not us!!! The first place team was Classic #11 (Terry Carbonell, Ellen Herr & Laura Ying Gao).
They deserved it and it was exciting to see them take first place.
As for Classic team# 28 we came in 34th and I am really happy for our accomplishment. Although we didn't win any of the leg prizes (1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th) we did really well on three of them. One leg #1 (Fort Myers to Waycross, GA) we were 13th. In Leg #3 (Tuscaloosa, AL to Hot Springs, AR) we were 10th!!!! And on the 7th leg (Elkhart, IN to Parkersburg, WV) we were 15th. Not to bad for first time racers.
Things learned during this race....
1. Gum will melt (yes melt) in an airplane with a heat index of 105 on the ground.
2. While visiting Hot Springs in the summer no one goes in the hot springs.
3. You meet the nicest people in some of the most out of the way places.
4. Don't expect to sleep during the Air Race Classic
5. People want your autograph because you are flying an race which still shocks me
6. Airplane cookies are wonderful
7. After flying more than 17 hrs in three days DO NOT attempt to fly the rental car
by placing both feet on the gas and brake petals thinking they are rudder petals in the plane.
8. If you need weather information ask any pilot
9. Women pilots rock!!!
10. If you finish the Air Race Classic you can accomplish anything!!! :o)
For all of you who have followed us during this exciting adventure many thanks for your well wishes and prayers.
And for those who will ask....I would do it again in a heartbeat!!!!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Frederick Fly In....June 27th
Our friends Michel and Joanne decided to fly to Frederick and bring my husband along for the ride. We took them to the restaurant on the field and we had a great visit. Here are some pictures of our afternoon.
Joanne & Michel....
Barb & Ron....
Michel taking off from Frederick to head home.
Saturday Night Movie & VIP Reception...
On Saturday night we got to see a special screening of "Breaking Through The Clouds". This special screening of Independent Producer Heather Taylor’s much anticipated documentary film on the first women’s air race in 1929.
The reception was held at the Delaplaine’s Gallery. The Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the Ninety-Nines sponsored this event and is dedicated to our chapter’s late benefactor, Theresa Dellaquila.
Here are some pictures of t this event.
The reception was held at the Delaplaine’s Gallery. The Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the Ninety-Nines sponsored this event and is dedicated to our chapter’s late benefactor, Theresa Dellaquila.
Here are some pictures of t this event.
Friday Night Melt Down Party....
This is my friend Adelle who was the lady that lent her plane to Mary and Alison (Classic #9) to fly the race. We were outside watching the helicopter take off after the Melt Down Party on Friday night.
This is another fellow 99 Heather Hill taking a helicopter lesson.
This is another fellow 99 Heather Hill taking a helicopter lesson.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Official Timing Sheet....
We have signed our official timing and we are VERY excited. We have NO penalties!!!! Yes I said 0 penalties. That is awesome for flying this race for the first time. We are not in the top ten because we were not called this morning to fly the handicap flight again but we were happy not to be disqualified or have no penalties.
Thank goodness for Excel. I did all the timing and put it in an Excel spreadsheet and transferred in onto the official score sheet that we had to show the official timer. Our scores match his perfectly and that was also exciting!!!
Don't be disappointed but our scores might not be the best but we had a great time and finished without penalties!!!!!
Thank goodness for Excel. I did all the timing and put it in an Excel spreadsheet and transferred in onto the official score sheet that we had to show the official timer. Our scores match his perfectly and that was also exciting!!!
Don't be disappointed but our scores might not be the best but we had a great time and finished without penalties!!!!!
Friday, June 25, 2010
Frederick - June 26th
Sorry folks but I have had some problems uploading pictures so hold on to your seats because I will have some great pictures along the way and some pictures of us after we landed at Frederick yesterday.
So let's go back to yesterday morning (Where were we??) at Carbondale, IL. We got to the airport in the morning and we were first on the RON (remain over night list - that was an easy one for me to remember) list so we were the first plane allowed to take off if we were ready. There was one plane that got off the ground before us but we left IL and headed to Elkhart.
Now Elkhart is a different story. We got there and everyone was just waiting for weather to clear in the East. We grab a water and granola bar while we waited for fuel. There was hardly anyone leaving but we made a decision to make a run for the money. The skies were clear through Parkersburg, WV but the line of storms were heading to Frederick. Off we went and lucked out with the best tail winds the entire trip. We got to Parkersburg in less than 2 hours. We were expecting more than a 2-1/2 hour flight but the tail winds pushed us hard over the hills of West Virgina.
