Canadian man arrested after flying in chair rigged with helium balloons to promote business
IS IT a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a Canadian man soaring through the skies on a chair rigged with helium balloons. His reason why is incredible.
IT’S the case of the man who watched Danny Deckchair one too many times.
OK, he may not have been reliving the iconic Australian film, but a Canadian man was recently arrested after soaring through the skies of Calgary on a lawn chair rigged with more than 100 helium balloons.
Daniel Boria devised his master plan two months earlier as a way to promote his cleaning products company.
With the flight scheduled to take place during the city’s popular rodeo, the daredevil had originally hoped to hire a helicopter to advertise in the skies over the event.
However, when he was informed the area was a no-fly zone he was forced to improvise.
So, after acquiring a lawn chair, an oxygen tank, a parachute and 110 helium balloons which took two hours to fill, he was on his way.
“I’d estimate I was going up about 500 to 1,000 feet in a minute,” he told CNN.
“I was looking down on the city and watching 747s and planes approaching the local airport.”
The masterplan was going off without a hitch, until turbulent weather took Boria well past his destination.
With no other option, he deployed his parachute and found ground in a rocky area near train tracks.
Despite a few minor cuts and an injury to his foot, Boria planned on making a great escape, but it was not to be.
“A police officer arrived and put two and two together and put me in custody,” he said.
As for his makeshift vehicle, it still hasn’t landed and its whereabouts are unknown.
“At this point, we have no reports of anybody finding anything or anybody being injured,” Grant said, “but it’s a big concern for us, and I don’t think it’s something he took into account,” Calgary Police Acting Inspector Kyle Grant told Canadian broadcaster CTV.