"The Air Race Classic for 2011" by Air Race Classic 2011

The Air Race Classic for 2011

Blog: Air Race Classic 2011

June 3, 2011

Laurie and myself thought long and hard to decide whether the ZIPPY CHICKS should race again this year. The race begins in Iowa City, Iowa on June 21st at 8 a.m. and concludes in Mobile AL on Friday June 24th at 5 p.m. it is 2722 statute miles long (that is ground measurements) the air miles are 2365.4 nautical miles ( a nautical mile is longer than a statute mile) The first stop will be Brookings, SD, then Jamestown, ND moving on to Spearfish, SD all fairly easy airports with not too high an elevation, but then Rawlins, WY is a rather hard airport to fly in and out of on hot days. In aviation we have to deal with density altitude that causes the plane to fly differently than on lower density altitude days. Going into Rawlins lighter in the afternoon heat and leaving early in the a.m. with a full load of fuel may be a little tricky. Alliance, NE is next stop which has been plagued with some unusual weather patterns lately. Great Bend, KS another area that could experience some tornado activity is always in the back of our mines. Borger, TX is up on a plateau which could be a windy landing or fly by depending on the time of the day. Norman OK is a big college town and should be back into the flat land aspect of flying, but once again wide open spaces with lots of wind possible. ElDorado, AR is getting us back into the steamy heat of June similar to Hot Springs, AR which was named correctly really hot hot hot!!!. Mobile, AL the terminus is near the coast and should be a nice change to the flying aspect, but once again may be really humid. We took all these into consideration in making our decision to fly again. Shortly after we committed to the adventure again Laurie's partner's son decided to get married on June 18th in Lafayette, IN. so we had to get an exception to allow us to arrive on Sunday instead of Sat. but we need to be at the mandatory safety meeting on Sunday at 10 a.m. So weather will dictate whether I fly solo to Iowa City on Sat. or to Purdue/Lafayette and pick up Laurie otherwise she will be driving a rental car to Iowa More info on some of our preparations for the race tomorrow.