If you’re a fan of quirky American folklore, you might recognize the name “Lawn Chair Larry.” Yet few realize the sheer audacity – and immediate, nationwide intrigue that surrounded the moment 33-year-old Larry Walters actually took off into the Southern California sky.
On July 2, 1982, Walters tied 42 helium-filled weather balloons to an ordinary aluminum lawn chair in the backyard of his girlfriend, Carol Van Deusen, in San Pedro. Armed with a pellet gun, a CB radio, a camera, and a parachute, his plan was simple: float lazily across San Pedro toward the Mojave Desert. Instead, when his tether line unexpectedly snapped, Walters shot skyward like a rocket, losing his glasses in the process and soaring to an astonishing 16,000 feet! Freezing in the high-altitude air, he startled commercial airliner pilots who radioed in shock to report a man sitting in a lawn chair in controlled airspace. To descend, Walters systematically popped several balloons with his pellet gun, eventually landing tangled in power lines in a Long Beach neighborhood – unharmed, but briefly causing a local blackout.
His story came to light quite by accident during a search through our archives for something completely unrelated. Our gaze was immediately drawn to the front page of the Los Angeles Times from July 3, 1982 [1], which featured a remarkable photograph of a man taking flight from the comfort of a lawn chair.
If you are fascinated by eccentric dreamers who take “seat-of-the-pants” ambition to literal new heights, spending a little time reading contemporary accounts of Larry Walters’ flight is pure joy. It serves as an amusing, incredible reminder of human ingenuity, boundless determination, and the unpredictable nature of backyard aviation.
Below is a photo from the front page of the Los Angeles Times our friend was seeking, complete with the bold headlines “Seat-of-the-Pants Pilot Goes Aloft in Lawn Chair” and the iconic snapshot showing Walters airborne over San Pedro.