Thread: OR: Lawnchair balloon pilot recovers his long-lost sky seat

Lawnchair balloon pilot recovers his long-lost sky seat

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Story Published: May 21, 2008 at 6:56 AM PDT

Story Updated: May 21, 2008 at 7:19 AM PDT
By SARAH SKIDMORE Associated Press Writer
BEND, Ore. (AP) - Kent Couch had a few stories, but little evidence of his trip across Oregon's skies in a lawn chair last summer - until now.

The Bend resident planned to fly across the state to Idaho in his lawn chair, which was connected to more than 100 large helium balloons. But he landed early in Eastern Oregon.

A crew was waiting to help him, but the wind blew Couch off course - leaving him to disembark alone. He jumped to the ground and tried to hold a rope tethering the chair. But the balloons yanked it away. His chair, cell, phone and other gear - including a video camera that documented the trip - were gone.

He didn't have any other documentation of how serene and beautiful it was to float across the state.

"You remember the good and you remember the bad, but you don't remember everything," he said.

Couch offered a $500 reward for anyone who found the chair. He put a posting online with the question "Did you find my chair?" in several languages. He heard rumors that a pilot had seen it over Michigan. But he'd nearly given up hope.

Then earlier this month, a farmer near North Powder riding their property line came across the bundle. They hadn't heard of Couch's trip and called the local sheriff's department, who connected them with the lawn chair pilot.

The chair and gear were only about 13 miles from where Couch landed, near Union, and everything was intact. Couch had stuffed his equipment in a canvas bag, which largely protected the cell phone, camera, global positioning system and other gear.

Couch said he hasn't watched the video yet because he'd gotten rid of the necessary cables for the camera, thinking he'd never find it. But he says when he can, he'll show his friends and family his high-flying experience.

The idea to go by air came to him as a child.

"When you are holding a bunch of helium balloons, you get a little lift," he said. "As a kid if you look up at the sky, you get that idea of floating on a cloud or a magic carpet. ... that's living."

He attempted the flight twice. The first time he was off the ground for six hours but had to parachute down. The second time he was better prepared and traveled nearly 200 miles across the state and as high as 13,000 feet.

The second attempt launched him into the national media spotlight.

"I struggled with that a lot. Everywhere I went people said, 'Oh you're the balloon guy,' and I'd have to talk about it all over again," Couch said.

He says hasn't decided if there will be a third attempt.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)


http://www.katu.com/news/19134694.html

Yes, we really ARE crazy here!

Originally Posted by PhredE

Yes, we really ARE crazy here!

Things are always a bit "airy" in the land of liberal mental disorder.

gimme a BB thunder stick ..... these people breed and contaminate the gene pool

Originally Posted by zeezil

Originally Posted by PhredE

Yes, we really ARE crazy here!

Things are always a bit "airy" in the land of liberal mental disorder.

Oh, I'd like to be able to post more, but I'm feeling kinda dizzy, really dizzy.... air please, air, must - have - air!

I figured we deserved a small diversion from all the intense stuff going on lately...

It's a funny story.... we do need it just to do a temporary brain dump

Ore. man plans 3rd ascent in lawn chair balloon

In this July 7, 2007 file photo, Ken Couch sits in his lawn chair balloon near Bend, Ore., prior to liftoff. (AP Photo/The Bulletin, Zac Goodwin, File)
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Story Published: Jul 2, 2008 at 8:39 PM PDT

Story Updated: Jul 2, 2008 at 8:40 PM PDT
By JEFF BARNARD, Associated Press Writer

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) - Kent Couch is at it again.

While the rest of the country is sleeping off Fourth of July revels on Saturday, he and a host of volunteers will be up before the sun at his gas station in Bend, to blow up 150 giant latex party balloons and tie them with clothesline to his lawn chair for his third try at flying to Idaho.

"The first time, nobody wanted to be involved at all," Couch told The Associated Press in a Wednesday phone interview from Bend. "They were thinking I was a lunatic, I mean a balloon-atic. I couldn't get anybody on board to help me. My friends shunned me.

"But this time it's different. One guy is donating the oxygen tank from his airplane. That's $1,500. He said, 'Don't worry about it. It's insured.'"

And his wife, Susan, has given her blessing.

Couch, 48, was inspired to go up, up, and away by a TV show about the 1982 lawn chair flight over Los Angeles by truck driver Larry Walters, who gained urban myth immortality and had a play written about him, but was fined $1,500 for violating air traffic rules.

"I said, 'You know what, there is nothing wrong with that. It makes common sense to me," Couch said.

Couch made his first ascent in 2006, staying up six hours before shooting out a few balloons with his pellet gun to descend. But he had to jump to earth in his parachute because he was coming down too fast. He never got that lawn chair back.

Last year, he flew 193 miles before running low on helium and landing in the sagebrush near Union. But the wind took his chair before he could get control of it, and it didn't turn up until last May, when a ranch couple found it near North Powder. The video camera and cell phone still worked, though the two-way radio was busted.

The flights have gotten him on national TV, but that's not what drives him.

"There is this desire if you've ever had a cluster of balloons in your hand and just imagine yourself floating up in the air," Couch said. "You don't realize all the other technical things. That's just a carefree day. Or you're laying on your back in the backyard and see a cotton cloud float by. You say, 'Wow, wouldn't I like to go up there and ride that cloud.'

"When you're up there, there's not much stress," Couch said. "There's a little stress on the way down. A few navigational issues you've got to deal with. But there's nothing, really, I can do but enjoy it."

With corporate sponsorship this year, he is much better equipped and hopes to fly 300 miles or more, crossing the Wallowa Mountains in northeastern Oregon and making it all the way to Idaho and beyond. He figures the whole rig cost about $6,000, mostly for helium and the lawn chair, plus the loan of various gadgets.

He is putting on more balloons — 150 three-foot-diameter latex party balloons.

They tie onto a framework attached to the steel-framed reclining lawn chair, so it hangs like a pendulum. Just tying balloons to the chair makes it hang crooked.

Instead of bags to hold his water ballast, he is using 15-gallon barrels, which he can drain to gain altitude.

Couch will have a finger clip to monitor the oxygen level in his blood, as well as a tank of oxygen to breathe if he goes too high. He'll also have a GPS tracking device attached to his chair, and another in his pocket, allowing his location to be tracked on his Web site.

He will take along extra duct tape and zip ties for emergency repairs, extra clothes and a blanket for when it gets cold at higher altitude

For food, he'll have water, beef jerky, some boiled eggs and chocolate.

"You don't want to eat much," he said. "There's no bathrooms up there on that chair."

He will wear a parachute, which makes it difficult to put on or take off clothing, but no seat belt. After the first flight he found it just wasn't necessary.

"If I get up around 15,000 feet, I'll pop a couple balloons," Couch said. "If I get too low I'll release some water. All the way you go it's like a seesaw, up and down, up and down. You can't feel yourself going up and down. You have to look at the altimeter."

If all goes well this year, he'd love to fly across the English Channel and even Australia.

"I don't mind them thinking I'm nuts," Couch said. "I've done my research and I feel plenty confident. I did 50 sky dives before this. Sky diving can be just as dangerous as this. Guys who sky dive thousands of times don't have a scratch on them."

On the Net: Larry Couch Web site: www.couchballoons.com

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.

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