What it"s like to walk on a plane"s wing

• Video
• Image

The Herald Sun’s Aaron Langmaid completes a wingwalk with the Breitling Wingwalkers ahead of the Avalon Airshow

Aaron Langmaid surveys the sky and land during his wing-walk. Picture: Alex Coppel
Source: Herald Sun

Aaron Langmaid is buffeted by the elements. Picture: Alex Coppel
Source: Herald Sun

BUDGET airlines have never been more extreme. No in-flight meal. No baggage allowance. Just standing room and an attendant to strap you in.

Good thing there are fewer corners cut when it came to the safety briefing for this wing-walk experience.

Release your buckle at altitude, comes the advice, and this little joy ride won’t end so well. Roger that.

“Do not undo your belt when you’re up there,” air angel Danielle Hughes points out. “If there is a problem during the flight, just stay calm. The plane should just glide back to the tarmac.”

It is an extreme scenario, she admits, but one that prompts a quick prayer. As the former World War II training plane clunked on to a tarmac normally reserved for airbuses, this reporter briefly dials in again to the good Lord.

What followed – a display of flailing arms and the occasional yelp – was far from what crowds have come to expect from the Breitling Wingwalkers.

Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.

End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.

Based in England, the tight-knit group of pilots and aero-acrobats wow spectators from Manchester to Munich as summer airshows are hosted around Europe.

The team has notched up dates in China and India, too, but its arrival at this week’s international airshow at Avalon is an Australian first. 

Ms Hughes, 24, is joined by Sarah Tanner, 30, and Freya Paterson, 28, and together they spin through the sky, making all other extreme pursuits look like a quiet night in.

But the greatest test of endurance for these girls is, perhaps, not the G-force loops and high dives, but the constant requests from fumbling men for photographs.

This week they will be flashing their pearly whites more than an Emirates employee. 

“Why would you be an air hostess when you could be a wing walker?” said one.

“It’s far more exhilarating and, besides, we’re too short.” 

The Australian International Airshow opens today until March 3.

Website: airshow.com.au

What it"s like to walk on a plane"s wing