Bad Weather Brings Down Lawn Chair Balloonists 62
Kent Couch and Fareed Lafta had their dreams of setting a world's record for the longest two-man cluster balloon flight dashed by bad weather and not kids with bb guns as you might expect. The men tied 350 balloons to lawn chairs and planned on flying from Bend, Oregon to Montana. The pair flew for about 30 minutes before having to land. From the article: "A post at the Facebook page for the project said wind had turned the balloonists around and pushed them back toward the town of Prineville, Oregon, and that thunderstorms heading toward the area were 'simply too much' for the balloons."
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People who do this kind of stuff make me wonder whether or not evolution has even started happening yet.
They had parachutes, so to me it seems no more dangerous than sky diving.
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People who do this kind of stuff make me wonder whether or not evolution has even started happening yet.
They had parachutes, so to me it seems no more dangerous than sky diving.
Well, it's also not as dangerous as playing Russian Roulette with a single barrelled shotgun, but that doesn't mean it's a sensible idea.
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A guy tried this before with weather balloons and got up to 16,000 ft. Apparently he crossed over into LAX's landing path and eventually landed on some power lines. He survived and was fined by the FAA.
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Re:What *NOT* to do.... (Score:5, Informative)
when asked by a reporter why he had done it, Walters replied, "A man can't just sit around."
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Walters' flight was successful and non-fatal, though he did commit suicide later in life. You might be thinking of Adelir Antonio de Carli [wikipedia.org].
when asked by a reporter why he had done it, Walters replied, "A man can't just sit around."
But apparently he can just sit around.... at 16000 feet.
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Nope, Walter received a Darwin Award despite surviving.
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Re:What *NOT* to do.... (Score:5, Insightful)
wonder whether or not evolution has even started happening yet.
It's not as bad as the summary sounds. They had the rigs outfitted a little better than just an aluminum chair duct-taped to some ballon strings. Also, both of them had parachutes in case of emergency.
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Also, both of them had parachutes in case of emergency.
Pussies.
Re:What *NOT* to do.... (Score:5, Informative)
One of them was an experienced skydiver, and they were doing it in part to raise funds for orphans in Iraq, so yeah, you kinda look like an ass making that comment now (no offense, I'm sure you didn't know that). And since you have a ton of balloons, it's actually less risky in a way than most lighter-than-air flight, since a few balloons bursting will mean a slow gentle fall, not a rapid descent. Obviously, you don't want to let go of all of them, but if you do, thats why you carry a parachute (which they were).
Re:What *NOT* to do.... (Score:4, Informative)
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Re:What *NOT* to do.... (Score:4, Funny)
You're using an episode of McGyver to support a technical point?
Tell me, did you ever try and find the phone number for the A-team when you were younger?
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Perhaps it was to prevent the light from the burners from giving away his position.
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Hot air balloons can not burst. If there is a hole they simply make a gentle descent, unlike helium balloons that do burst. That is why hot air balloons have been popular with the military in the past, they can not be shot down easily.
That is true but irrelevant, as they were using helium filled balloons according to TFA.
Re:What *NOT* to do.... (Score:5, Insightful)
When Homo erectus appeared on the evolutionary scene I'm sure there were plenty of knuckle walkers commenting things like "Oh, walking around with his head up he'll miss all the juicy bugs on the ground." and "Standing that tall he will run into a tree limb and kill himself." Of course in those days moderation was a rock to the head so they may not have expressed their opinions to others.
When the failures stop, evolution has stalled. Progress is made by people that are willing to do something, even if it turns out sub-optimally.
Bzzzzzzzt (Score:2)
Last time I was through that part of the state there was really violent storms here and there, power was out in Sisters, some guy got struck by lightning near John Day...not the brightest idea, going aloft during electrical storm season.
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There are supposed to be thunderstorms today and tomorrow, but i don't seem to think of "really violent storms" here, its usually quite mild in comparison to other places.
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These were really extreme squalls, pretty atypical for eastern Oregon like you say. I grew up there and know about how it's usually just windy and dry. We're expecting T-storms today here in the Willamette Valley so something's afoot; these guys perhaps just picked the wrong day. Or year; even round here the sun usually puts in a permanent appearance for a few months starting in July. Guess it's the price we pay for not being baked alive like the rest of the country.
Real Life UP house (Score:5, Interesting)
http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/intelligenttravel/2011/03/strange-planet-real-life-up-ho-1.html [nationalgeographic.com]
http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/upinspired-floating-house-14 [mymodernmet.com]
It even had a real aviation tail number N878UP Experimental.
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I agree wholeheartedly. We could apply it to comments whose authors clearly jumped to conclusions.
We should also have a "knowledgeable people who use their practical skills to attempt an idea that seems insane to uninformed bystanders" tag, but that's not as short and appealing.
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Please explain where the stupidity lies, then. There's an experienced balloonist and experienced skydiver, both familiar with the characteristics of the atmosphere at the expected altitudes, who have carefully planned and executed a fundraising spectacle after a year of planning and preparation.
Just because something's inefficient or outwardly weird does not make it stupid. This coming weekend I'll be watching people make and set off explosives for the fun of it, in a controlled environment following more-t
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Here's a few more equally-stupid ideas:
Walking on a taut cable suspended between two poles or buildings high above the ground
Well from my point of view, that IS stupid
Your other examples are tasks which involve calculated risks, but which have a reason to be done in the first place.
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Rope-walking (and lawn-chair flying) is also calculated risk, based on the skill of the person doing it, and the reason for doing it is to create a spectacle that will draw money to a particular organization.
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I agree wholeheartedly. We could apply it to comments whose authors clearly jumped to conclusions.
We should also have a "knowledgeable people who use their practical skills to attempt an idea that seems insane to uninformed bystanders" tag, but that's not as short and appealing.
They weren't that knowledgeable or they wouldn't have had to abandon their attempt after 30 minutes because they hadn't read the weather forecast.
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A "Morons" tag like Fark.
In slashdot terms, these geniuses are elite hackers well on the way to creating balloon-based space flight, plus they're anti-authoritarian so they get the knee-jerk anti-government vote too.
No wonder you were modded troll. You're lucky they didn't colour in the balloon pattern on GIMP or you'd be accused of being Microsoft shill too..
Just another day in Oregon (Score:3)
My home state, filled with some of the most "interesting" people you might imagine, for better or worse.
Also home of the OSDL and OSCON, the largest naked bike ride, and gorgeous natural beauty.
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Man protests TSA with nudity [slashdot.org]
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Re:Just another day in Oregon (Score:5, Funny)
Clearly you missed the MOST important part of living in oregon, Are you a raw food gluten free vegan bicyclist, or are you a carbon neutral organic polyculture pot farmer?
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Or a Skoal chewing pickup driving redneck, to give the sparsely populated other half of the state its due. I can see these guys being brought down by .303 fire on their next outing.
Caliber (Score:3)
Nobody in the USofA uses .303 - thats a British caliber.
Thirty ought six (30-06) would be the round of choice. Though 7.62x54R is very cheap.as are the bolt action Moisin-Nagant rifles that fire it.
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Nobody in the USofA uses .303 - thats a British caliber.
Thirty ought six (30-06) would be the round of choice. Though 7.62x54R is very cheap.as are the bolt action Moisin-Nagant rifles that fire it.
Wrong. .303 isn't popular, but many of us have them.
You can still buy ammo at any decent gun store.
And yes, I bought mine in Oregon.
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The biggest things I miss about being out there is the beer, that you can buy beer in the grocery store, and can buy it on a Sunday.
Hold on, so you chose to move somewhere where you can't buy drink on a Sunday. Do you now live in North Wales or something?
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But you neglected the most important part of living in Oregon, are you a duck or beaver?
As someone who grew up in Oregon (Baker City to be exact), but is now a resident of Washington (Sound area)...
QUACK!!!
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My username says it all.
Eric the Ack Acktor (Score:1)
Missed his shot at glory and fame with this one.
Very patriotic of them to choose the colors (Score:5, Funny)
Very patriotic of them to choose to design their balloons to look like the flag of the greatest country on earth. The Dutch people salute them!
Lucky for them the winds weren't severe of them to give tribute to the French as well.
Re:Very patriotic of them to choose the colors (Score:4, Funny)
Hint: They are raising funds for children orphaned by a war in what country that is not the Netherlands?
A country full of people that wouldn't know a joke if they had to vote for it in a presidential election.
Stop wasting helium! (Score:1, Informative)
What brain-dead gas supplier sold these idiots enough helium to attempt this stunt? Don't they know that there's a worldwide helium shortage - that even now, a new restriction of He allocation has cut gas levels available to suppliers to 50-70% of last year's levels, and He prices on what's left have doubled?
Those of us who use helium for our jobs don't appreciate it being wasted on this crap. If these morons want to float on lawn chairs, use hydrogen - that'll get even more people watching them, and maybe
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They wanted to use hydrogen, but then then FAA would have required a no-smoking sign.
Re:Stop wasting helium! (Score:4, Insightful)
What brain-dead gas supplier sold these idiots enough helium to attempt this stunt? Don't they know that there's a worldwide helium shortage - that even now, a new restriction of He allocation has cut gas levels available to suppliers to 50-70% of last year's levels, and He prices on what's left have doubled?
Those of us who use helium for our jobs don't appreciate it being wasted on this crap. If these morons want to float on lawn chairs, use hydrogen - that'll get even more people watching them, and maybe when the first two or three go up in fireballs people will stop doing this idiotic stunt.
Helium is still obviously too cheap then, you'll just have to patiently wait till market forces correct the prices, so no kid will ever have a magically floating balloon again. (Not for less than $20 at least)
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I laughed out loud when I noticed the original poster has been modded Flamebait. How many levels is that true on?
Market forces are thoughtless (Score:2)
Yeah, lets create a crisis by acting thoughtlessly (foolishly) so then reality forces us to have to face the problem.
The Market is far from reality, it merely is forced by hard realities eventually just like everything else is.
One could say the exact thing about a communist solution-- when it becomes scarce people just get smaller rations (except for a few corrupt people who get more than others.) Similar result with both opposing systems.
I would tax it so it lasts longer; maybe put that money into researc
Re:Stop wasting helium! (Score:4, Insightful)
Welcome to capitalism, we don't do rationing of scarce resources, we simply raise prices. Anyone willing to pay the premium can blow it on whatever they want.
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What brain-dead gas supplier sold these idiots enough helium to attempt this stunt? Don't they know that there's a worldwide helium shortage - that even now, a new restriction of He allocation has cut gas levels available to suppliers to 50-70% of last year's levels, and He prices on what's left have doubled?
Those of us who use helium for our jobs don't appreciate it being wasted on this crap. If these morons want to float on lawn chairs, use hydrogen - that'll get even more people watching them, and maybe when the first two or three go up in fireballs people will stop doing this idiotic stunt.
I agree, what's the point of balloons and airships if you don't get a good fireball every now and then?
Mind you, I can't say I have all that much sympathy for the "squeaky voices" industry that requires helium.
Everyone's a critic (Score:2)