What was the inspiration behind my unusual story using an airborne Amish boy to solve a local crime? Great question! 

In July 1982, a guy by the name of Larry Walters (Lawn Chair Larry) tried his famous weather-balloon experiment. Tying numerous weather-balloons to a lawn-chair and using water-jugs as a ballast, he took off unexpectedly when the tether holding him snapped.

His plan had been to hover at a hundred feet and notify the FAA and the local airport before takeoff, but a strong wind and the upward pull of his balloons broke the tether prematurely. He had thought he would hover a few hundred feet above the take-off area, but quickly shot up to 16,000 feet!

Larry drifted into LAX airspace. Pilots radioed the tower reporting encounters with a man on a lawn-chair with a gun in their descent into the airport. The cold air and reduced oxygen forced him to descend. He did this by shooting the balloons one at a time with a BB gun he had brought along for the purpose. 

Larry descended successfully, but got his balloons tangled in power lines, causing a blackout. He was arrested briefly and fined $4,000 which was later reduced to $1,500. Here is a YouTube video of his interview with David Letterman in the weeks after his adventure.

This remarkable story seemed like a wonderful template for an ingredient to add some excitement to a YA Mystery, so I got to work writing Skyward Sleuth on this basis. And as they say, the rest is history! 

If you haven’t gotten your free copy of Skyward Sleuth yet, you can get it by clicking HERE. Enjoy!