A trip to the airport usually means you're jetting off to some far flown destination but groups who gathered here in Speke on Wednesday morning weren't stepping foot on a plane but in fact pulling it. The plane in question is a Jet2 Boeing 737 aircraft which weighs in at a whopping 45 tons - we spoke to some of those who had just taken part in the pull.
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00:00A trip to the airport usually guarantees you're jetting off to some far-flown destination.
00:06But groups who gathered here and speak on Wednesday morning weren't stepping foot on
00:11a plane but in fact pulling one.
00:13The plane in question is a Jet 2 Boeing 737 aircraft which weighs in at a whopping 45
00:20tonnes. We spoke to some of those who'd just taken part in the pull.
00:24I've done similar stuff before. It's a hobby of mine. So that's why they wrote me in to
00:32be captain today for them. So I've got my wife Catherine got roped into it last morning.
00:38It was hard but enjoyable. First time, first in a lifetime probably pulling a plane.
00:43First and last maybe as well.
00:44Definitely the last, yep.
00:45I didn't think we'd pull it at all. I never thought we'd move it. But as soon as it started
00:50going, it did seem easier. But it was so tiring.
00:53The teams were attempting the feat to raise vital funds for Liverpool John Lennon Airport's
00:57charity partner Alder Hey Children's Hospital.
01:00With teams from both the airport and other local companies competing against one another
01:05to see who could pull the aircraft the furthest in one minute.
01:08We try and do some quirky things, especially when we're raising money for Alder Hey because
01:12it brings in the teams, helps us raise money and the teams have done an amazing job this
01:16morning in cold but it's been really good fun so far, yeah.
01:19Alder Hey is one of Europe's biggest and busiest children's hospitals. They treat everything
01:24from common illnesses to highly complex and specialist conditions, which is why they're
01:28recognised as among the top specialist paediatric healthcare providers in the world.
01:33At Alder Hey we care for 450,000 children every single year. So that's 1,200 families
01:40who come through our door every single day at Alder Hey. We've had a long-standing partnership
01:45with Liverpool John Lennon Airport who last year raised over £100,000 to support our
01:50surgical neonatal unit and all the money raised today will be funding equipment to go in that
01:55unit, so supporting some of our most vulnerable and youngest babies.