Kent Couch carried a GPS, a two-way radio, a digital camcorder, a cell phone, instruments to measure altitude and speed, drinks, snacks, a parachute and four plastic bags holding five gallons of water each. He also had a three-car ground team consisting of wife, friends and his dog.

Oregon man takes lawn chair up to 13,000 feet, travels 193 miles
http://www.theolympian.com/northwest/story/157932.html

Sue

Oh wow! It's wonderful to hear of a man living his dream.

-Blast, raising a toast to Kent Couch

I do that every weekend after I've had a few beers!

"...Even at two miles high...He heard gunshots, which worried him..."

We worried about a bullet coming UP 10,000 feet? I'd like to see that gun...

Sure thing:


That's the gun I'd be worried about if I were at 13,000 ft. (Yes, yes... I know that the Warthog isn't an air-to-air platform. But lawnchairs aren't supposed to be at 13,000 ft. either.)

Why don't these guys get serious with a real hot air balloon. No telling where that lawn chair ended up.

Congrats on his Good Flight!

But I know that carrying that much water, -sure added to the weight! A cubic foot of water weighs either 62.something (The dots after this and the following numbers means a Decimal Point, mentioned here for Clearer Reading and Understanding) pounds, -or 64.something pounds, -I'm foggy as to the exact figure. I also recall there being 8.something gallons in such a cubic foot.

You mention 5 gallons multiplied by 4. So this is considerably more than half, -of my above mentioned Water Weight figures!

I do know that Oregon east of the Cascades, -certainly does have its Arid/Dry areas. a 193 mile long Flite quite likely would have gone out of Oregon's Wetlands. And thus a need for water.

Still thats Considerable Weight! But still also, -he considerably made it!

Could well have gone even further, -with less water. But its Understandable enuff, -why he wouldn't want to risk such, -over the Western Drylands.

I guess one can always attach an extra Balloon, -and that is perhaps what he did.

(I also refer you and others, -to the Thread "Up With the Airliners", -most likely here in the Campfire. About a similar and Famous 1982(?) Successful Flite!).

Wait till the FAA gets a hold of this guy. He admits to flying through a cloud, "He passed through clouds. He said they were fluffy." They will probably say he flew an unregistered, experimental aircraft into IFR conditions without being on an IFR flight plan.

I don't think that going thru one little cloud meets the requirements of IFR, but it would be a real bummer to meet a 747 in the middle of that cloud. I do suspect that the FAA is going to want to have a talk with him tho...

The FAR's have a slightly different opinion of what VFR flight requirements are.
Nowhere here does it say you can fly through a cloud.

Sec. 91.155 Basic VFR weather minimums.

(a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section and Sec. 91.157, no
person may operate an aircraft under VFR when the flight visibility is less,
or at a distance from clouds that is less, than that prescribed for the
corresponding altitude and class of airspace in the following table:

Flight
Airspace visibility Distance from clouds

Class A Not Applicable Not Applicable.
Class B 3 statute miles Clear of Clouds.
Class C 3 statute miles 500 feet below.
1,000 feet above.
2,000 feet horizontal.
Class D 3 statute miles 500 feet below.
1,000 feet above.
2,000 feet horizontal.
Class E:
Less than 10,000 feet MSL 3 statute miles 500 feet below.
1,000 feet above.
2,000 feet horizontal
At or above 10,000 feet MSL 5 statute miles 1,000 feet below.
1,000 feet above.
1 statute mile horizontal.
Class G:
1,200 feet or less above the
surface (regardless of MSL
altitude)
Day, except as provided in Sec.
91.155(b) 1 statute mile Clear of clouds.
Night, except as provided in
Sec. 91.155(b) 3 statute miles 500 feet below.
1,000 feet above.
2,000 feet horizontal.
More than 1,200 feet above the
surface but less than 10,000
feet MSL
Day 1 statute mile 500 feet below.
1,000 feet above.
2,000 feet horizontal.
Night 3 statute miles 500 feet below.
1,000 feet above.
2,000 feet horizontal.
More than 1,200 feet above the
surface and at or above 10,000
feet MSL 5 statute miles 1,000 feet below.
1,000 feet above.
1 statute mile horizontal.

Might be construed to be IFR I guess, but I suspect that would not be the main reason the FAA might want to talk to him...

You have to remain either "clear of clouds" or abide by the prescribed horizontal distance from that cloud to maintain VFR.

Not only clear of clouds, but I hope he was able to remain outside all other areas of Class B and C airspace since I presume he's not transponder equipped. Heck, I wonder if he even had enough surface area to be a radar target so that other aircraft could be advised to avoid him.

I imagine his variable altitude between 11,000 and 13,000 ft wasn't within VFR guidelines either unless he stuck 11,500 (eastbound). Then again, w/o ATC, you can only guess your altimeter setting, or rely on GPS

I'm sure the FAA wouldn't mind talking to him. Though I'm not sure he has any license to pull as the article I saw never mentioned, so he might only be subject to fines again.

Hard to do in a lawnchair tho. I wonder if his rig comes close to meeting the def. of a hot air baloon, and what flight/licensing rules they have to follow? Seems to me that they would have a hard time getting him for floating uncontrolled thru a cloud, but could get him for being there in the first place...

It depends on just what he meant by "Flying thru Clouds". It could be literally flying through one or more Clouds, -Or,-It could be similar as when one says that they were walking thru "the Weeds or Bushes". This latter in the Meaning of one's *Passing* Thru, and By them, -Not literally walking right through them.

Of course there *could possibly* be other FAA issues there, -in either case.

So I guess that even if he were just "brushing by" the Clouds, -rather than literally Flying right on thru them, (as I spoke on earlier), -that he was still technically violating such Distance Minima.

From Altitudes of at least several thousand feet AGL, -its Surprising what you can hear from down below. Especially in Stiller Air. People Talking, Dogs Barking, etc. Just ask many a Ballooner!

I know that the Higher you keep on getting up, -the more Difficult this Audability is.

Just look at how Silent, or Nearly Silent, -that typical Contrail producing Airliners are in their Cruise, -from our Vantage Points down below. True also, -there is also much Thinner Air at such Heights with which to Carry such Sound. But I don't think that this can account for all of such Silence. Sound of course recedes with Distance, and thus Altitude, anyway.

But still, -I'd reasonably think that such Ground Sounds could possibly Carry round 10,000 to 15,000 feet, -but as for Certainty on that, -I simply don't know.

And so on his hearing Gunshots, -Such may well *Not* have been aimed upward toward him.

If on the Contrary they were, -which I again so very much Doubt, -I Second the View that it would have to be Some Kind of Gun!