earth.

15:42

According to Larry, the snap was so loud

15:45

it sounded like a gunshot and

15:47

instantly he shot up

15:50

into the sky at approximately 1000

15:53

feet. Much

15:56

faster than he'd anticipated.

17:57

At

18:00

around 8,000 feet in the sky, oxygen starts to

18:02

get scarce.

18:07

There's less of it. At around 8,000

18:10

meters up, around 26,000 feet, there's an area

18:12

called the Death Zone.

18:18

You cannot survive outside

18:21

in the Death Zone. Larry

18:23

was ascending too fast, and

18:26

it was getting cold up there. His

18:28

arms and his legs, his fingers,

18:31

they were going numb. They were

18:34

starting to lose feeling in them.

18:36

So Larry makes it up to about 16,000 feet.

18:40

When two commercial airlines,

18:43

Delta and TWA,

18:46

spot him flying ahead. Imagine

18:49

what those pilots were thinking. With the

18:51

freezing cold temperatures and airplanes

18:53

in sight, Larry decides

18:55

that it's now time to make his descent.

18:59

He can either jump with his parachute

19:01

or shoot the balloons with his

19:03

BB gun. He chooses the latter.

19:06

In other words, the last option. He

19:08

decides to shoot the balloons

19:11

with his BB gun.

19:12

So he starts shooting. He shoots about seven

19:15

of the 42 balloons.

19:17

When to his horror,

19:19

the gun slides out of his lap

19:22

and falls through the blue

19:24

sky below.

19:27

What is he going to do? Now,

19:33

it could have been a disaster, but fortunately,

19:36

the number of balloons he'd shot

19:38

before losing his gun was

19:41

just the right number of balloons for

19:43

him to make a slow

19:45

and steady descent

19:47

towards the ground. By that

19:49

time,

19:50

Carroll had reported his

19:52

flight to the authorities and

19:54

so had the airport. The

19:56

pilots had notified the tower and they were all

19:58

in the air.

19:59

in communication. So the authorities

20:02

started tracking him. And just so you can

20:04

get this visual, Larry had set up

20:06

four clusters of balloons, one

20:09

higher than the next. He

20:11

was easy to see.

20:13

He headed straight towards Long Beach,

20:16

which is on the coast of California,

20:18

in pure fear that

20:22

he would land in some telephone

20:24

wires and sizzle. He

20:27

did crash into a power line.

20:31

Some sources say it

20:33

resulted in an immediate

20:35

blackout for the neighborhood.

20:37

Other sources say the city

20:39

was able to turn off the power

20:42

prior to his landing.

20:44

The details aren't sure, but

20:46

he survived. And immediately

20:48

his story became national news.

20:51

But not before he was arrested. So

20:53

the Long Beach Police Department arrested

20:56

him,

20:57

but they couldn't figure out how

20:59

to punish him. At one point

21:02

in time, his punishment was

21:04

up in the air. In

21:06

other words, it wasn't decided. It

21:08

was unsettled or unfinalized.

21:12

The FAA told him, quote,

21:15

if you had a pilot's license, we

21:17

would take it away.

21:19

But Larry didn't have a pilot's license to take.

21:22

Instead, they fined him $1,500 for

21:25

violating controlled airspace,

21:27

flying without a license,

21:29

and operating, quote, an

21:32

unairworthy machine. Larry

21:35

became famous. He appeared on

21:37

The Tonight Show, The Late Night Show

21:39

with David Letterman.

21:41

He also became a motivational

21:43

speaker. But the point is, it's

21:46

an odd story. And it's part

21:49

of a bigger narrative. Unlike

21:52

hot air balloons that have one

21:54

large balloon, cluster

21:56

ballooning is an activity that involves

21:59

a bunch of of balloons. Perhaps

22:02

the very first case of cluster

22:04

ballooning in the U.S. dates back

22:06

to 1937

22:08

in Minnesota

22:10

with experiments conducted by Jean

22:12

Picard, who was a professor

22:15

of aerospace engineering.

22:17

With 98 balloons, he was

22:19

able to fly to a height of three

22:22

kilometers inside a basket. That

22:25

same year, the daredevil photographer

22:27

Al Mingelon, while

22:29

working for Paramount, tried to

22:32

capture aerial footage of

22:34

a golf course. But they

22:36

didn't have drones back then. It was 1937, after

22:41

all. So he hung, suspended

22:44

from 32 weather balloons.

