Re:Teens Photograph Lego Minifigure at Edge of Space for $400
by timdoug on Thursday January 26, 2012 @11:44PM
(#3517177)
To be fair, legal and unlicensed powered paragliders are able to reach those heights[1]. I only know about airspace classes by way of Wikipedia, but it seems like anything below 18,000 feet and far enough away from an airport in the US is fine.
Re:Teens Photograph Lego Minifigure at Edge of Space for $400
by jrockway on Friday January 27, 2012 @09:50AM
(#3518423)
Indeed the problem was that he didn't establish two-way communication with air traffic control. Historically, VFR flights inadvertently straying into a terminal control area have actually killed a few hundred people, so it was reasonable for the FAA to fine him.
Re:Teens Photograph Lego Minifigure at Edge of Space for $400
by roxic on Friday January 27, 2012 @02:45AM
(#3517492)
* The current world altitude record for powered paragliders (RPF1) is 6,102m (20,019 ft)
* ... captured photographs of the figurine posing with a Canadian flag at 78,000 feet
Re:Teens Photograph Lego Minifigure at Edge of Space for $400
by gcb on Friday January 27, 2012 @12:37AM
(#3517268)
"He committed suicide in 1993 at the age of 44 by shooting himself in the heart in Angeles National Forest.[6]"
for me that smells as "assassinated in the woods but the case was never investigated"
Re:Teens Photograph Lego Minifigure at Edge of Space for $400
by jrockway on Friday January 27, 2012 @09:10AM
(#3518296)
Does it count as an assassination if the FAA uses its mind control device to convince you to walk out into the middle of the forest and kill yourself?
Wait, it's the NSA that has the mind control ray...
Re:Teens Photograph Lego Minifigure at Edge of Space for $400
by camiller on Friday January 27, 2012 @10:42AM
(#3518624)
But in the spirit of interdepartmental cooperation....
Re:Teens Photograph Lego Minifigure at Edge of Space for $400
by gcb on Friday January 27, 2012 @05:01PM
(#3520373)
just saying that suicide with a shot in the heart is weird. in the middle of woods it's even weirder
Re:Teens Photograph Lego Minifigure at Edge of Space for $400
by larrydag on Friday January 27, 2012 @08:50AM
(#3518229)
Does the article write realize how silly it is to say "If the FAA was around when the Wright Brothers were testing their aircraft". So what came first the plane or the regulations?
From the article:
Lawrence Richard Walters, nicknamed "Lawnchair Larry", was an American truck driver who took flight on July 2, 1982 in a homemade airship. Dubbed Inspiration I, the "flying machine" consisted of an ordinary patio chair with 45 helium-filled weather balloons attached to it. Walters rose to an altitude of over 15,000 feet. After 45 minutes in the sky, he shot several balloons and descended slowly, until the balloons' dangling cables got caught in a power line. Walters was able to climb to the ground. He was immediately arrested by waiting members of the Long Beach Police Department. "We know he broke some part of the Federal Aviation Act, and as soon as we decide which part it is, some type of charge will be filed. If he had a pilot's license, we'd suspend that. But he doesn't."
"If the FAA was around when the Wright Brothers were testing their aircraft, they would never have been able to make their first flight at Kitty Hawk." Walters committed suicide at the age of 44 by shooting himself in the heart.