Grandmother, 82, completes charity wing walk

An 82-year-old grandmother has completed a wing walk for charity despite saying that everyone told her she was "mad".

Sarah Hill, from Uckfield in East Sussex, said the feat – where she went "up and down and almost perpendicular" for nearly 20 minutes – was "wonderful".

Before taking to the skies, she said she could opt for "a smooth ride or for the pilot to give it everything he's got".

"I thought I am never going to do this again so went for the full thing," Ms Hill told the BBC.

She has so far raised £2,400 for the Raystede Centre for Animal Welfare.

"Everybody thought I was absolutely mad, but it was terrific and not half as scary as I thought it would be," she said.

"Anyone thinking of doing something like this should just go for it."

Only able to communicate with the pilot with hand signals – thumbs up if she wanted to continue or down if she wished to stop – Ms Hill said she eventually asked the pilot to land as she started to feel unwell.

"My tummy reminded me why I don't go on the helter-skelter," she said.

Ms Hill said that before the flight, she had to prove she was not "old and doddery or with a zimmer frame" since over 80s were typically not allowed to do wing walks.

She said she had "jelly legs" when she landed, but "nabbed" a chocolate bar from a friend and soon felt well again.

Ahead of setting off from the Headcorn Aerodrome in Kent, she told BBC Radio Sussex that she signed up for the challenge after thinking "why not".

"It never occurred to me that I couldn't do what I wanted to do," Ms Hall added.

The mother of four previously did a parachute jump for her 75th birthday.

She said in the 1960s she worked as the secretary for Victor Lownes - Hugh Heffner's right-hand man at Playboy Magazine – during which she bribed her way into communist Russia and delivered a letter to USSR leader Nikita Khrushchev.

Ms Hill said that she then worked all over the world – running a beach bar, as a water ski instructor and teaching aerobics.

She also founded the Cayman Islands Humane Society and survived a cancer diagnosis in her 60s.

Ms Hill said she did not have any more challenges planned, but if she found "something fun", then she would do ii.

"I don't feel my age," she added.

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