Man Flies 193 Miles By Balloon

[Plenoptic 0]

Article: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/19694083/

Kent Couch used 105 balloons connected to a lawn chair to lift him into the air for a 9 hour, 193 mile flight from his home. This isn't the first time he has done it, he had a 6 hour flight before where he shot down a balloon at a time with a BB gun but ended up bailing out with a parachute after strting to come down too fast. This time he brought along instruments to test his speed, alititude and brought a GPS navigation tool. He had 4, 5 gallon bags of water that he released a little at a time by the use of a spigot to release a little water at a time to bring him up to his 13,000 ft altitude going roughly 20 miles per hour. He released helium a little at a time from the balloons instead of popping them to come down slower so this time the parachute wasn't necessary. Unfortunately, after he landed, a draft picked up and the chair took back off with his camera, phone and wallet.

I have always dreamed of doing something like this. Couch isn't the first to try this actually but is the most recent. I've thought about trying this but never really thought about what would happen if something didn't go right. I figured just popping the balloons one at a time would bring you down slow enough but I guess I'd have to learn how to parachute just in case. I think it'd be cool just to fly around in the sky with nothing really around you. It's amazing to think what it'd be like. I love flying in planes and I've often thought of finding a jetpack or flying in a hot air balloon too. I think the $1500 fines would probably even be worth it.

[Unstoppable 0]

I'd love the jetpack. I'd be really cool to fly individually and do whatever you like up there. I always wondered about the complications though... What happens to the jetpackheat? since it's rather close to the body, the burns would be rather unfortunate... whap about air traffic? Or birds flying in the engines >< ? Anyway, relating to the article, the couch thing seems hardly maneuverable, so it would always remain a sort of personal 'joyflight'.

[t3jem 0]

I would love to do that. I heard about this on the radio today and thought that when I get older, I'll just have to go do this. It would be pretty cool just to drop everything your doing, hook up a few balloons and go floating in the sky for a few hours, then when you land, call up a friend and have them come pick you up . Definitly something I would try, just need a parachute (never did think about bringing one before).

[TikiPrincess 0]

hehe, when I read the topic title, I thought you meant that someone did this by hot air balloon, which didn't seem very special to me. But this is awesome! I always figured that the concept was plausible, but movies and cartoons never really use enough balloons to make it believable. When you think about it, 105 balloons really isn't too many. Seems like each one carries a little more than a couple pounds. That's assuming Couch is at least 100 lbs., but I'm guessing he's probably more.I'd have to agree with Unstoppable, though, it doesn't seem very maneuverable. You're basically at the mercy of the winds. If there's a strong thermal gust, you could spin a bunch and get all dizzy. I think that birds would be too scared to approach a great bubbly monstrosity, but what if you did get swarmed by a bunch of birds and they started popping all those balloons? That would be freaky!

[Plenoptic 0]

hehe, when I read the topic title, I thought you meant that someone did this by hot air balloon, which didn't seem very special to me. But this is awesome! I always figured that the concept was plausible, but movies and cartoons never really use enough balloons to make it believable. When you think about it, 105 balloons really isn't too many. Seems like each one carries a little more than a couple pounds. That's assuming Couch is at least 100 lbs., but I'm guessing he's probably more.
I'd have to agree with Unstoppable, though, it doesn't seem very maneuverable. You're basically at the mercy of the winds. If there's a strong thermal gust, you could spin a bunch and get all dizzy. I think that birds would be too scared to approach a great bubbly monstrosity, but what if you did get swarmed by a bunch of birds and they started popping all those balloons? That would be freaky!

Well the balloons are bigger than your average birthday balloons and they would have to be pretty strong to be able to take the pressure up at 13,000 feet. The man brought the parachute in case of an emergency in which yes he'd have to jump and save himself. I guess if you brought the BB gun still you could shoot any birds that came at you anyway. It'd be a cool thing to do, but I think it'd take a bit of time and planning to make sure you will be prepared for all situations and what not.

I remember watching a Myth Busters episode where it took hundreds, maybe a thousand balloons just to lift this 5 year old girl off the ground. I think she was like 40 pounds or something along those lines. I'm not sure if those were just birthday balloons or not but this guy sure had a lot less than that.

[AndrewM 0]

lol, that is pretty cool. Although, a lawn chair with ballons? i would be terrified going that high over the world! XD

[Lyon2 0]

It is amazing!I just hope i could see that in recorded video, i did not find a link to that, do you know if it was recorded by him or by some company? I would apreciate if you could help me with this, i would love to see this in video, and also to save it to my computer video favorites.Thanks.

[Plenoptic 0]

It is amazing!
I just hope i could see that in recorded video, i did not find a link to that, do you know if it was recorded by him or by some company? I would apreciate if you could help me with this, i would love to see this in video, and also to save it to my computer video favorites.

Thanks.

Well some people took pictures from the ground, and I think a plane may have been sent up to circle him but he had a recorded video himself that he took while he was up there. That recording was lost though with the chair when it took back off into the air whent he wind picked up. I would like to see the video, especially to see what he had to do. But you know I think if he releases it, more and more people will be trying it themselves and they could really hurt themselves if they don't know what they are doing.

[akira550 0]

wow first of all i want to know how it feel when you are flying.. today we have so many technologies and that man was great :lol:the jet pack was also very fast.. because of its boost.. aha someday someone will create a wing pack