“I was looking down at a 747…”
On July 5, Dan Boria took to the Canadian skies in a plastic lawn chair powered by more than 100 helium balloons, in a stunt to advertise a cleaning business.
The idea was to float a banner for the business and then jump out of the chair and parachute into the Calgary Stampede, an annual rodeo and festival held every July. Strong winds changed Boria’s plans, however, and he ended up landing about a mile away from the festival.
Nevertheless, the stunt got the attention of people in town, who of course took to social media. Tom Warne posted this on Twitter:
Just saw this floating through the skies of Calgary. Hope it’s not a stampede #balloon vendor out of control. #yyc pic.twitter.com/xcI07rdRw9
— Tom Warne (@tomwarne) July 6, 2015
The 26-year-old Boria is an experienced skydiver and although he didn’t know exactly how high he ascended, he told the Calgary Sun, “I was looking down at a 747… it was the most fun thing I’ve ever done.”
The town people weren’t the only ones to take notice of the stunt, however. Calgary police arrested Boria upon landing, charging him with mischief causing danger to life. He was later released from jail on $1,500 bail and the condition that he remain 1000 feet away from the Calgary Stampede grounds.
Transport Canada is investigating the stunt as well and if it was determined that Boria “reached cloud level,” he could be facing more serious charges for entering the air space for airline travel.
Bail and fines aside, the cost of the helium balloon rig was reportedly $13,300 (+ 20 bucks for the lawn chair).
Sources: Calgary Sun