2002 Plane Pull
September 21, 2002
The 2002 Plane Pull was held at the Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) on September 21, 2002 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The competition is to have teams of people compete in the pulling of a Fed Ex Boeing 727. The team to pull it 3 feet the fastest is the winner. There were planes: Luftwaffe, Fed Ex, Air National Guard, Fed Ex, Saudi Arabian Airlines, and helicopters: Virginia State Police, the local NBC news copter on display. Fed Ex had planes and trucks on display. The Airports Authority had some maintenance and emergency vehicles on display. You could climb on and in most of the vehicles. You could look into all planes and walk into the larger ones except for the Saudi Arabia.
There was a huge wait for the shuttle bus at the parking lot near the 267 tolls. This lot is close to the Fairfield Inn Dulles Sterling. I left the area and parked on the Marriott Dulles Airport parking lot. I figured I had a good chance of not being towed since they don't issue parking placards or permits. Fortunately I was right.
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Click on above image or here for a QuickTime movie (4.6mb) of plane pull. |
| There was a Saudi Arabian 747 (HZ-AIW) on
review at the end of the Fed Ex cargo ramp. You could walk up to this
plane and look up the wheel wells and into the engines. The interior was
closed to visitors as it was being serviced. Still it was great to walk up
to this beautiful plane.
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The proximity of the Plane Pull activities on the Fed Ex ramp to runway 19R and the wind direction allowed for some perfect spotting of large jets on arrival to IAD. Here Virgin prepares to touchdown at Dulles. |
Northwest 35 or 36 from Schiphol arrives on 19R. |
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(For information on the 2003 Plane Pull to be held September 23, 2003)