Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Court Fines Canadian $26,500 For 'Unconscionably Stupid' Balloon-Chair Flight (www.cbc.ca)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the balloon-payments dept.

In 2015, 27-year-old Daniel Boria tied over 100 helium balloons to a lawn chair and floated 2.5 miles above Calgary, "getting in the way of commercial aircraft and putting hundreds of lives at risk," reports the CBC. An anonymous reader quotes their report: Boria was ordered to pay $26,500 [USD $18,822] in fines when he was sentenced Friday, after pleading guilty in December to dangerous operation of an aircraft for the 2015 stunt... In handing down the sentence provincial court Judge Bruce Fraser called Boria's stunt "dumb and dangerous" and "unconscionably stupid. There was nothing fantastic, fun or exhilarating about it... There is no precedent for so foolish an escapade"...

On July 5, 2015, Boria tied $13,000 worth of industrial-sized balloons to a Canadian Tire lawn chair and took to the skies to promote his cleaning company, with the plan to parachute into the Calgary Stampede chuckwagon races. Uncooperative weather forced him to bail early, and winds pushed his landing to Ogden Road, where he was arrested by police who had been monitoring Boria since he was spotted above the Stampede grounds... During the time he was in the air, 24 airplanes took off and landed in Calgary.
The judge agreed that $20,000 of the fine should be donated to a charity of Boria's choice, and later Boria "said the stunt was worthwhile and he has no regrets."

9 of 101 comments (clear)

  1. Plenty of precedent! by chrylis · · Score: 4, Informative

    Odd that the judge calls this "unprecedented", when there have been multiple similar instances, and Lawn Chair Larry was internationally infamous.

    1. Re:Plenty of precedent! by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 2

      Not just that:

      "dumb and dangerous" and "unconscionably stupid.

      Well, he's there in her courtroom.

      There was nothing fantastic, fun or exhilarating about it...

      That sounds like a normative claim. I betcha he had lots of fun and excitement.

      There is no precedent for so foolish an escapade"...

      Oh, c'mon - now she's just trying to damage Canada's hard-won reputation. They practically invented "here, hold my beer"! It's as if she doesn't know any actual Canadians.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    2. Re:Plenty of precedent! by Megol · · Score: 2

      But, this guy should be in jail. He put the lives of others at risk. He says he has no regrets.

      What do you mean? Everybody who drives a car puts the lives of others at risk, the moment they start up their car
      and drive onto the public street with other cars.

      That's why there's something called a drivers license.

      Don't see very many of them in jail.

      If you go driving without a license or with one but ignoring safety for you and/or others then you are likely to get put in jail.

      So how is this guy and a Lawnchair putting other peoples' lives at any higher risk?

      First: by not having any way to control the flight path - that's the main one, Second: by not informing pilots that he could fly into their path, Third: by not having a license to pilot an aircraft, Fourth: by moving into a dimension (up) where there, unlike ground vehicles, there is only a few dangers (birds) and unlike birds aircraft aren't constructed to survive impacts of a stupid guy in a chair.

  2. 5000$ fine and 20000$ donation by 50000BTU_barbecue · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I wonder if a forced donation such as this one is still tax-deductible? Seems to me he'll get some tax break from this?

    --
    Mostly random stuff.
    1. Re:5000$ fine and 20000$ donation by beckett · · Score: 3, Informative

      if he gets a donation receipt from the charities, he will be able to claim a tax credit. He chose to split his donation to the veteran's food bank, and the Canadian Legion Poppy fund, also a veteran's organisation.

  3. One Too Many by turkeydance · · Score: 3, Insightful

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

  4. Re:I see what's coming. by vtcodger · · Score: 5, Informative

    Apparently neither the judge nor the CBC has ever heard of Larry Walters balloon assisted lawnchair flight in 1982. Nor of his several imitators. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.... Walters was fined $4000(US) -- reduced to $1500 on appeal -- for operating an aircraft within an airport traffic area "without establishing and maintaining two-way communications with the control tower." According to Wikipedia "A charge of operating a "civil aircraft for which there is not currently in effect an airworthiness certificate" was dropped, as it was not applicable to his class of aircraft."

    --
    You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
  5. WKRP in Calgary by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 2

    "...took to the skies to promote his cleaning company, with the plan to parachute into the Calgary Stampede chuckwagon races."

    'As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!'

  6. Re:I see what's coming. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yes, let's outlaw hydrogen, especially when combined with that dangerous oxidizer, oxygen. Dihydrogen monoxide kills thousands of people every year!

    Captcha; pre-empt.