 Flying a small airplane, a Boulder, Colo., woman set a new world record for the most touch-and-go landings in one day. But Vanessa Bethel didn?t just want to see her name in the record books. She also wanted to raise money for the fight against cancer ? the disease that took the lives of her parents and her older sister.
In the end, Bethel raised more than $2,300 for the American Cancer Society and made a total of 100 touch-and-go landings on March 1. An international flight attendant on long jet flights to Tokyo, Amsterdam and Bombay, she spent more than 15 hours flying to beat the previous record of 73 landings in one day.
Local television and radio stations broadcast live coverage of Bethel?s marathon flight, and Denver-area residents moved by her appeals for funds to help fight cancer made donations to the ACS.
Bethel, a pilot for more than seven years, battled strong winds during her flight. "We had some gusts of wind to fight against ? updrafts, downdrafts and crosswinds pushed us. The downdrafts are kind of scary because you never really know if they?re going to let you go," she said.
Other air traffic, including news helicopters, also demanded Bethel?s attention, and she encountered some planes that didn?t declare their positions ? a violation of sky safety rules that can be a serious danger.
Perhaps even more dangerous for a pilot is the monotony that can come from doing a repeated task. To counter the routine, Bethel signed up a rotating crew of co-pilots from a local flight school who took turns riding along with her, giving her conversation and companionship that helped her stay alert.
Bethel?s project had become a community effort before her flight began. A local flight school, Wings of Denver, donated the airplane and fuel was provided by an airport in the area.
Her record-breaking achievement also raised public awareness of the local ACS unit?s activities in the community. "Every time reporters talked with her, she spoke of the chance to fund the fight against cancer through our upcoming Relay for Life events," said George Abbott, communications director for the Mile High Unit in Denver.
Bethel said her most emotional moment came as she realized she had passed the half-way mark on her way to breaking the record. At that point, thoughts of her family came flooding back.
When she landed for the last time that evening, Bethel was engulfed by a crowd of friends and well-wishers who had followed her progress on radio or TV.
ACS News Center stories are provided as a source of cancer-related
news and are not intended to be used as
press releases.
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