Police Accident Report, don`t do this a home folks!!!!!!!!!!
Discussion
It seems that a former USAF sergent somehow got hold of a JATO(Jet Assisted Take -Off) Unit which is a solid fuel rocket used to help heavy military transporter get off the ground.He decided that it would be a great idea to weld it into the trunk of his 1967 Chevy Impala and take it to a nice long straight section of road in the desert to "see what she`ll do".
The police accident report concluded....."The operatorwas driving a 1967 Chevy Impala, he ignited the JATOunit approximately 3.9 miles from the crash site,this was established by the large scorched and melted section of highway,the vehicle quickly reached a peak speed estimated at between 250-300mph and continued at this speed for 20-25 seconds.
The Chevy remained on the highway for 2.6 miles before the driver tried to abort the excercise by applying the brakes,but in the process completly melted them,blew out all four tyres as proven by thick rubber marks found on the road surface followed by rim marks on the tarmac.
Shortly after this the vehicle became airborn for an additional 1.3 miles before impacting into a cliff face where the road turned sharply at a height of 126ft,leaving a 3ft deep blackened crater in the cliff surface.
Most of the drivers remain were not recovered,however small fragments of bone and hair were extracted from the crash site and bone/fingernail shards were removed from a piece of debris thought to be a portion of the steering wheel!
This was from an American newpaper report I found dating from the late 1970,s!!!! I guess he was going to fast to bail out of the car!.......only in America!
The police accident report concluded....."The operatorwas driving a 1967 Chevy Impala, he ignited the JATOunit approximately 3.9 miles from the crash site,this was established by the large scorched and melted section of highway,the vehicle quickly reached a peak speed estimated at between 250-300mph and continued at this speed for 20-25 seconds.
The Chevy remained on the highway for 2.6 miles before the driver tried to abort the excercise by applying the brakes,but in the process completly melted them,blew out all four tyres as proven by thick rubber marks found on the road surface followed by rim marks on the tarmac.
Shortly after this the vehicle became airborn for an additional 1.3 miles before impacting into a cliff face where the road turned sharply at a height of 126ft,leaving a 3ft deep blackened crater in the cliff surface.
Most of the drivers remain were not recovered,however small fragments of bone and hair were extracted from the crash site and bone/fingernail shards were removed from a piece of debris thought to be a portion of the steering wheel!
This was from an American newpaper report I found dating from the late 1970,s!!!! I guess he was going to fast to bail out of the car!.......only in America!
This guy Lawn Chair Larry got an honourable mention.
"Lawnchair Larry
Honorable Mention Confirmed by Darwin
2 July 1982
California Larry Walters of Los Angeles is one of the few to contend for a Darwin Award and live to tell the tale. "I have fulfilled my twenty-year dream," said Walters, a former truck driver for a company that makes TV commercials. "I'm staying on the ground. I've proved the thing works."
Larry's boyhood dream was to fly. But fates conspired to keep him from his dream. He joined the Air Force, but his poor eyesight disqualified him from pilot status. After he was discharged from the armed services, he sat in his backyard watching jets fly overhead.
He hatched his weather-balloon scheme while sitting outdoors in his "extremely comfortable" Sears lawnchair. He purchased forty-five weather balloons from an Army-Navy surplus store, tied them to his tethered lawnchair dubbed the Inspiration I, and filled the four-foot-diameter balloons with helium. Then he strapped himself into his lawnchair with some sandwiches, Miller Lite beer, and a pellet gun.
Larry's plan was to sever the anchor and lazily float up to a height of about thirty feet above his backyard, where he would enjoy a few hours of flight before coming back down. He figured he would pop a few brews, then pop a few of the forty-two balloons when it was time to descend, and gradually lose altitude. But things didn't work out quite as Larry planned.
When his friends cut the cord anchoring the lawnchair to his Jeep, he did not float lazily up to thirty feet. Instead, he streaked into the LA sky as if shot from a cannon, pulled by a lift of forty-two helium balloons holding thirty-three cubic feet of helium each. He didn't level off at a hundred feet, nor did he level off at a thousand feet. After climbing and climbing, he leveled off at sixteen thousand feet.
At that height he felt 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 with his beer and sandwiches for several hours while he considered his options. At one point he crossed the primary approach corridor of Los Angeles' LAX airspace, and Delta and Trans-World airline pilots radioed in incredulous reports of the strange sight.
Eventually he gathered the nerve to shoot a few balloons, and slowly descended through the night sky. The hanging tethers tangled and caught in a power line, blacking out a Long Beach neighborhood for twenty minutes. Larry climbed to safety, where he was arrested by waiting members of the Los Angeles Police Department. As he was led away in handcuffs, a reporter dispatched to cover the daring rescue asked him why he had done it. Larry replied nonchalantly, "A man can't just sit around."
