Balloon-atic pleads guilty for his flight

A Calgary man who flew high into the sky in a green plastic lawn chair tied to more than 100 helium balloons, hoping to parachute into the Stampede chuckwagon races, has pleaded guilty to dangerous operation of an aircraft.

Like a Curious George book come to life, Daniel Boria, 27, spent about 20 minutes aloft, just after 7 p.m. on July 5, 2015, for which he will pay a $5,000 fine and make a donation to a food bank charity. He must also surrender his helmetcam video of the stunt.

After sending warnings to Transport Canada, which did not give him permission, Boria took off from a golf course, with an oxygen tank, radio and parachute, sitting in the chair, which was tethered to 110 balloons worth more than $13,000. He also hung a sign to promote his cleaning products company.

He was so high, more than two kilometres up, that two airplanes passed underneath him, and his balloons kept popping violently in the thinner atmosphere. A WestJet pilot called in a UFO sighting.

Air traffic controllers at Calgary International Airport initially spotted Boria’s aircraft rapidly rising from the ground, but started to lose sight of him as he rose into scattered clouds at around 4,000 feet.

The tower had to advise an incoming WestJet flight of the dangerous balloon cluster, Crown prosecutor Matt Dalidowicz told provincial court Judge Bruce Fraser.

High winds sent him toward an industrial field where police soon arrested him.

During his guilty plea on Thursday, the prosecutor said some were calling Boria a “balloonatic.”

Defence lawyer Alain Hepner noted his client fully co-operated with police when arrested shortly after parachuting to the ground.

“He gave a complete confession,” the lawyer said, noting his client has no criminal record. “This was his first foray into the criminal justice system.”

To allow Boria to make his donation, which the judge could not order without putting him on probation, the sentencing decision was adjourned to the new year.

Like Icarus, the winged boy of the Greek myth who illustrated the peril of hubris, Boria has fallen to earth in a technical, legal sense. But he has said in interviews that he has no regrets about the funnest thing he has ever done.