Do you have any unfulfilled dreams? Here’s some encouragement from an unlikely source.

On July 2, 1982, Larry Walters, a 33-year-old truck driver from Los Angeles, fulfilled his lifelong dream: flight.

Larry had originally hoped to become an Air Force pilot, but his poor eyesight prevented him from flying fighter jets. To turn his dream into reality, he’d have to find another way.

While hanging out one afternoon with a few mates in the backyard of his girlfriend’s house, he strapped himself into a lawn chair tied to over 40 helium-filled weather balloons. To ensure a controlled lift-off, they anchored the chair firmly to the bumper of a car with two nylon ropes.

“Lawn Chair Larry,” as he became affectionately known, was well prepared for his journey. He carried a six-pack of beer, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a CB radio, and a BB gun.

According to his “expert” calculations, the balloons would lift him about 30 to 40 metres into the air (about 10 stories), thus fulfilling his dream, and providing him the joy ride of a lifetime. His brilliant plan was to shoot out the balloons one at a time with his BB gun when he was ready to land. He would fall gently back down to earth, near enough for his team to come pick him up.

From Larry and his mates’ perspective, what could go wrong? It seemed like a fool-proof plan.

At Captain Larry’s command, his ground crew cut the first tether in preparation for take off. The second tether wasn’t strong enough to resist the uplift and it snapped. Larry shot so rapidly into the Los Angeles sky that his glasses flew off. He began climbing at over 1000 feet (300 metres) per minute.

His girlfriend, communicating with him via CB, started freaking out. She wanted him down immediately. Larry was now realising his dream, and responded to her cries as if he had everything under control. The problem was, he kept creeping higher and higher. By the time he levelled off, he had ascended to 16,000 feet (5,000 metres).

Larry’s little mishap took him directly between the air traffic patterns of the Los Angeles International and Long Beach airports. Too frightened, or perhaps oxygen deprived, to shoot any of the balloons, he stayed airborne for more than an hour drifting in the cold air. It was a good thing he had a sixer to calm his nerves.

It didn’t take long for a commercial pilot to spot Larry, so he radioed the tower to say he was passing a guy in a lawn chair. The airports were forced to shut down their runways for most of the afternoon, causing long delays in flights across the country.

Larry finally mustered the courage to start shooting out a few balloons. He began his descent but then dropped his gun, an accident that may have saved his life. He soon landed without harm; but not before getting caught in a power line, causing a 20-minute electricity blackout in a Long Beach neighbourhood.

After being cited by the police, reporters asked him three questions:

“Were you scared?”

Larry simply replied, “No.”

“Would you do it again?”

The obvious reply came back, “No.”

“Why did you do it?”

“Because,” he said, “you can’t just sit there.”

3 Life Lessons from Lawn Chair Larry

“You can’t just sit there.” I love that reply. Sure, he was a bit of an idiot for taking such an uncalculated risk; but we can all glean a few simple life lessons from Larry’s audacious act.

1. Keep the Dream Alive

Larry’s life-long dream of flight got shot down – no pun intended – when the Air Force rejected him. For over a decade, his hopes laid dormant. But he never let them die. As the story goes, he saw some weather balloons in an army surplus shop on day, and his idea was born.

2. Be Willing to Break the Rules

Larry was determined to find a way to fly. Perhaps a wiser move would have been to get a pilot’s license. Maybe he didn’t have the money to pay for lessons. Or maybe getting a pilot’s license would have been too status quo for Larry.

Either way, he seemed to have had the same attitude as most innovative and entrepreneurial people – sometimes it’s better to ask forgiveness than to ask permission.

3. Take Massive Action

Larry knew, if your dream is ever going to become a reality, “you can’t just sit there.” At some point, you must act. The pain of doing nothing must become greater than any perceived pain of moving forward.

Whether you think Larry is brilliant, or a complete moron, you have to commend him for his decision to take massive action toward the fulfillment of his dream.

The News Report

What’s your unfulfilled dream?

image credit: Larry 1, Larry 2, Larry 3, Larry 4

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