The Mile High Shave is part of the Today FM Shave or Dye campaign 2014 and was organised by the Galway Flying Club, based at Galway Airport, to raise much needed funds for the Irish Cancer Society. The event involved club member JP Randles (formerly of Minor Row, Millstreet) getting his head shaved by John McGuire, of Fat Tony’s Barber Shop, in a Galway Flying Club Cessna 172 light aircraft a mile over Galway city. The day started well with the event being mentioned on Jimmy Norman’s morning show on Galway Bay FM and also on the Ray Darcy Show on Today FM. The weather on the day was far from ideal but with the skill of pilot Jarlath Conneely and a break in the weather we took off in a Cessna 172 Hawk XP aircraft call sign EI-BJO, affectionately known as “Juliet Oscar”, from runway 08 at Galway airport and headed west over the city all the while climbing to our target altitude. We levelled out over An Spidéil and John and JP setup for the shave. John completed the shave in no time and did a great job considering it was his first time in a light aircraft. With the shave complete Jarlath headed back to the airport and history had been made – the first head shave to be performed in a light aircraft had been successfully done over Galway. There are more photos below, and you can also visit Galway Flying Club on Facebook for more photos (38) of before, during, and after the event.
