Cayman Islands Humane Society co-founder Sarah Hill, 82, braved speeds of 120 miles per hour last weekend on top of a vintage airplane while taking part in a wing walk to raise funds for an animal charity close to her home in East Sussex, UK.
Hill, formerly Sarah Graham-Taylor, had lived in the Cayman Islands with her family for many years before moving to the UK. She co-founded the Humane Society in 1972 with her friend Lolli Reid to do something to help the many feral ‘bush dogs’ on island, and more than 50 years later, is still doing her bit to support sick and neglected animals.
Fundraising
Hill spotted an advert in a magazine asking for people who were prepared to wing walk to raise funds for Raystede Centre for Animal Welfare, a cause close to her heart, and instantly volunteered, which is why last Saturday she found herself being securely fastened onto the wings of a vintage American Stearman biplane before it took to the skies.
“It was amazing!” says Hill, a grandmother of two. “I had a wonderful time and the pilot really threw the airplane around the skies. You could choose a sedate flight or a “go for it” flight, and of course I chose the latter!”
The plane flew at between 400 and 700 feet off the ground, reaching speeds of up to 80 mph when the plane was climbing and 120 mph when descending. Hill was fastened to a tiny ledge on top of the wings, and given goggles and earplugs to wear during the flight.
She says, “The noise was terrific, with the noise of the engines and the propeller, and the wind. Unfortunately, I lost one of the earplugs during one of the turns, so it was really noisy!”
Thankfully, the noise didn’t detract from what Hill says was an incredible experience.
“It was absolutely fantastic during the flight to be looking down directly onto the tops of trees and a farmer on a tractor ploughing his field,” she says. “Usually when you are looking down from height in an airplane, you have a small square of Perspex between you and what you are looking at!”
A video of Hill’s airborne adventure shows the plane flying almost vertically up into the air, before descending at an equally stomach-churning angle. Indeed, as Hill told the Compass, “I was okay until the very end when my tummy reminded me why I don’t do helter-skelter rides at fun fairs!”
Two of Hill’s four children were there to watch the wing walk, including Emma Sommerville, who had travelled over from Iowa.
With no ill effects apart from slight queasiness and “jelly legs” after the flight, Hill is now contemplating other fundraising exploits.
“Maybe an abseil down the Brighton i360 [observation tower], if they allow that?” she muses. “It is 138 metres high (453 feet), which is nearly half the height of the [72-storey] London Shard, and I don’t think they allow you to abseil down the Shard! Anyway, I am sure something will come up.”
Donations can still be made to Sarah Hill’s JustGiving page to support Raystede Centre for Animal Welfare in the UK or people can give directly to the Cayman Islands Humane Society.
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