(Newswire.net — July 7, 2015) — Flying by a large bouquet of helium balloons inflated is an idea as old as the early cartoons. In a recent Pixar cartoon ‘UP’, a whole house goes airborne with lift from thousands of balloons. However, a Calgary resident actually pulled off a similar stunt in real life, and videotaped the whole event, Canada’s CBC reports.
To achieve enough boyancy for flight, laws of physics tell us one only needs to displace enough air by inflating a sufficient number of balloons. However, a different kind of law waited for a 26-year-old Daniel Boria to parachute down, resulting in immediate arrest and confiscation of his chute. Balloons continued to float up and away.
Reportedly, Boria planned this stunt for months. According to him, the aim was to draw attention to his cleaning company. He even hired a small airplane to advertise his message, spending in total around $20,000.
Boria had calculated that he would need over 100 large balloons filled with helium to lift him off the ground. He strapped the balloons to a lawn chair, and for his return, Boria planned to descend on to the famous Stampede Park grounds under his parachute.
“It was incredible. It was the most surreal experience you can ever imagine. I was just by myself on a $20 lawn chair up in the sky above the clouds,” CBC cited Boria. He described that balloons were popping at one point causing the loss of lift. That was when Boria decided to jump out of his flying lawn chair.
The look down was amazing, and was worth the effort, according to Boria. “I was looking down at my feet dangling through the clouds at a 747 flight taking off and a few landing,” he said.
Though he planned to descend to the Stampede Park, Boria instead made a touchdown several kilometers away on an industrial field in southeast Calgary, where he was arrested and charged with Mischief Causing Danger to Life.
“I knew I would get arrested, but I didn’t think they would pursue it as heavily as they did,” he said. “I’ve never done anything wrong before and this was with good intentions,” Boria said.
According to Inspector Kyle Grant, no publicity stunt is worth losing a life over it. “I don’t think any publicity stunt is worth your life, nor obviously the life or property of somebody else,” Inspector Kyle told CBC.
Though serious charges were laid, Boria believes he did well for his company. “You can spend the same marketing dollars on a billboard or a commercial or you can fly a balloon up in the air and jump out. It just seems like more fun, right?” Boria said.