The Federal Aviation Administration was not amused. Safety Inspector Neal Savoy said, "We know he broke some part of the Federal Aviation Act, and as soon as we decide which part it is, a charge will be filed."
"Lawnchair Larry
Honorable Mention Confirmed by Darwin
2 July 1982
California Larry Walters of Los Angeles is one of the few to contend for a Darwin Award and live to tell the tale. "I have fulfilled my twenty-year dream," said Walters, a former truck driver for a company that makes TV commercials. "I'm staying on the ground. I've proved the thing works."
Larry's boyhood dream was to fly. But fates conspired to keep him from his dream. He joined the Air Force, but his poor eyesight disqualified him from pilot status. After he was discharged from the armed services, he sat in his backyard watching jets fly overhead.
He hatched his weather-balloon scheme while sitting outdoors in his "extremely comfortable" Sears lawnchair. He purchased forty-five weather balloons from an Army-Navy surplus store, tied them to his tethered lawnchair dubbed the Inspiration I, and filled the four-foot-diameter balloons with helium. Then he strapped himself into his lawnchair with some sandwiches, Miller Lite beer, and a pellet gun.
Larry's plan was to sever the anchor and lazily float up to a height of about thirty feet above his backyard, where he would enjoy a few hours of flight before coming back down. He figured he would pop a few brews, then pop a few of the forty-two balloons when it was time to descend, and gradually lose altitude. But things didn't work out quite as Larry planned.
When his friends cut the cord anchoring the lawnchair to his Jeep, he did not float lazily up to thirty feet. Instead, he streaked into the LA sky as if shot from a cannon, pulled by a lift of forty-two helium balloons holding thirty-three cubic feet of helium each. He didn't level off at a hundred feet, nor did he level off at a thousand feet. After climbing and climbing, he leveled off at sixteen thousand feet.
At that height he felt 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 with his beer and sandwiches for several hours while he considered his options. At one point he crossed the primary approach corridor of Los Angeles' LAX airspace, and Delta and Trans-World airline pilots radioed in incredulous reports of the strange sight.
Eventually he gathered the nerve to shoot a few balloons, and slowly descended through the night sky. The hanging tethers tangled and caught in a power line, blacking out a Long Beach neighborhood for twenty minutes. Larry climbed to safety, where he was arrested by waiting members of the Los Angeles Police Department. As he was led away in handcuffs, a reporter dispatched to cover the daring rescue asked him why he had done it. Larry replied nonchalantly, "A man can't just sit around."
The Federal Aviation Administration was not amused. Safety Inspector Neal Savoy said, "We know he broke some part of the Federal Aviation Act, and as soon as we decide which part it is, a charge will be filed."
mmm-five said:
Everyone should read mmm-five's link. I've seen 3 different versions of this story over the years. Always a different car and location, but the end result the same.
CharlesW said:
This guy Lawn Chair Larry got an honourable mention.
"Lawnchair Larry
Honorable Mention Confirmed by Darwin
2 July 1982
California Larry Walters of Los Angeles is one of the few to contend for a Darwin Award and live to tell the tale. "I have fulfilled my twenty-year dream," said Walters, a former truck driver for a company that makes TV commercials. "I'm staying on the ground. I've proved the thing works." ...
Mostly true (www.snopes.com/travel/airline/walters.asp) apart from blacking out a neighbourhood - Streaky"Lawnchair Larry
Honorable Mention Confirmed by Darwin
2 July 1982
California Larry Walters of Los Angeles is one of the few to contend for a Darwin Award and live to tell the tale. "I have fulfilled my twenty-year dream," said Walters, a former truck driver for a company that makes TV commercials. "I'm staying on the ground. I've proved the thing works." ...
jasandjules said:
Zod said:
Er, gb and jandj, didn't you see mmm5's post? The rocket car story is not true.
I'm gutted.
I thought Darwin had to have conclusive proof before issuing an award too......
Darwin Awards said:
This Darwin Award is the most popular of all time. Considered true for years, it was later debunked as an Urban Legend by the Arizona Department of Public Safety. The story fooled the judges in 1995, so JATO has been grandfathered in as a Darwin Award Winner. (http://darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin
- Streaky
combemarshal said:
Wasn't this Oh MythBusters?
Can't remember the out come though!
Can't remember the out come though!
The Balloon one was. They were able to do it. The seat went rocketing up and was held down by a fair few people, and some large ties in the ground.. But they weren't sure how a guy on his own could have done it, plus the amount of gas he would have needed would have been about 40 odd containers worth IIRC, i.e. an entire truck delivery.
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