Would be insult to injury if the second man who did the balloon stunt successfully was an atheist.

beyondthetech

Not only that he gave some of his ballons to the small children of the town he landed in.

bbfreak

Unfortuantely, the padre wasn't a Free Thinker.

vagrant

@OMG! Ponies!: Seconded.

ps. I love how his ballast was Kool-Aid.

DestroyerMTL

Put your faith in training and preparation, not in God.

OMG! Ponies!

Parachute while being 200 feet up in the air? Uhhhh...

LJN

hmmm, I would say at a travelling altitude of 200 feet, a parachute is next to useless as a security measure. Except, maybe, as a cushion to fall on...

yogibimbi

Is it a bird? Is it a plane?
Is it a guy in a lawn chair held aloft by several dozen balloons?

Personally, I'm waiting for the Hindenburg comments.

Hvedhrungr

Blow gun.

:)

mangamonster

@OMG! Ponies!: Orrrrrr both? Why is it always one or the other?

I'm curious though, do these people have to register with the FAA or any other similar organization before they take these flights? The article talks about someone in 1982 getting fined for doing something similar but this guy gets corporate sponsors? Seems like the FAA would be -more- apt to fine people now than in 1982.

forrestcook

I just finished looking at news broadcast where this guy was featured. I wonder how he got rid of his ballast (kool aid) after he drank it lol.

"Mommy why is the rain red today"

Justapspfan

@forrestcook: I remember reading the article about the guy who got fined also. In that article I think the guy floated through controled aerospace without a radio or anything and then needed to be saved later because he couldn't get the balloons to pop so he was up a lot longer than he wanted to be and got hypothermia.

I'm guessing this guy either filed a flight plan with the FAA or had a radio so he could alert the proper people if his flight was going through a controlled area (airport aerospace).

visionep

can we get a blow-up of the photo? It just looks psychedelic. hmmm....blow-up...

yogibimbi

@yogibimbi: faith is a poor stand-in for anything. If you don't have any alternatives, by all means, pray away if that makes you feel better (it won't affect the situation prayed for).

@vagrant: Not just a free thinker. It seems he wasn't even a good plain thinker.

andyo

@Hvedhrungr: hmmm, maybe because the Hindenburg was filled with hydrogen and this guy used helium, which is an inert noble gas?

yogibimbi

@forrestcook: well, maybe because a lot of christians (I don't say all here;-) won't have it any other way. Maybe their reluctance to planning is actually just a front, their belief just an excuse for their inability and ineptitude in it.
Like, when I was living in Mexico City, _a_lot_ of people didn't even properly lock their doors, and that was in one of the most crime-ridden cities of the world. Granted, most of the people I knew there would probably be considered lower middle class and their riches countable on the fingers of one hand but, contrary to general assumption, most burglars do not burgle the rich, but the stupid or, nicer put, the uncautious. Anyway, faith in God is a poor stand-in for sloppiness.

yogibimbi

I think the parachute was more for sudden updrafts taking him waay up. The odds of enough balloons breaking to make a decent fast enough to really break something are pretty slim. Though from some of the comments I've seen around here, I wouldn't fly over any of your houses. Bastards would be in your back yard with the bb guns... ;)

Barry99705

how long does it take for a parachute to work? My only experience is a pillow case and my roof...

forrestcook

How does one go about owning the air? Seems like a solid investment. This is pretty cool though, its always a little kids dream to strap ballons to a lawn chair and go flying away

spimoles

@spimoles:

Yeah, keyword: "little kids." These guys need to grow up.

UniComp

@UniComp: you are going to miss out on everything cool and die alone- Patton Oswalt

Beard Police

@yogibimbi: God helps those who help themselves.

Josh_Geyer

This just in! Atheists attack Christians on the Tech blog "Gizmodo." [Wait...What? There ARE NO Christians on Gizmodo? Then who are the Atheists attacking? Wow...yeah...that IS kind of sad] We'll continue working on this as the story unfolds, AND IN SPORTS...

GadgetPlay

Is this a Guiness World record? I'm surprised with all of these guys doing this recently that none of them have attempted to break some sort of Guiness World record?... @LJN: maybe the parachute would be used after dumping some Koolaide (the ballast), and after attaining a reasonable enough altitude that's safe to jump from?... What's the lowest height at which base jumper can/will jump from?

Ambiguous Blob 2.0

@Josh_Geyer:

-1 for the Cliche

Unknown2U

@GadgetPlay: CHAAAAAARGE!!!!

johnnyabnormal

God likes it when we plan ahead and help ourselves.

Reminds me of a story in which a man was trapped on his roof by an awful flood. A guy in a boat came by and offered to help evacuate him. The guy refused, saying "God will not let me die." A second guy came by in a boat and offered help, only to get the same reply. Later, a helicopter flew over and lowered a basket for the helpless man. Again, he replied, "God will not let me die" and refused help. He drowned in the flood. Once inside the Pearly Gates, he asked God why he had forsaken him. God replied, "I sent two boats and a helicopter. What more did you want?"

