NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The tarmac at Tweed-New Haven Airport was full Tuesday with teams ready to go hands-on for the second annual “Plane Pull” to benefit the Special Olympics of Connecticut.
An Avelo 737-700 sat near the runway at Tweed as teams of 20 took to the rope to haul the nearly 84,000 pound, 110-foot-long aircraft just 20 feet in the shortest amount of time.
“It’s team building and it’s giving back to the community,” said Giselle Cortes, Avelo’s head of airports. “We have 16 teams here, it’s absolutely a great cause and we are really excited to be sponsors.”
Mike Mason, the president and CEO of Special Olympics Connecticut, said of the event, “That’s the spirit of the Special Olympics – it’s inclusion, coming together, working together and pulling that plane.”
Each team raised upwards of $2,000 for the opportunity to haul the plane.
One of the Special Olympics athletes on the tarmac at Tweed was Raishaun Holloway.
After watching the plane being pulled about a dozen times, Holloway said, “It’s raising money for Special Olympics Connecticut and there are a lot of athletes all around the state of Connecticut that do Special Olympics.”
The winning team came from LAZ Parking who hauled the required Jet 20 feet in just 7.34 seconds. All of the Laz Parking team members were awarded a free round-trip ticket to wherever Avelo Airlines flies.
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