The airline FlyBe might have to change its name to PullMe instead, thanks to the exploits of the Broughty Ferry lifeboat crew.
Coxswain Murray Brown and 14 of his colleagues put their strength and fitness to the test on Saturday by hauling a 13-tonne passenger aircraft along the taxiway at Dundee Airport.
The plane pull is reckoned to have raised around £2000 for the RNLI, which relies entirely on donations from the public to run its life-saving service. The Broughty crew is the busiest in Scotland, with 103 launches last year.
The Saab 340 plane was provided by Loganair, which operates services from the airport on behalf of FlyBe.
It certainly looked a daunting prospect as the crew after a massage to get them limber filed out on to the taxiway as family and friends looked on, along with watchful airport staff to ensure the event passed off safely.
Airport manager Derrick Lang had a few words of advice before the challenge began. He said, “Don’t go hell for leather. If you do it nice and slow it will be easier for everybody.”
There were a few nervous laughs from the lifeboatmen before they picked up the rope and took the strain. The first part of their 165 metre journey went smoothly but they were having to lean into it in the closing stages.
“It’s definitely getting heavier,” one of the crewmen said.
But within three minutes the plane had successfully completed its roll along the taxiway and the crew, a few of them puffing hard, were greeted with cheers from the waiting crowd.
A delighted Murray said, “That was harder than we thought it was going to be but it’s a good bit of teamwork and money towards our running costs. We like to help out with the fund-raising when we can.”
Mike McGreavy, chairman of the RNLI’s fund-raising committee, helped to organise the event. Noting that the pull had taken less time than he had expected, he joked, “Maybe we should turn it around and take it back.”
Unsurprisingly there were no takers but the crew will be back later in the year with a less strenuous fund-raiser.
To coincide with the RNLI’s annual SOS appeal they are planning their very own SOS sausages on sticks.