Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at 1200 CST in Alliance, NE (KAIA) marked the official start of 2011 Women's Air Race Classic -- YAY!!! :-) It was exciting, thrilling, a little nerve-wracking, and amazing to watch 45 race teams scrambling to get ready for the flag to drop for the "flying" of this year's ARC.
Team Bessie arrived in Alliance for the start after dark Tuesday evening with, you guessed it, no landing light! I 'thought' it was repaired at KIOW ($78.00 later), and it did work on preflight departing there, but, when we needed it most, 'no joy.' Anyway, the great folks at Heartland Aviation, Alliance, NE fixed us right up. We arrived at the airport on race morning nervous (just like I'm sure all the other racers were) but, with ample time to get the maintenance done on the airplane. The airport/FBO is family run, so Mom, Dad, sons, daughters, grandma, grandpa, aunts, uncles, and cousins were all available to help any racer with her specific needs. The two little grandsons (probably 8 and 9 years old were running around or rather 'driving' around in the golf cart in and out of planes attending to the needs of all us 'old ladies.' They were darling!!! :-). Anyway, "The Joybird" was towed into the hanger, Larry the maintenance man, immediately troubleshot and determined the problem, installed the new light, and "The Joybird" was towed back out, ready to fly!
Team Bessie arrived in Alliance for the start after dark Tuesday evening with, you guessed it, no landing light! I 'thought' it was repaired at KIOW ($78.00 later), and it did work on preflight departing there, but, when we needed it most, 'no joy.' Anyway, the great folks at Heartland Aviation, Alliance, NE fixed us right up. We arrived at the airport on race morning nervous (just like I'm sure all the other racers were) but, with ample time to get the maintenance done on the airplane. The airport/FBO is family run, so Mom, Dad, sons, daughters, grandma, grandpa, aunts, uncles, and cousins were all available to help any racer with her specific needs. The two little grandsons (probably 8 and 9 years old were running around or rather 'driving' around in the golf cart in and out of planes attending to the needs of all us 'old ladies.' They were darling!!! :-). Anyway, "The Joybird" was towed into the hanger, Larry the maintenance man, immediately troubleshot and determined the problem, installed the new light, and "The Joybird" was towed back out, ready to fly!
Even though this a day VFR- only race, the landing light is mandatory for
conducting the "low approach, full power" flybys; no landing light~~penalty points
assessed.
After the repair, we did all the necessary final preflight prep including, adding oil, cleaning the bugs off the windscreen, leading edges, propeller, under wings, and anywhere we saw one of those critters residing :-). We got the inside of the cockpit and airplane organzied as neatly as possible so we could execute our CRM (cockpit resource management) efficiently. At 11:15 a.m., an all-racers departure briefing was conducted inside the FBO and at 11:40, the racers were released to start their engines and begin taxiing in race-number sequence to departing Runway 26 for the departure flyby. During the departure flyby (which occurs at each stop if you land) the racer goes out a reasonable distance (based on her airplane), maneuvers to return and approach the designated runway at her fasted speed, wings level, landing light on, and usually 200 or 300 feet above the ground. Each airport has a detailed, specific departure procedure (i.e. fly over the runway, fly to the right or left of the runway, etc.) that must be executed precisely or penalties are assessed.
At 12:00, Classic Racer 1 was released to conduct her departure flyby, and the ARC officially began. The ladies were all lined up and being Classic Racer 37, we were a ways back, however, many of the racers opted not to go in this first gaggle, so even though we were No. 37, we actually took off in probably slot 27 or 28. We were airborne for our departure flyby at 12:29. More to follow...Joyce
conducting the "low approach, full power" flybys; no landing light~~penalty points
assessed.
After the repair, we did all the necessary final preflight prep including, adding oil, cleaning the bugs off the windscreen, leading edges, propeller, under wings, and anywhere we saw one of those critters residing :-). We got the inside of the cockpit and airplane organzied as neatly as possible so we could execute our CRM (cockpit resource management) efficiently. At 11:15 a.m., an all-racers departure briefing was conducted inside the FBO and at 11:40, the racers were released to start their engines and begin taxiing in race-number sequence to departing Runway 26 for the departure flyby. During the departure flyby (which occurs at each stop if you land) the racer goes out a reasonable distance (based on her airplane), maneuvers to return and approach the designated runway at her fasted speed, wings level, landing light on, and usually 200 or 300 feet above the ground. Each airport has a detailed, specific departure procedure (i.e. fly over the runway, fly to the right or left of the runway, etc.) that must be executed precisely or penalties are assessed.
At 12:00, Classic Racer 1 was released to conduct her departure flyby, and the ARC officially began. The ladies were all lined up and being Classic Racer 37, we were a ways back, however, many of the racers opted not to go in this first gaggle, so even though we were No. 37, we actually took off in probably slot 27 or 28. We were airborne for our departure flyby at 12:29. More to follow...Joyce
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