Lawnchair Larry rockets skyward in his lawn chair, hitched to 42 helium balloons, soaring 16,000 feet above Los Angeles on 12 July 1982. With only a sandwich, beer, and a B.B. gun for company, Larry stunned onlookers and made altitudinal history. “Look! Wow! Man! Unreal!” he exclaimed mid-flight, turning a backyard fantasy into record-breaking reality.

Not content with mere lawn mowing, Larry’s airborne adventure added ‘Chair Force 1’ to aviation lore. His 1982 ascent, meticulously planned yet wildly unpredictable, became an iconic high-altitude stunt. The phrase 'helium balloon flight' spiked in popularity as his story inspired imitators and left neighbors gaping at a 150-foot balloon tower vanishing into the sky.

Larry’s milk-jug-ballasted chair hit 16,000 feet—higher than Mount Whitney—before he popped balloons with a B.B. gun to descend.