I was approached by the British Disabled Flying Association (BDFA) shortly after my Ben Nevis trip to see if I would like to get involved in a world record attempt to pull a jumbo jet along a runway with only wheelchair users at the ropes. What a fun idea I thought and something else to focus on after my exploits in Scotland. The British Disabled Flying Association is a charity set up to give disabled people the opportunity to experience flying in a light aircraft and potentially learn how to fly themselves. To learn more check out their website at www.bdfa.net.
DHL have kindly helped out by providing a Boeing 757 weighing in at over 60 tonnes for the event and the idea is to get the plane moving down the runway for a total of 100 metres using only the power of us wheelchair users. Talking with the organisers before meeting up they felt that we would probably need in the region of thirty people to make it move and there was no guarantee that that number would be enough!! On the Saturday morning we all gathered in the cafeteria at Lasham airfield which is near Alton in Hampshire for a bacon butty and cup of tea before commencing the training. A brief talk was given by Martin Bethell the organiser on what we were about to undertake and then we were off to the runway. We took our cars over to the plane as we didn't want to tire ourselves out before we even picked up a rope!"
When we got to the plane we were organised into groups of three and then shown to our positions. Three very long ropes had been attached to the plane and in turn attached to our chairs. Most of the chairs had the ropes simply fed through foot wells and then clipped to the frame underneath so that we didn't actually have to pull the rope with our hands. Training was not necessarily about getting the plane moving but more about testing the equipment and making sure all the harnesses worked with the chairs. Once Martin and the team felt happy everything was in place and secured properly we decided it was time to have a go at getting that 60 tonnes moving.
On a countdown of 3 2 1 we all grabbed out wheels and took up the strain. For about 10 - 15 seconds of everyone pushing their chairs with all their might and using every muscle in their shoulders and arms we felt a slight slackening of the ropes as the plane crept forward a couple of inches. With everyone bent forward, puffing, and going red in the face the plane kept creeping along inch by inch until the whistle blew.
Check out the BBC local news that covered the training day;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7493906.stm
We did it! Maybe not 100 metres but we proved it could be done and done by DISABLED people in wheelchairs. We had managed to pull a jumbo jet with 20 of us using just our chairs and the strength we all still had. What a great feeling and a knowledge that on the 6th September we were really in with a chance of creating a new World Record. Back to the café now for a well deserved cup of tea.
Bring on the 6th....