Man Uses Balloon, Lawn Chair to Float Across Oregon

Kent Couch used a makeshift aircraft, composed of a lawnchair and balloons to fly across the Oregon sky. He felt short of his goal, which was to reach Idaho.
Kent Couch traveled nearly 200 miles and more than nine hours Saturday. He attached more than 100 helium-filled balloons to his lawn chair and took off from his gas station in Bend, Ore.

"It was serene, just like you're on top of a cloud laying there," Couch said on "Good Morning America" today. "It was just like being on ice, nice and smooth."

Couch and his supplies weighed about 310 pounds, and each balloon weighed about 5 pounds. He used approximately 200 pounds of ballast to keep him anchored at the appropriate altitude.

Couch traveled as high as 13,000 feet [2 miles!] as he floated toward his intended destination of Idaho.

The 47-year-old said just when he began to question what he was doing, the makeshift aircraft ran into turbulence.
Couch touched down in a field near Union, Ore., not quite making it to his Idaho target. The father of five said he would love to take his lawn chair for another flight, this time ending in Idaho. But, he said he is unsure whether his wife would allow him to do so — helium-filled balloons, in turns out, are very expensive.