Bill would ban Mylar balloons

[The Straight Story]

Bill would ban Mylar balloons

PASADENA - Sale of metallic Mylar balloons would be banned in California under a state bill being proposed by Sen. Jack Scott, D-Pasadena.

Senate Bill 1499, which will be heard by the Senate Public Safety Committee on Tuesday, was requested by the city of Burbank, which experienced eight power outages in one year.

Many of those blackouts were caused by metallic balloons, which are excellent conductors of electricity and frequently cause disruptions when they come in contact with power lines.

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/ci_8818217

[DemocratInSoCal]

1. We're One Fucked Up Country

Another Day, More Bullshit.

A ban on balloons!!! Jesus H. Fucking Christ!!

[The Straight Story]

3. Maybe we should just replace 'happy birthday' on them w/a warning label

:)

[jberryhill]

7. No, it's not a "ban on balloons"

It's a ban on the metallic-coated party balloons which are causing power blackouts and radar disruptions, not balloons generally.

[DemocratInSoCal]

12. I Know That

Just another STUPID government ban.

I suppose next they're going to ban those sparklers for the 4th of July. Oh wait....they already have.

Let's see what we can legislate away next.

[sce56]

9. Balloons are a direct threat to sea life so it is not such a bad idea and definitley not a joke!

http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS187656+11-Feb-2008+PRN20080211
This Valentine's Day, If You Buy Metallic Balloons to Say 'Be Mine', Make Sure
to Keep Them Away From Power Lines
Pacific Gas and Electric Company Reminds Valentines to Secure Helium Filled
Metallic Balloons and Prevent them from Drifting into Overhead Electric Lines

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- As people purchase helium
filled metallic Mylar balloons for their valentine this Thursday, Pacific Gas
and Electric Company urges customers to make sure that they are securely tied
to a weight that will prevent them from floating away in the air. Unsecured
metallic balloons that contact overhead power lines can disrupt electric
service to an entire neighborhood, cause significant property damage and
result in serious personal injuries.
Metallic balloons that drift into PG&E power lines cause between 100 to
150 outages each year, affecting electric service to thousands of PG&E
customers throughout northern and central California. In the most dangerous
circumstances, metallic balloons cause power lines to fall to the ground
creating the potential for fires, property damage, injury and even death.
In order to significantly reduce these types of outages each year, and so
everyone can safely enjoy their Valentine's Day celebration, PG&E reminds
customers to follow these important safety tips for metallic balloons:
-- "Look Up and Live!" -- Use caution and avoid celebrating with metallic
balloons near overhead electric lines.
-- Make sure helium filled metallic balloons are securely tied to a
weight that is heavy enough to prevent them from floating away. Never
remove the weight!
-- Keep metallic balloons indoors and never release them outside.
-- Do not bundle metallic balloons together.
-- Never attempt to retrieve any type of balloon, kite or toy that
becomes caught in a power line. Leave it alone and immediately call
PG&E at 1-800-PGE-5000 to report the problem.
-- Never go near a power line that has fallen to the ground or is
dangling in the air. Always assumed downed electric lines are live.
Stay away, keep others away and immediately call 911 to alert the
police and fire departments.


For more information about Pacific Gas and Electric Company, visit
www.pge.com
SOURCE Pacific Gas and Electric Company


Ocean Debris
A very serious threat to sea turtles is pollution and debris in our oceans. Those species that feed on jellyfish often mistake plastic bags and balloons for food. Ingestion of such trash can lead to clogging of the digestive tract and death.

Young turtles in their pelagic phase are dependent on ocean driftlines for food. It is at these driftlines that ocean debris accumulates. Young turtles feeding there are known to ingest plastics, styrofoam, balloons and tar. Tar is the result of weathering of oil at ocean surfaces. The same tar balls that mar the coastline of Bermuda are a threat to pelagic sea turtles.

I see no good thing for ballons especially when they are relased to the wind as a "cute idea" they wind up polluting the land and most garbage like that does wind up in the rivers which send the waste off to the ocean!

And of course you would not mind haveing a power outage due to someone letting go of a bunch of balloons that wind up in the power lines!

[Gidney N Cloyd]

2. We're running low on helium, anyway.

[coriolis]

4. I don't get this. Mylar is a very good INSULATOR, it is NOT a conductor

of electricity! :wtf: :eyes:

[jberryhill]

6. Aluminized Mylar party balloons

They also screw with radar around airports.

[coriolis]

8. Okay I missed the "metallic" part. I guess they're plated with aluminum.

I guess balloons are like some other things I just don't ever notice. ;-)


also I couldn't get that link to come up for some reason...thats weird??

[EmperorHasNoClothes]

5. It doesn't specifically mention mylar

Just balloons with electrically conductive material.

http://www.balloonhq.com/faq/deco_rules.html

[sce56]

10. While researching this I ran across Lawn Chair balloon pilot story

It trurns out he really was crazy and killed himself a few years later!

From The New York Times 3 July 1982
LONG BEACH, Calif, July 2 (AP) A truck driver with 45 weather balloons rigged to a lawn chair took a 45-minute ride aloft to 16,000 feet today before he got cold, shot some balloons out and crashed into a power line, the police said.

