From ryberg@houston.Geco-Prakla.slb.com Mon Apr 28 13:52 GMT 1997 Received: from monet.mobil.com by laghp001.lag.mobil.com with ESMTP (1.37.109.16/16.2) id AA298708978; Mon, 28 Apr 1997 13:49:38 -0100 Return-Path: Received: from gallows.mobil.com (gallows.mobil.com [131.126.220.5]) by monet.mobil.com (Mobil-3/monet-3) with ESMTP id HAA12969 for ; Mon, 28 Apr 1997 07:46:11 -0500 Received: by gallows.mobil.com; id HAA02033; Mon, 28 Apr 1997 07:58:23 -0500 (CDT) Received: from mailman.houston.geco-prakla.slb.com(163.185.13.199) by gallows.mobil.com via smap (3.2) id xma002015; Mon, 28 Apr 97 07:58:08 -0500 Received: from expsrv.houston.geco-prakla.slb.com by houston.Geco-Prakla.slb.com (4.1/WANG-4.1) id AA11827; Mon, 28 Apr 97 07:40:41 CDT Received: from expc12 ([163.185.15.240]) by expsrv.houston.geco-prakla.slb.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA26189; Mon, 28 Apr 97 07:36:58 CDT Message-Id: <9704281236.AA26189@expsrv.houston.geco-prakla.slb.com> X-Sender: ryberg@expsrv.houston.geco-prakla.slb.com X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Version 2.1.1 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Mon, 28 Apr 1997 07:38:42 -0500 To: fenwick@houston.Geco-Prakla.slb.com, allyson@singapore.geco-prakla.slb.com, thomas@houston.Geco-Prakla.slb.com, gxobrien@laghp001.lag.mobil.com, geoff.obrien@unn.ac.uk, parker@houston.Geco-Prakla.slb.com, knaust-lyster@houston.Geco-Prakla.slb.com, wyse@houston.Geco-Prakla.slb.com, jerry@houston.Geco-Prakla.slb.com, jdgraves@swbell.net, Party_Chief@longva.vessel.geco-prakla.slb.com, mark.sherry@waii.com, edwards@singapore.geco-prakla.slb.com, davis@houston.Geco-Prakla.slb.com, horscrof@houston.Geco-Prakla.slb.com, hubbard@houston.Geco-Prakla.slb.com, Ron.Boese@spectrum-eit.com, courtney@houston.Geco-Prakla.slb.com, oceansys@ix.netcom.com From: Richard Ryberg Subject: 1997 Darwin Award Status: R DARWIN AWARD WINNER FOR 1997 ANNOUNCED > > You'll recall a Darwin Award winner not long ago where a former > airforce sergeant decided to strap a cargo plane rocket booster to his > car to see how fast it would go and ended up killing himself (hence > the "Darwin" award...in the struggle for survival only the fittest > survive....) when his car didn't negotiate a curve in on the road in > northern New Mexico where he had set up this experiment. The car > smashed into the side of a cliff several hundred feet above the > roadbed. > > Here's the 1997 winner: Larry Waters of Los Angeles. Larry is one > of > the few to win the award and still be alive. > > Larry's boyhood dream was to fly. When he graduated from high > school, he joined the Air Force in hopes of becoming a pilot. > Unfortunately, poor eyesight disqualified him. When he was finally > discharged, he had to satisfy himself with watching jets fly over his > backyard. > > One day, Larry, brightened up. He decided to fly. He went to the > local Army-Navy surplus store and purchased 45 weather balloons and > several tanks of helium. The weather bolloons, when fully inflated, > measured more than four feet across. Back home, Larry securely > strapped the balloons to his sturdy lawn chair. He anchored the > chair to the bumper of his jeep and inflated the balloons with the > helium. He climbed on for a test while it was still only a few feet > above the ground. > > Satisfied that it would work, Larry packed several sandwiches and > a six-pack of miller lite, loaded his pellet gun - figuring he could > pop a few balloons when it was time to descend - and went back to the > floating lawnchair where he tied himself in along with his pellet gun > and provisions. Larry's plan was to lazily float up to a height of > about 30 feet above his back yard after severing the anchor and in a > few hours come back down. > > Things didn't quite work out for Larry. When he cut the cord > anchoring the lawn chair to his jeep, he didn't float lazily up to 30 > or so feet. Instead he streaked into the LA sky as if shot from a > cannon. > > He didn't level off at 30 feet, nor did he level off at 100 feet. > After climbing and climbing, he leveled off at 11,000 feet. At that > height he > couldn't risk shooting any of the balloons, lest he unbalance the load > and really find himself in trouble. So he stayed, there, drifting > cold and frightened for more than 14 hours when he found himself in > the primary approach corridor of LAX. > > A Pan Am pilot first spotted Larry. He radioed the tower and > described > passing a guy in a lawn chair with a gun. Radar confirmed the > existence > of an object floating 11,000 feet above the airport. LAX emergency > procedures swung into full alert and a helicopter was dispatched to > investigate. > > LAX is right on the ocean. Night was falling and the offshore > breeze began to flow. It carried Larry out to sea. Right on Larry's > heels was the helicopter. Several miles out, the helicopter caught up > with Larry. Once the crew determined that Larry was not dangerous, > they attempted to close in for a rescue but the draft from the blades > would push Larry away whenever they neared. Finally, the helicopter > ascended to a position several hundred feet above Larry and lowered a > rescue line. Larry snagged the line, with which he was hauled back to > shore, a difficult manuver, flawlessly executed by the helicopter > crew.. > > As soon as Larry was hauled to earth, he was arrested by waiting > members of the LAPD for violating LAX airsapce. As he was led away in > handcuffs, a reporter dispatched to cover the daring rescue, asked him > why he had done it. Larry stopped, turned and replied nonchalantly, > "A man can't just sit around." > > Here's a salute to Larry Walters, the 1997 Darwin Award Winner.