Fastest load of cars onto a plane
By loading 30 Smart cars in a Boeing 747 in less than 60 minutes, a new Guinness World Record for the fastest loading of cars onto an aircraft was set on 23 October 2008, by the express delivery company TNT and the car magazine TopGear at TNT’s air hub in Liège, Belgium. A team of seven people managed to fit 30 two-seater Smart cars in a TNT Boeing 747 in 35 minutes and 34 seconds.
The 30 Smart for two’s were provided by Mercedes-Benz Italia SpA and Mercedes-Benz Belgium Luxembourg SA. Christine Heine, head of ground operations at TNT’s Liège Hub, who coordinated the operation, said: "One of the critical aspects was to find a suitable time window to try the record, fitting with the arrivals and departures of all the other aircraft scheduled during 24 hours, 365 days a year. The take-off time for each TNT aircraft is really imperative, considered its heavy impact on the synchronized network that delivers hundreds of thousands of express parcels anytime, anywhere.
The seven staff had only one hour to load the smart in the Boeing 747, but the feat was finished in only 35 min 45 sec, and a new Guinness World Record was broken, as certified in situ by Guinness World Records Adjudicator, Carlos Martinez.
An incredible result, which celebrates the professionalism of TNT people who did well by their motto, ‘sure we can!’ and also of the Smart for two, a special car that in 10 years of life has already obtained many records. The full report on the event is in the December issue of TopGear Italia
09 December 2008