Planning + belief in God > putting it all in God's hands

yelraf

@GadgetPlay:

"I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God."

-George H. W. Bush

johnnyabnormal

I would not like him flying over me imagine when he needed a piss, I guess it would be hard for a woman to do this without getting their fingers wet.

ichi1

This is talking alternative transportation to an extreme.

Helium comes primarily from 2 sources, helium mines (caverns where helium collects) and as a by-product of petroleum processing, mostly scavenged from natural gas.

DeadWriter

@yelraf:
1. True story? Who was at the Pearly Gates to witness this?
2. There's a God?
3. Does He like Kool-Aid?

tehdahl

Worth mentioning:
Father de Carli actually made a flight before this last one, which was successfull.

Truth is: He was lucky.

The main reason why he died on this last one was because he was so unprepared, he thought the wind down the ground was the same while in-flight.

So he got dragged into open ocean.. the exact opposite of what he was expecting.

Thus, dying in a stupid way.

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

@Hvedhrungr: Oh, the huge lawn chair?

Blakamin

@GadgetPlay: lol , possibly best to have two holes for one and two.

ichi1

@tehdahl:

1. Supposedly. Geraldo Rivera.

2. According to Geraldo (unless he faked the story).

3. Geraldo knows, but he ain't talkin'.

yelraf

@johnnyabnormal: Oooohhhh!!! Where'd you find that? If true, he was doing some heavy duty pandering to someone. That is surprising.

@ichi1: "I guess it would be hard for a woman to do this without getting their fingers wet."

Depending on the chair, it could actually be easier.

@johnnyabnormal: "@GadgetPlay: CHAAAAAARGE!!!!"

Ain't we got fun?

GadgetPlay

@Josh_Geyer: As was repeatedly pointed out to me a long time ago, no where in the Bible does it actually say that.

He was last seen flying over a trailer park... "It's a bird," "it's a plane," "no! It's some idiot in a flying lawn chair!" "Quick Martha! Go get me my .22!"

grok666

After the cost of all the materials and the time spent setting it up and everything, wouldn't it start to be more economical to fly, bus, or train it?

joebobfunguy

@joebobfunguy: True enough, they estimated the costs to be around 6000 dollars. Just for a 200 mile trip. Of course I doubt costs were enough of a reason to stop him from doing it. Also, it sounds like its was pretty darn cool. If the weather coroperates that is. o.O;; I so would not want to be in that lawn chair when its raining or even hailing for that matter with a strong gust of wind.

Say what you will through, ballooning is still the closest thing to flying as openly as a bird. Even that guy with the jet engines probably couldn't go very far, considering jet fuel goes away very very fast.

bbfreak

@joebobfunguy: Yeessss, but it would also be more economical to run the Indy 500 using Priuses, what's your point?

Mandatory_Field

Sorry to double post, but oh yeah, the episode of Mythbusters disproved flying with one or two balloons. This guy is using thousands. And so did that priest. Ok I guess it works. I wanna do this too!

nintendude

Ok so I know this is possible. I'm now doubting the credibility of Mythbusters. Or at least that episode when they actually tested this.

nintendude

MMMM powdered drink mix.
Orange or Grape or Cherry, I'm old school.
Wyler's that the stuff when I was a kid.

See, the great thing is that it's made with sugar, so at least you aren't getting bunged with high fructose corn syrup, (which of course sucks)
That and you can make it to taste.

I always liked it made strong loaded with ice so it mellowed as the ice melted.

Tang was also great.

Balloons are fun too of course.
This guy seems better prepared than the Padre that's for sure.

strider_mt2k

@Josh_Geyer: "God helps those who help themselves"

I think the original quote is something like "God helps those who carry fully powered and backup GPS units along with redundant communications devices, know how to operate all their equipment, and have safety, disaster preparedness, and abandonment protocols in place."

frigg

@Hvedhrungr: D'Oh the Humanadweebs?

Stem_Sell

I'm mostly amused his last name's rather fitting for it!

Mr.Wilson

I suspect that balloon-lawn chair combos are governed by the same regulations as hot air balloons. Here's the guidelines, but I'm too lazy to parse it. [www.faa.gov]

As for the whole religion vs. preparation debate... Why don't we say that God takes care of His disbelievers just as well as His faithful. Otherwise, as John Stewart put it, wouldn't He have punished San Francisco for gay marriage rather than flooding His God-fearing Midwest? It seems He expects us to take care of ourselves, whether we believe in Him or not.