"I know it sounds strange, but it's true," Lieut. Rod Mickelson said after he stopped laughing. "The guy just filled up the balloons with helium, strapped on a parachute, grabbed a BB gun and took off."

The man was identified as Larry Walters, 33 years old, of North Hollywood. He was not injured.

The Federal Aviation Administration was not amused.


Spotted by Airline Pilots
A regional safety inpector, Neal Savoy, said the flying lawn chair was spotted by Trans World Airlines and Delta Airlines jetliner pilots at 16,000 feet above sea level.
"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," Mr. Savoy said. "If he had a pilot's license, we'd suspend that. But he doesn't."

The police said Mr. Walters went to a friend's house in San Pedro Thursday night, inflated 45 six-foot weather balloons and attached them to an aluminum lawn chair tethered to the ground.

This morning, with half a dozen friends holding the tethers, he donned a parachute, strapped himself into the chair and had his friends let him up slowly.

Minutes later, he was calling for help over his citizens band radio.

"This guy broke into our channel with a mayday," said Doug Dixon, a member of an Orange County citizens band radio club. "He said he had shot up like an elevator to 16,000 feet and was getting numb before he started shooting out some of the balloons."

Mr. Walters then lost his pistol overboard, and the chair drifted downward, controlled only by the gallon jugs of water attached to the sides as ballast.

The ropes became entangled in a power line, briefly blacking out a small area in Long Beach. The chair dangled five feet above the ground, and Mr. Walters was able to get down safely.

"Since I was 13 years old, I've dreamed of going up into the clear blue sky in a weather balloon," he said. "By the grace of God, I fulfilled my dream. But I wouldn't do this again for anything."





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From The New York Times 19 December 1982
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 18 (UPI) Larry Walters, the lawn-chair pilot who catapulted to fame when balloons lifted his contraption 16,000 feet into the sky, faces $4,000 in fines for violations cited by the Federal Aviation Administration.

"If the F.A.A. was around when the Wright Brothers were testing their aircraft, they would never have been able to make their first flight at Kitty Hawk," said Mr. Walters, who plans to challenge the fines.

Mr. Walters, a 33-year old truck driver from North Hollywood, surprised himself and several airline pilots July 2 with his aluminum lawn chair tied to 42 weather balloons. He had to pop some with a pellet gun to land.

The F.A.A. has cited him for four violations of the Federal Aviation Act, including operating a "civil aircraft for which there is not currently in effect an airworthiness certificate" and operating an aircraft within an airport traffic area "without establishing and maintaining two-way communications with the control tower."





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From The Los Angeles Times, 24 November 1993
(by Myrna Oliver, Times Staff Writer)
Larry Walters, who achieved dubious fame in 1982 when he piloted a lawn chair attached to helium balloons 16,000 feet above Long Beach, has committed suicide at the age of 44.

Walters died Oct. 6 after hiking to a remote spot in Angeles National Forest and shooting himself in the heart, his mother, Hazel Dunham, revealed Monday. She said relatives knew of no motive for the suicide. "It was something I had to do," Walters told The Times after his flight from San Pedro to Long Beach on July 2, 1982. "I had this dream for 20 years, and if I hadn't done it, I would have ended up in the funny farm."

Walters rigged 42 weather balloons to an aluminum lawn chair, pumped them full of helium and had two friends untether the craft, which he had dubbed "Inspiration I."

He took along a large bottle of soda, a parachute and a portable CB radio to alert air traffic to his presence. He also took a camera but later admitted, "I was so amazed by the view I didn't even take one picture."

Walters, a North Hollywood truck driver with no pilot or ballon training, spent about two hours aloft and soared up to 16,000 feet -- three miles -- startling at least two airline pilots and causing one to radio the Federal Aviation Administration.

Shivering in the high altitude, he used a pellet gun to pop balloons to come back to earth. On the way down, his balloons draped over power lines, blacking out a Long Beach neighborhood for 20 minutes.

The stunt earned Walters a $1,500 fine from the FAA, the top prize from the Bonehead Club of Dallas, the altitude record for gas-filled clustered balloons (which could not be officially recorded because he was unlicensed and unsanctioned) and international admiration. He appeared on "The Tonight Show" and was flown to New York to be on "Late Night With David Letterman," which he later described as "the most fun I've ever had."

"I didn't think that by fulfilling my goal in life -- my dream -- that would create such a stir," he later told The Times, "and make people laugh."

Walters abandoned his truck-driving job and went on the lecture circuit, remaining sporadically in demand at motivational seminars. But he said he never made much money from his innovative flight and was glad to keep his simple lifestyle.

He gave his "aircraft" -- the aluminum lawn chair -- to admiring neighborhood children after he landed, later regretting it.

In recent years, Walters hiked the San Gabriel Mountains and did volunteer work for the U.S. Forest Service.

"I love the peace and quiet," he told The Times in 1988. "Nature and I get along real well."

An Army vetern who served in Vietnam, Walters never married and had no children. He is survived by his mother and two sisters.

[Lint Head]

11. Oh no. There will be fewer UFO sightings.

:cry: :dem: