Obviously this picture was taken last summer, since it looks warm and there's no snow. 
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Racer 9
The snow has not let up since our last post, at least here in Pennsylvania. Its snowing now, showers on top of the three or four big snows we've already had. I haven't seen the ground for months, and haven't done any flying. But it doesn't stop us thinking about the race. On Feb 17th I gave a presentation on women in aviation to Wednesdays for Women, a group that meets in Lambertville NJ, and enjoyed telling them about our racing experiences. They were very enthusiastic, and hopefully as a result we have several potential new student pilots and future racers! Thanks so much for the warm reception ladies.
Yesterday Mary called me from the Women In Aviation conference down in Florida, where she is helping to run the ARC booth. The drawing for the early race numbers was held, and we drew number 9! Its always exciting to get your number, and it means that I can go ahead and order the decals for the plane. This year I will remember to order them with a white border, to avoid having to repeat last year's craft project with white contact paper and duct tape that we had to complete in order to pass inspection!! In 2008 Linda and I were #7; in 2009 Mary and I were #8; and this year we're #9. I hope our place in the final ranking will move in the opposite direction.
The other piece of race news is that our Eastern PA Chapter of The Ninety-Nines voted to sponsor one of the ARC banquets this year on behalf of our dear friend Theresa Dellaquila. Theresa was a former Chapter Chair, and a passionate pilot and wonderful person who was taken from us very young by breast cancer. Linda and I flew in her memory in 2008, and our team name ("Cool Beans") was a phrase she often used. She always wanted to fly the ARC, and would have had a blast. So I'm excited about the opportunity to remember her and make her a part of the ARC this year - she would have loved that.
Spring is on the way.
Yesterday Mary called me from the Women In Aviation conference down in Florida, where she is helping to run the ARC booth. The drawing for the early race numbers was held, and we drew number 9! Its always exciting to get your number, and it means that I can go ahead and order the decals for the plane. This year I will remember to order them with a white border, to avoid having to repeat last year's craft project with white contact paper and duct tape that we had to complete in order to pass inspection!! In 2008 Linda and I were #7; in 2009 Mary and I were #8; and this year we're #9. I hope our place in the final ranking will move in the opposite direction.
The other piece of race news is that our Eastern PA Chapter of The Ninety-Nines voted to sponsor one of the ARC banquets this year on behalf of our dear friend Theresa Dellaquila. Theresa was a former Chapter Chair, and a passionate pilot and wonderful person who was taken from us very young by breast cancer. Linda and I flew in her memory in 2008, and our team name ("Cool Beans") was a phrase she often used. She always wanted to fly the ARC, and would have had a blast. So I'm excited about the opportunity to remember her and make her a part of the ARC this year - she would have loved that.
Spring is on the way.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Here we go again!
Its February, and there's two feet of snow on the ground, but Mary Wunder, Alison Chalker and a small group of pilots are already dreaming about the sunny day in June when we'll be embarking on one of the most exciting and adventurous four days of our lives - the 34th Air Race Classic. For the second year running, we will be racing Adelle Bedrossian's Piper Arrow N29SP, and our team name is to honor Adelle for her friendship and loan of this beautiful plane! Anyone who read our 2009 blog (link below) will recall that the Arrow treated us very well, and raced like a dream, and we can't wait to become reacquainted.
The Air Race Classic is a transcontinental air race for women pilots, and has been raced in one form or another for more than 80 years. Each year the route is different, but it is always a VFR (visual flight rules) race in daytime across approximately 2400 nautical miles, with 8-10 timing stops. Racers have 4 days to complete the course, and teams are scored on their performance relative to their individual handicap. Understanding and handling your airplane to get maximum performance at full throttle is key, as is reading the weather to find good tailwinds and maintain VFR. There's no experience like this one This year's race is across a 2483 statute mile course from Fort Myers, Florida to Frederick, Maryland, and takes in nine stops across Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and West Virginia!
To find out more about the 2010 Air Race Classic, as well as the history and results of previous races, check out their website http://www.airraceclassic.org/.
To see last year's blog from Team Adelles Belles (Mary Wunder and Alison Chalker), check out http://adellesbelles.blogspot.com/.
To see the 2008 blog from Team Cool Beans (Alison Chalker and Linda Evans), see http://evanslle.googlepages.com/.
To see the 2008 blog from The Dream Team (Mary Wunder and Barbara Strachan), see http://arc20.blogspot.com/.
To find out more about The Ninety-Nines, check out http://www.ninety-nines.org/
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