Someone recently wrote me and asked for information "on the guy out in California who attached helium balloons to a lawn chair and went flying." What follows is part of my response to that person and is posted to the balloon list for the benefit of "younger" balloon enthusiasts who may not have heard the tale, or have questions about it.
Larry Walters, a 33 year old truck driver, tied 45 weather balloons to a lawn chair took a 45 minute ride up to 16,000 feet before he got cold, shot some balloons with a BB gun and crashed into a power line on July 2, 1982 in Long Beach, California.
Here are some URLs so you can read about it for yourself.
United Press International (UPI)
From Steve Silverman's "Useless Information" page