Cluster ballooning

Cluster ballooning is an uncommon form of ballooning in which a single balloonist is attached by a harness to a cluster of relatively small helium-inflated rubber balloons. Unlike traditional hot-air balloons, which possess vents for easy altitude control, cluster balloons rise uncontrollably, expanding as they go. Cluster balloonists must periodically cut balloons loose to maintain altitude and descend. Bottled water is a common ballast, and can be partially emptied to slow descent.

One of the most notable cluster balloonists is Larry Walters, who, in 1982, without any prior ballooning experience, attached 42 helium filled weather balloons to a piece of patio furniture (a lawn chair) and lifted off. He intended to rise just a few hundred feet (about 100 metres), but vastly underestimated helium's lifting power and as a result, he quickly rose nearly 3 miles (5 km) into the air (over 50 times his intended maximum altitude).

The Guinness Book of World Records recognizes the highest altitude attained via cluster ballooning to be that achieved by Mike Howard (UK) and Steve Davis (USA), who on August 4 2001, over Los Lunas, NM, USA, used 400 helium balloons to reach a height of over 18,300 feet (5,600 m). Larry Walters is estimated to have reached 16,000 feet (4,900 m) in 1982. His record is not recognized, however, because he did not carry a proper altimeter. Yoshikazu Suzuki departed from Lake Biwa in Japan on 23 November 1992 with helium balloons. He was found by a Japanese coast guard airplane on 25 November 1992, located about 800 km offshore over the Pacific Ocean, at altitude between 2,500 and 4,000 m. He became missing.

In April 2008, in Brazil, Roman Catholic priest Adelir Antonio de Carli suspended himself via 1000 balloons. Ground observers lost track of him when he floated out above the ocean, and he was missing until his body was found by an offshore oil rig support vessel on 5 July 2008. Carli at one point reached an altitude of 6,000 metres (19,685 ft) before losing contact with authorities; his altitude may have indeed been the record for cluster ballooning, but it cost him his life.