Today's Sermon at St. Dilbert of the Holy Cross: learn to use your GPS before hitching your lawn chair to a buttload of balloons.

dennitzio

from what I heard he got too excited last time around and shot too many balloons with his pellet gun (and was thus forced to bail via parachute).

as his attorney I recommend he take a shot of whiskey/vodka after every successful balloon execution as to ensure he grounds in a smooth and agg fashion

discounteggroll

God gave us seat belts, search and rescue teams, locks and parachutes for a reason dammit.

Sabre_Justice: Okay, no more long name.

These cluster balloons are NOT considered an aircraft and are not regulated by the FAA, that I'm aware of. While they are "lighter than air" aircrafts, they would be considered experimental of nature and would probably fall into the same class as a powered parachute. However, this does not mean he can just go fly wherever he wants.

You see that radio that looks like a two-way? More than likely, that's an aircraft radio that he uses to talk to local unicom-based airports and Air Traffic Control at any larger airports. For the smaller airports, he can fly right through their airspace - however, for larger airports, he will have to do whatever ATC tells him to do. Even though he doesn't have to submit a flight plan and such, he still has to abide by the rules of the air. He has to be VERY careful not to get into the airspace of the larger airports - that will cause problems. However, he can fly over the larger airports - but, at 10,000 ft. or so.

ksat

how does a guy named kent couch not try this with a real couch instead of a lawn chair???

curiouscomputer

@frigg: Well, guess that is not god who's helping, but common sense and technology.

Ariel_Wollinger

@Sabre_Justice: Okay, no more long name.: god?

Ariel_Wollinger

@beyondthetech: ahhaha!

Ariel_Wollinger

@OMG! Ponies!: perfect! Put your "faith" in reality.

Ariel_Wollinger

@Sabre_Justice: Okay, no more long name.: Do you worship Nader, the Almighty? He is one of the deities of car safety.

johnnyabnormal

Ok OK I wanna try this only mine WILL have an iPod dock and it will be playing "99 red ballons" the whole time.

VideoVampire

I'm a FAA licensed balloon pilot and I made a 4-hour cluster balloon flight last month. I flew my standard, unmodified office chair, and I went to over 14,783 feet.

Balloons are certainly regulated by the FAA. So are balloon pilots: To fly a standard hot-air or gas balloon, you also need a pilot's license, with a specific rating for lighter-than-air. However, Kent's aircraft falls under a subset of the rules that don't require a pilot's license to fly, and don't require an airworthiness certificate for the aircraft. The specific section is called Title 14 CFR, Part 103. The entire section is only 2 pages, and I would encourage you to read it. It is not complicated.

As long as the aircraft is unpowered and under 155 lbs, it can be considered an ultralight-which has no pilot licensing or skill requirement, nor is there any age requirement.

However, the aircraft still has to stay clear of certain airspace: the airspace above 18,000 feet (Class A) and airspace around larger airports. In addition, there are several other types of airspace that Kent's craft wouldn't be allowed to fly in. Hopefully he purchased a sectional chart and was well familiar with these areas.

The first person to fly cluster balloons was Dr. Jean Piccard on July 18th, 1937. You can read the story in the New York Times archive. Then, twenty years later, his son Don Piccard made another cluster balloon flight, which you can read about in the October 7th 1957 edition of Life Magazine.

Here are two links on last month's office chair flight:

[www.newsobserver.com]
[www.xlta.org]

Soft landings,

Jonathan R. Trappe

jtrappe

@jtrappe: Holy crap. Did the weight of your balls effect how many balloons were needed? :) That's probably the best view anyone's ever had from an armchair.

johnnyabnormal

I take it you mean this photo:

[www.xlta.org]

It was amazing, wasn't it? Note that the photo was taken at 6,140 feet-- you can see the instrument readout on my left leg. It shows the altitude, and shows I'm climbing at 240 feet per minute.

The flight went up above 14,000 feet-- but I was too busy at that point to take snapshots!

Jonathan

jtrappe

@jtrappe: So at 14,000 feet, what makes you busy?

johnnyabnormal

@johnnyabnormal: At 14,000 feet, you're busy not going to 18,000 feet. :)

Air gets thinner, you deplete your oxygen quicker, it gets colder, and at 18,000 feet 'Class A' airspace begins. To enter Class A legally you need permission from air traffic control, or a waiver from the FAA. (Big jets are going really fast up there in Class A.)

So, to avoid climbing up to 18,000, you have to arrest your ascent, either by valving off gas, popping cells, or releasing balloons. But, if you release too much helium (via any of those methods), you could start descending too fast-- and you would have to partially counteract the helium release by releasing ballast, to reduce the rate of descent.

You have to be careful in that you really don't want to run out of either of those things-- helium or ballast.

jtrappe

@jtrappe: I think I'd be more concerned about crapping my pants! Did everything go really smooth, or were there some scary parts?

johnnyabnormal