Once you get a 144,000-pound plane rolling, it almost goes by itself.
So says Jake Cole '04, one of 20 members and coaches of the football team who took part in a “Plane Pull” on Saturday at Albany International Airport. The event raised more than $15,000 for Special Olympics.
Each 20-member team had two tries at pulling a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 along a 12-foot course. Pilot Rick Wise was at the controls, applying the brakes at the end of each pull.
The Union team placed third with a time of 6.67 seconds. A team from the New York State Police won (6.16). Coxsackie Correctional Facility was second (6.23).
A team from the airport had the third fastest time of the day, but was later disqualified for having “too many men and women on the tarmac,” said airport spokesman Doug Meyer.
No speed records were set, Meyer reported, adding the plane was never in any danger of becoming airborne.