"First Day of the Race" by Air Race Classic | The Pilot: Southern Pines, NC

First Day of the Race

Blog: Air Race Classic

June 22, 2010

This a.m. we got up by 5 a.m. breakfast at 6 a.m. with a weather briefing by 6:30 a.m. We all hurried out to the airport got the planes ready by 8 a.m. and waited for the first 5 planes to start up and taxi to the runway. We are number 49 so it took the better part of an hour before we ended up taking off. Our first leg to Waycross, GA was full of clouds and some light winds from the south. OUr speed was about 175-177 knots we arrived and found my husband waiting for us. He was going north to Whispering Pines from Florida decided to stop. The folks there had BBQ, donuts, sodas, waters and cute little bags for us to eat or take with us. A young boy decided to get all of our autographs. Leaving Waycross going to Tuscaloosa, AL was beginning to get extremely hot. We usually have headwinds going west but today we were lucky to make better than our handicap of 167.89 kts. We didn't do as well as the first leg but over 170 kts. Arriving in Tuscaloosa was interesting there was a tower controller there who had to sequence us all into and out of the airport. Our FlyBY have to be done 200' over the runway with full power and at a certain spot on the airport. Then we must fly around and land on another runway. This can be hard to do from a speedy run across the runway. We have to slow down, get the gear down, the flaps down and our cowl flaps open to cool the engine down a bit. Our next stop was Hot Springs AR, and it was 96 degrees in the shade. We were surprised to find my sister in law, Linda's father in law waiting for us in the Fix Based Operator's lounge area. The FBO provided us with fruit, water, juice, popcorn and other snacks. It was great seeing him and talking to him, but we decided to look at a 4th leg since the winds were coming out of the south and we were heading north. We made a great decision to go to Cameron, MO. It was the right decision we made speeds of 180-190 kts. on the way up. The weather for tomorrow a.m. may not be the best in the area from Hot Springs to Cameron so it was better for us to be in an area that we can fly from to the next stop.

The folks at Cameron MO were great they had food, met us at the plane with strawberries and non alcoholic cider. The found us a hotel room and we managed to get the grit and grim off of us finally in a wonderful shower.

More to come tomorrow. Going to Carbondale, IL if the weather allows us to do it. Sponsors for today were Eileen Malan, Holly Brennaman & Ed Sharp, Chuck Peterson, A & G Auto, Heidi & Andy Morschauser for the NJ Schnauzer Rescue Network njsrn.org

elizlee 2 years, 11 months ago

Hi gals, I'm cheering your on. great speeds and turned out to be a good decision to go on to Cameron. Go, go, go. i am following your trip in my brain. Fly safe. and fast. Liz

asm1golf 2 years, 11 months ago

Go Zippy chicks! We're rooting for you! Good luck on the next leg. -Heidi, Andy, Eleanor, Isabelle, Jack and 53 schnauzer puppies looking for homes in the NY/NJ area. Contact www.njsrn.org for info.