The Plane Pull

The event is a charity for the Special Olympics. Money is raised by corporations, who form teams who set a fund raising goal prior to the event. On the day of the event the teams vie to see who can pull a large plane 25 feet the fastest. There is no admission so the crowds should be large. And, the time is to be from 11-4, so we feel like we are on vacation when we all leave for the airport at 10AM. That is really late for most of our events. By the time all that is settled and we are shuttled to the plane, it is just 15 minutes until the hordes descend. At left, coffee cups sitting on the tail as the plane is unpacked for the event.
We are the first plane inside the gates. Unfortunately, the way the plane is situated puts our left wing just sitting out there inviting everyone who walks in the gate to swing from it. We end up having to post a guard under it to deter that and people who wanted to stand under it in the shade and smoke ( with fuel tanks just above their heads). These people are not aviation enthusiasts and seem to have no respect for the equipment. Later we heard from other participants who had similar experiences. We had enough people to post guards around the perimeter.
Nevertheless, this is for a good cause, and there are a whole lot of cute children coming through and we are glad to be here and take part in the event. One couple with a darling baby leaves it in the stroller while they are on the plane, and it smiles and coos at us, totally unconcerned that we are strangers. We are not charging admission, nor selling anything so we are all free to work the crowd. And we have a long line all day, even until 30 minutes after the show closing time. Most of the people seem very interested in the history of our plane.
The good news is that while it is overcast most of the day which keeps it fairly cool, it never rains. The air show provided us with a very good barbeque lunch, folks came by with ice for our cooler and Chick Fila came by with free sandwiches. The cow also came by and was a photo op. At right is the vintage radio Jake scored on the internet alongside our stewardess photo. The radio is fitted with an ipod playing 30's and 40's music.
The bad news is that being down at one end of the show means that we never saw the actual plane pull or many of the other planes that were in attendance.
An early night, as we are in and out of a Longhorn by 8:10 and folks are ready to turn in for the night. The Thatchers will leave on Monday while the remaining 7 will stay for the Leesburg air show next weekend. We are free to explore the area over the days in between.