Jet-powered wheelchair surprise (hold muh crumpets)

BBC ^ | 30 August 2004 | Unattributed

[Moose4]

Giuseppe Cannella had a big surprise for his mother-in-law when he put a jet engine on the back of her wheelchair.

Mr Cannella says the chair can now do top speeds of more than 60mph and has proved the star of a model plane championship during the Bank Holiday.

A model plane enthusiast himself, Mr Cannella has been putting on shows at Barkston Heath near Grantham, Lincs.

"It is just the wheelchair with the engine bolted on the back and steering on the front," he said.

Holiday surprise

"Originally it was a gimmick. I had a jet engine and I was going to put it on a go cart.

"But the missus says put it on something unusual and so I put it on the mother-in-law's wheelchair," said Mr Cannella, who is from Luton in Bedfordshire.

"She was on holiday at the time so she didn't know what I was doing until she came back.

"She actually thought I was doing it for her."

Mr Cannella's mother-in-law, who had bought a new wheelchair, has Parkinson's disease.

Her son-in-law has been collecting money for the Parkinson's Disease Society and hopes to collect up to £1,500 during the shows at the British Model Flying Association national championship.

"I have done it for fun, I just like going up and down in it," said Mr Cannella.

[MikefromOhio]

Didn't we see this on South Park?!?


TIMMY!!!!! AWWWHHHH TIMMMMAAAAYYYY!!!!!!!


LOL

[Darksheare]

I'll try.

[cripplecreek]

That takes "scones" don't it?

[isthisnickcool]

Giuseppe (Joe) Cannella has also come up with a novel idea to raise money for the Parkinson Disease charity. He has strapped a jet starter motor from an English Electric Lightning jet fighter to a standard wheelchair and will set a world speed record for such vehicles.

[Conspiracy Guy]

Fear not. Used properly the snow globe trap will permit you to become a hero to you muse when you set her free. Sort of like the Genie being released from the bottle. Remember this phrase "I will not rest until I find the scumbag that did this to you".

Got it?

[EggsAckley]

Sounds like something Max Cleland could use.

[mikrofon]

[StoneColdGOP]

[StoneColdGOP]

Yes!!

[Darksheare]

Hmm..
Okers.

[SAMWolf]

Darn, why didn't we think of that?

[Darksheare]

We probably did but wrote it off to insanity or weirdness.

[Moose4]

OK, so it's only a starter motor/APU. Now if he strapped one of the *engines* from a Lightning on that puppy, I'd be impressed.

(The EE Lightning was a similar UK concept to our McDonnell-Douglas F-4 Phantom II...take something with the aerodynamics of a brick, and put enough thrust behind it to fly at Mach 2.)

}:-)4

[Slings and Arrows]

That's ridiculous! Everybody knows that the purpose of a jet engine is to cool beer quickly.

[Fintan]

 

Okay, we may have a few kinks to work out...

 

[snippy_about_it]

Sit down, hold on, and shut up!

LOL!

[snippy_about_it]

NOT my fault.

LOL, you'll never convince me you didn't have something to do with it.

[Darksheare]

LOL!
Okers, so I may have inspired some bad ideas.
I honestly do not know WHAT I've inspired..

[Conspiracy Guy]

Trust me. It works.

[Darksheare]

I have a bad feeling about this.
*chuckle*