When we got to Parkersburg, WV there was a group of pilots waiting for the weather in the East to clear out. I checked the computer at the airport and saw the weather was over or just barely past Frederick. Being an East coast team we had a pretty good idea what to expect from this front that was moving through the area. We got fuel quickly and were only on the ground for about about one hour. We made the decision to run for the finish and off we went.
Now for those of you who haven't flown in a four seat airplane over the hills of WV in with high tail winds you have no idea what you are missing. One of the girls hit an air pocket and hit her head on the ceiling of the plane. We on the other hand were strapped down well and hit some air pockets but never came out of our seat belts and harnesses. Remember if you do get to experience this type of flying when you hit the air pocket you yell....Yeeeeee Haaaaa....
We get to Frederick and see the timing line only to hear that someone is in the pattern using the same runway for the timing line to do touch and goes. Somehow the timing works out and he didn't get in the way but we were prepared to kindly ask him to move because you want to fly low and fast over the line. Then it was off to try to land in 25 gusts of wind. It was interesting and we made it safety to the ground.
It was actually surreal how it felt to complete this race along side this bunch of women. What an accomplish!!! What an amazing adventure that we took.
I will continue to blog about our activities this weekend (there are a lot of them) and continue to post pictures. We will not know what place we came in until Sunday night. I can tell you now after calculating our score sheet that two legs we flew slower than our handicap (bad) and two legs we blew our handicap out of the water. The rest of the race we were better than our handicap speed so that was exciting. Win or lose it was an experience of a lifetime. More about that later!!!
So let's go back to yesterday morning (Where were we??) at Carbondale, IL. We got to the airport in the morning and we were first on the RON (remain over night list - that was an easy one for me to remember) list so we were the first plane allowed to take off if we were ready. There was one plane that got off the ground before us but we left IL and headed to Elkhart.
Now Elkhart is a different story. We got there and everyone was just waiting for weather to clear in the East. We grab a water and granola bar while we waited for fuel. There was hardly anyone leaving but we made a decision to make a run for the money. The skies were clear through Parkersburg, WV but the line of storms were heading to Frederick. Off we went and lucked out with the best tail winds the entire trip. We got to Parkersburg in less than 2 hours. We were expecting more than a 2-1/2 hour flight but the tail winds pushed us hard over the hills of West Virgina.
When we got to Parkersburg, WV there was a group of pilots waiting for the weather in the East to clear out. I checked the computer at the airport and saw the weather was over or just barely past Frederick. Being an East coast team we had a pretty good idea what to expect from this front that was moving through the area. We got fuel quickly and were only on the ground for about about one hour. We made the decision to run for the finish and off we went.
Now for those of you who haven't flown in a four seat airplane over the hills of WV in with high tail winds you have no idea what you are missing. One of the girls hit an air pocket and hit her head on the ceiling of the plane. We on the other hand were strapped down well and hit some air pockets but never came out of our seat belts and harnesses. Remember if you do get to experience this type of flying when you hit the air pocket you yell....Yeeeeee Haaaaa....
We get to Frederick and see the timing line only to hear that someone is in the pattern using the same runway for the timing line to do touch and goes. Somehow the timing works out and he didn't get in the way but we were prepared to kindly ask him to move because you want to fly low and fast over the line. Then it was off to try to land in 25 gusts of wind. It was interesting and we made it safety to the ground.
It was actually surreal how it felt to complete this race along side this bunch of women. What an accomplish!!! What an amazing adventure that we took.
I will continue to blog about our activities this weekend (there are a lot of them) and continue to post pictures. We will not know what place we came in until Sunday night. I can tell you now after calculating our score sheet that two legs we flew slower than our handicap (bad) and two legs we blew our handicap out of the water. The rest of the race we were better than our handicap speed so that was exciting. Win or lose it was an experience of a lifetime. More about that later!!!
More Pictures from June 23rd - June 24th
Finally I was able to upload photos. Here some more....
The hills of West Virginia....
Minutes after landing at Frederick with our Mama Bird Mary.....
The hills of West Virginia....
Parkersburg, West Virginia Airport.....
Minutes after landing at Frederick with our Mama Bird Mary.....
We was great to be surrounded by many familiar faces from PA. Mary's husband Arnie was one of the volunteers helping us clean out the plane and tie her down for the weekend.
This was Thursday night. The Heather Hill and her husband Dan along with their three beautiful girls took us into town with some of the others for dinner. This is a picture of Alison and myself at dinner.
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