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On Saturday, the Santa Barbara Airport will host the second annual Plane Pull fundraiser for the local nonprofit, Alpha Resource Center, in collaboration with Alaska Airlines and Atlantic Aviation.
The event will take place on the airfield at SBA, where competing teams will pull a nearly 100,000-pound Alaska Airlines Embraer 175 aircraft with a rope for a distance of 20 feet in the fastest time possible. Alaska Airlines, a West-coast-based company, is the presenting sponsor of the event.
The organizers have been working closely with all three partners – Alpha Resource Center, Alaska Airlines, and Atlantic Aviation – to arrange this unique community event as a symbol of the amazing outcomes that can be achieved when the whole community pulls together in the same direction.
Participants of all abilities and ages are encouraged to join the fundraising teams, which can include family members, friends, co-workers, or gym buddies. There will be two divisions: one for public safety personnel such as EMTs, police officers, firefighters, and military personnel, and the other for the general community.
Competing teams will raise money for Alpha Resource Center by soliciting donors and sponsors to support their team’s participation. Each member of a 10-person team will raise at least $1,000 to participate. All participants will receive an event T-shirt and a chance to win championship prizes for the fastest plane pull, in addition to significant bragging rights.
According to Josh Weitzman, executive director of Alpha Resource Center, “Alpha Resource Center highlights the unlimited ability of the individuals we serve. We are excited for Alpha participants and families to join teams from throughout Santa Barbara County to do something we all might think is impossible – pulling an actual Alaska Airlines plane! All of us will walk away from this event with a new perspective of what’s possible. We thank Alaska Airlines, Santa Barbara Airport, and Atlantic Aviation for helping make our second annual Plane Pull possible.”