Larry Walters; Soared to Fame on Lawn Chair

Larry Walters, who achieved dubious fame in 1982 when he piloted a lawn chair attached to helium balloons 16,000 feet above Long Beach, has committed suicide at the age of 44.

Walters died Oct. 6 after hiking to a remote spot in Angeles National Forest and shooting himself in the heart, his mother, Hazel Dunham, revealed Monday. She said relatives knew of no motive for the suicide.

“It was something I had to do,� Walters told The Times after his flight from San Pedro to Long Beach on July 2, 1982. “I had this dream for 20 years, and if I hadn’t done it, I would have ended up in the funny farm.�

Walters rigged 42 weather balloons to an aluminum lawn chair, pumped them full of helium and had two friends untether the craft, which he had dubbed “Inspiration I.�

He took along a large bottle of soda, a parachute and a portable CB radio to alert air traffic to his presence. He also took a camera but later admitted, “I was so amazed by the view I didn’t even take one picture.�

Walters, a North Hollywood truck driver with no pilot or balloon training, spent about two hours aloft and soared up to 16,000 feet--three miles--startling at least two airline pilots and causing one to radio the Federal Aviation Administration.

Shivering in the high altitude, he used a pellet gun to pop balloons to come back to earth. On the way down, his balloons draped over power lines, blacking out a Long Beach neighborhood for 20 minutes.

The stunt earned Walters a $1,500 fine from the FAA, the top prize from the Bonehead Club of Dallas, the altitude record for gas-filled clustered balloons (which could not be officially recorded because he was unlicensed and unsanctioned) and international admiration. He appeared on “The Tonight Show� and was flown to New York to be on “Late Night With David Letterman,� which he later described as “the most fun I’ve ever had.�

“I didn’t think that by fulfilling my goal in life--my dream--that I would create such a stir,� he later told The Times, “and make people laugh.�

Walters abandoned his truck-driving job and went on the lecture circuit, remaining sporadically in demand at motivational seminars. But he said he never made much money from his innovative flight and was glad to keep his simple lifestyle.

He gave his “aircraft�--the aluminum lawn chair--to admiring neighborhood children after he landed, later regretting it.

In recent years, Walters hiked the San Gabriel Mountains and did volunteer work for the U.S. Forest Service.

“I love the peace and quiet,� he told The Times in 1988. “Nature and I get along real well.�

An Army veteran who served in Vietnam, Walters never married and had no children. He is survived by his mother and two sisters.