A Canadian ‘Balloon Man’ Flew In A Lawn Chair Like The Movie ‘Up’

A Canadian man took the ultimate joyride and landed in the arms of justice. Daniel Boria armed himself with a $20 lawn chair and 120 balloons as a makeshift flying contraption. His initial investment was thrifty, but the pricey balloons were each about 6 feet high. Boria also required $12,000 of helium to hoist himself into the clouds.

Boria’s grand plan? To lift off and skydive into the Canadian Stampede grounds. He succeeded in navigating close to his destination but encountered trouble:

“I was sitting in a lawn chair looking down through the clouds at 747 airplanes and looking up to a cluster of helium balloons. I rose to a certain altitude and the winds got pretty intense. I was somersaulting out the chair and it felt like minus 30. I watched below as the Stampede and my dream drifted away.”

Bora freed himself from the uncontrollable chair and smashed into the ground two miles away from the Stampede. He may have broken his foot, and Calgary police “charged him with mischief causing danger to life and mischief to property under $5,000, before dropping the latter.” Boria may still face federal charges for violating airspace regulations.

A witness, Tom Warne, spoke of what he saw in the sky. He and his wife chuckled at seeing the balloons, which reminded them of “the house from Up.”

(Via The Star, CBC & Mashable)

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