Too heavy for take off.
Friday, October 3, 2008 @ 10:46 AM
Alan Coupe and his wife Jan were approached by a stewardess while their plane was still on the runway and asked to move to help the aircraft get off the ground. Mr Coupe, who weighed 20 stone, moved to the front of the aircraft to help to even out the weight so the plane could take off. The embarrassment of the incident, which took place in Southampton in April 2005, led the couple to begin a drastic diet and the pair have since lost 12st 7lb between them.
The couple were on their way to Guernsey for a week's holiday with their son Chris when the incident happened. Mrs Coupe, 49, who runs a bed and breakfast business with her husband in Stubbington, Hampshire, said: "The stewardess asked one of us to get up and move to the front, so Alan volunteered to move which I was thankful about as I was so embarrassed I just couldn't look up. "We couldn't believe that we were too heavy for the plane to take off." "It was a decent-sized plane full of holidaymakers so it was devastating to be told that even a big plane like that couldn't cope with all our weight being at the back."
Following the ordeal, Mrs Coupe joined a popular slimming club. She persuaded her husband to attend and in the first week Mrs Coupe lost 8lb and Mr Coupe lost 9lb. The couple, who had settled into a routine of having takeaways and eating very late at night, turned instead to pasta, vegetable curries or steak salads. Now Mrs Coupe, who also sufferes from multiple sclerosis, has lost 6st 5lb and her 54-year-old husband 5st 13lb. She has since dropped six dress sizes to a size 14 and says that her and husband feel much more confident about travelling now. She said: "I don't feel embarrassed about getting on a plane anymore - we all feel so great we could fly around the world now without a hitch."