Contrails

X marks the spot....

 

On This Day In History

On July 2,1982, Larry Walters, a 33-year-old truck driver from San Pedro, California, redefined the meaning of homemade adventure. From his backyard, Larry tied 42 helium-filled weather balloons to a lawn chair, packed a parachute, a CB radio, sandwiches, beer, and a pellet gun—and took off into the sky. His plan was simple, if wildly optimistic: to gently float a few hundred meters above his neighborhood, enjoy the view, and then use the pellet gun to gradually pop the balloons and descend.

But things didn’t go as planned. Larry shot up rapidly, reaching an astonishing altitude of 4,900 meters (over 16,000 feet), unintentionally entering the controlled airspace of Los Angeles International Airport. Commercial pilots began reporting a man in a lawn chair floating near their flight paths, and air traffic control was thrown into disbelief. Eventually, Larry drifted into power lines, causing a blackout in parts of Long Beach. Miraculously, he landed safely and was immediately arrested by the Long Beach Police Department.

Despite the chaos, Larry Walters became an instant folk hero. His story made headlines worldwide, he appeared on Late Night With David Letterman, and his now-legendary lawn chair was later displayed in the Smithsonian. Though his flight was illegal and dangerous, Larry captured the imagination of millions—a symbol of daring, eccentricity, and the kind of wild dream only someone with enough courage—or enough curiosity—would actually try to live.

 

Later in life he later broke up with his girlfriend of 15 years and could only find work sporadically as a security guard.  On October 6, 1993, at the age of 44, Walters died by suicide.

Friday Music

If you're old like me sometimes you have to indulge yourself of those memorable things from the years you came of age.

For instance golden age of travel by airliner when you weren't squeezed into a pressurized aluminum tube like sardines in a can....

1971 American Airlines

And while the Mad Men of nowadays would unlikely proffer this as your ad campaign; there was some alluring sex appeal to cheap air travel....

1973 Delta Airlines

And there was the music.

From my personal Top Ten list of tunes this song was composed by Wayne Carson and recorded by the Box Tops in 1967.  The Letter was the group's first and biggest hit.  It rose to number one in the United States and Canada and made the Top Ten in any number of other countries. 

It holds a place at number 372 on Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time....