22:47

And a cord broke. He

22:49

flew up to 700 feet. Fortunately,

22:53

someone on the ground was able to shoot

22:55

some balloons so that he could come back

22:58

down.

22:59

This is all kind of funny, I feel, if

23:01

no one gets hurt. But anyway,

23:04

it's just crazy today that you can take pictures

23:07

from above using a cheap drone.

23:10

And back then, people were trying to do it by

23:12

lifting themselves off the ground with

23:14

balloons. Then, of course,

23:17

we have the story of Larry Walters. After

23:20

Larry, many people attempted to

23:22

try out cluster ballooning. And

23:25

it didn't always work out so well.

23:28

You need to time when and

23:31

where you're going to stop. Sometimes

23:34

you end up landing in unintended

23:36

places,

23:38

like the Brazilian priest, Adelir

23:41

Antonio de Carli,

23:43

who went missing and was

23:45

eventually found in the ocean

23:47

a few months after

23:50

his ascent. Or Yoshikazu

23:53

Suzuki from Japan, who

23:56

was never seen again. So is

23:58

it save

24:01

yeah some people do it enough safer

24:04

way to day one of the most

24:06

famous individuals in the us

24:09

who enjoys cluster ballooning

24:11

as a hobby

24:12

is jonathon trap a

24:14

man who i mentioned in the beginning

24:18

he's not only flown a house

24:20

like we've seen in the movie up

24:23

he's crossed the english channel

24:25

with cluster balloons that

24:27

body of water that separates

24:30

friends from england he's

24:32

crossed over the alps and one

24:34

flight he travelled four hundred and

24:36

sixty six miles but

24:38

here's the thing he's got a pilot's

24:41

licence so he went

24:43

to flight school each vehicle

24:46

or aircraft he flies has

24:48

to pass tests and certifications

24:51

he also works with biodegradable

24:53

balloons and string so

24:55

that if he needs to cut one away

24:58

it won't cause environmental damage

25:01

he's doing things right

25:04

cluster ballooning is sort

25:06

of and out there activity

25:10

by out there i mean it's sort of crazy

25:13

it's out there helium

25:15

is expensive you might die you

25:17

might get fined if you don't do

25:19

it right yet many people

25:21

still do it despite those

25:23

risks when people ask

25:25

jonathan trap why he does it he says

25:28

to lead an interesting

25:30

life after larry's

25:32

flight the police department asked

25:34

him why he did it and he responded

25:38

a man just can't sit

25:40

around we

25:41

of course know that he was

25:43

also fulfilling his goal

25:45

in life it gave him

25:47

inner peace shortly

25:49

after his flight larry was dubbed larry

25:52

lawn chair or lawn chair larry

25:54

and his lawn chair is now displayed

25:57

at the national air and space

26:00

Museum in Washington, DC.

26:03

What do you think? Are you tempted to fly

26:06

away with some balloons? Once

26:13

again, if you would like the transcripts, MP3,

26:17

listening comprehension quiz, and

26:20

the podcast reader to help you work

26:22

on your pronunciation, be

26:24

sure to sign up to Season 3 or

26:27

All Premium Content. You'll

26:29

find the link to that in the episode

26:31

notes. Thank

26:35

you for listening to this episode of

26:37

the American English Podcast. Remember,

26:40

it's my goal here to not only help you

26:43

improve your listening comprehension, but

26:45

to show you how to speak like someone from

26:47

the States. If you want to receive

26:50

the full transcript for this episode,

26:52

or you just want to support this podcast, make

26:55

sure to sign up to Premium Content

26:57

on AmericanEnglishPodcast.com.

27:01

Thanks and hope to see you soon.

27:05

One last thing, and this is

27:08

not related to the story, but it needs to

27:10

be mentioned. Larry Walters

27:13

took his life at the age of 44,

27:17

11 years after his flight. If

27:19

you or someone you know is

27:21

thinking of suicide, you

27:24

can get help throughout the

27:26

U.S. by calling the suicide

27:28

helpline 1-800-273-TALK. Once again, 1-800-273-TALK. There's always

27:31

someone there to listen.