[Waverley ARS] balloon mobile? Volunteers wanted

[Brad Crowe]

Calling for a volunteer club member to emulate this for our 90th hi hi lol




Henrik Stenstrom wrote:
> Raffy,
>
> Here's the article from this morning's SMH.  A little insight into his
> equipment and methods ..........
>
> Regards,
> Henrik - VK2HHS
>
> Helium balloons, a lawn chair and a BB gun
>
> Kent Couch leaves his gas station in Bend, Oregon, on Saturday, riding a
> lawn chair rigged with more than 150 giant party balloons in an attempt
> to fly to Idaho.
> Photo: AP
>
> July 7, 2008 - 9:29AM
>
> Using his trusty BB gun to help him return to Earth, a 48-year-old gas
> station owner flew a lawn chair rigged with helium-filled balloons more
> than 320km across the United States to the Oregon desert, landing in a
> field in Idaho.
>
> Kent Couch created a sensation in this tiny farming community, where he
> touched down safely today in a pasture after lifting off from Bend,
> Oregon, and was soon greeted by dozens of people who gave him drinks of
> water, local plumber Mark Hetz said.
>
> "My wife works at the City Market," Hetz said. "She called and said,
> 'The balloon guy in the lawn chair just flew by the market, and if you
> look out the door you can see him.
>
> "We go outside to look, and lo and behold, there he is. He's flying by
> probably 100 to 200 feet (30 metres to 60 metres) off the ground.
>
> "He takes his BB gun and shoots some balloons to lower himself to the
> ground. When he hit the ground he released all the little tiny balloons.
> People were racing down the road with cameras. They were all talking and
> laughing."
>
> Couch covered about 380km in about nine hours after lifting off at dawn
> from his gas station riding in a green lawn chair rigged with an array
> of more than 150 giant party balloons.
>
> Sandi Barton, 58, who has lived her whole life in this town of about
> 300, said she and her brother-in-law were the first ones to reach Couch
> and shook his hand.
>
> "Not much happens in Cambridge," she said, adding that about half the
> town turned out.
>
> "He came right over our pea field," she said. "He was coming down pretty
> fast."
>
> She said Couch gave some of his balloons to local children.
>
> It was not clear where Couch went after he landed.
>
> It began after Couch, clutching a big mug of coffee, kissed his wife and
> kids goodbye, then patted their shivering Chihuahua, Isabella, on the
> head.
>
> After spilling off some cherry-flavoured Kool-Aid that served as
> ballast, Couch got a push from the ground crew so he could clear light
> poles and soared over a coffee cart and across US Highway 20 into a
> bright blue sky.
>
> "If I had the time and money and people, I'd do this every weekend,"
> Couch said before getting into the chair. "Things just look different
> from up there. You've moving so slowly. The best thing is the peace, the
> serenity.
>
> "Originally, I wanted to do it because of boyhood dreams. I don't know
> about girls, but I think most guys look up in the sky and wish they
> could ride on a cloud."
>
> Couch's wife, Susan, called him crazy: "It's never been a dull moment
> since I married him."
>
> This was Couch's third balloon flight. He realised it would be possible
> after watching a TV show about the 1982 lawn chair flight over Los
> Angeles of truck driver Larry Walters, who gained folk hero fame but was
> fined $US1500 ($1563) for violating air traffic rules.
>
> In 2006, Couch had to parachute out after popping too many balloons. And
> last year he flew 310km to the sagebrush of northeastern Oregon, short
> of his goal.
>
> "I'm not stopping till I get out of state," he said.
>
> To that end, he ordered more balloons. Dozens of volunteers wearing
> fluorescent green T-shirts that said "Dream Big" filled latex balloons 1
> 1/2 metres in diameter, attached them to strings and tied clusters of
> six balloons each to a tiny carabiner clip.
>
> Each balloon gives 2kg of lift. The chair was about 180kg, and Couch and
> his parachute 90kg more.
>
> "I'd go to 30,000 feet (9144 metres) if I didn't shoot a balloon down
> periodically," Couch said.
>
> For that job, he carried a Red Ryder BB gun and a blow gun equipped with
> steel darts. He also had a pole with a hook for pulling in balloons, a
> parachute in case anything went wrong, a handheld Global Positioning
> System device with altimeter, a satellite phone, and two GPS tracking
> devices. One was one for him, the other for the chair, which got away in
> the wind as he landed last year.
>
> For food he carried some boiled eggs, jerky and chocolate.
>
> Couch flew hang gliders and skydived before taking up lawn-chair
> flights. He estimated the rig cost about $US6000 ($6,253), mostly for
> helium. Costs were defrayed by corporate sponsors.
>
> AP
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: members-bounces at us.cactii.net
> [mailto:members-bounces at us.cactii.net] On Behalf Of Raffy Shammay
> Sent: Sunday, 6 July 2008 10:27 PM
> To: members at vk2bv.org
> Subject: [Waverley ARS] balloon mobile?
>
> Hi Members,
> Here is a video of a guy from Oregan USA in a Lawn Chair aloft with 50
> helium filled balloons.
>  
> He looks like he's got a handheld radio with buttons... could be
> amateur.
>  
> It's just mind-boggling
>  
> http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/07/05/lawnchair.balloons.ap/index.html#cn
> nSTC
> Video
>  
> Is this weird or what?
>  
> Raffy VK2RF
>  
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