The Final Chapter

Sheryl and I are both back at home.

We had a great flight from Iowa to Indiana with the best tailwinds of the trip. Sheryl's friend Margaret was there to greet us at Sheridan Airport with bagel and drinks. We didn't get a chance to have breakfast in our haste to get started from Iowa so this was a real treat. Pilots, which Margaret is, have a great sense for these things.

Margaret also provided us with a full tank of fuel for 701 for the next leg of the trip. Thank you, Margaret!

The next leg carried me to DuBois, PA. It was lonesome flying without Sheryl. We were a great team and really enjoyed our time together. I met a couple from Holbrook, MA while waiting to buy a tall cup of coffee to keep me awake for the remainder of the journey. In retrospect it wasn't needed due to having yet another storm to fly around in Wilkes-Barre, PA and lowering weather conditions as I progressed eastward.

Upon arriving in Plymouth, MA I had a wonderful welcoming committee consisting of Bill, his daughter Robin, her husband Eric and baby Collette.

After 52 hours of flight time and visiting or flying over 21 states the trip is ended and it was awesome.

Judy

Sunday

Last evening Sheryl and I were hosted by Jeff and Pat Nelson, a local family who had us for dinner. Pat has taught school locally for many years and the entire community knows and loves her. She seemed somewhat aghast as we parked the black and white police cruiser in her drive but graciously laughed about it while expressing a hope that her neighbors would think the worst.

Sheryl and I had a wonderful evening with the Nelsons and enjoyed an awesome home cooked meal of salad, steak and Iowa corn on the cob followed by (don't be jealous, Bill) apple pie and ice cream. After two weeks on the road it was so wonderful to sit in a family atmosphere with wonderful conversation and wonderful food. Thank you, Jeff and Pat!

Today we had the All Racers breakfast and debrief followed by a lazy day of hanging around and getting our nails done at the local salon which opened on a Sunday to take care of all of us bedraggled racers. They must have taken one look at us and realized we needed them!

Tonight was the Awards Banquet. Sheryl and I ended up placing 20 out of the remaining 31 teams in the race and one an award for one leg of the race. Although we would have been happy to make a better showing, we are still pleased as punch that we finished the race in good standing and that we had so much fun doing so.

Tomorrow, the trek home.

Saturday

Sheryl seems to have an unending number of friends. Her friend Margaret flew out with her husband to meet us at the Melt Down cookout. She brought some other relatives and friends and we had a good old time. There was a P51 Mustang ride auctioned and one of our more senior pilots won. At 88 she had a great ride this morning which included some barrel roles and a breakfast. Not sure which came first - the barrel rolls or breakfast but I can guess.

After the cookout last evening Sheryl and I received an unnerving phone message. We were "invited" to meet with the ARC judges at 10:30 this morning to discuss "allegations made against us" during the race. Yikes! What could we possibly have done? We wracked our brains for hours trying to figure it out. Did we cut another plane off? Did we endanger someone? Did we grievously and unknowingly break some rule? The judge who called didn't pick up her cell phone for us to find out what the issue was and her voice mailbox was full. Needless to say we had a restless night.

As this morning progressed we found that many of the other teams were invited to discuss allegations as well, so we were somewhat relieved to find out it wasn't just us and the infractions ranged from minor to somewhat serious. As we waited outside the judge's chambers (one of the hotel rooms) we nervously talked to some of the other racers while waiting for our turn in the hot seat. When we were finally up it turns out that one of our fly bys was a bit too low. That was ALL. It turns out the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) which is the bureau that investigates airplane accidents and incidents was there measuring altitudes. Sheryl and I both felt that we did not fly the pass too low and let the judges know our side of the story. Although not final until tomorrow, they said they would most likely ding us with a two knot penalty for that leg of the race. Whew! We were so relieved. Of course we would have preferred not to have any infractions, but compared to all the adventures we had this seemed relatively minor to us. We ended up chatting and laughing with the judges and told them of the heroics of the team that extended their fly by when we were having engine issues. They thanked us for sharing the positive information. Who knows, maybe that team can get a two knot reward!

We already know that we did not finished in the top ten, but do not yet know our overall standing.

We had an opportunity to review our score sheet with the official race timer and were pleased to find that we beat our handicap on every leg - even taking into consideration the two knot penalty on one leg. We beat the handicap by anywhere from 0.8 to 19.5!

Sheryl and I are both relieved and happy that we finished the race, are safe and flew a good race. We will find out how we rank against the other teams at tomorrow night's awards banquet.

The balance of today was spent once again shipping excess weight home, fueling the plane and removing our race numbers and sponsor advertisements. We participated in the children's event where girl scouts and any other local youngsters who are interested in flying came to the airport. One of the mother/daughter ARC teams drew a large chalk outline of the airport on the tarmac and we listened and responded to one of the gals who acted as ATC as we pretended to fly in using various approaches with our little co-pilots at our sides. We walked through a pre-flight with the kids and then gave them turns sitting in 701 at the controls.

We have been having some fun driving the black and white police car around town. Folks in Atlantic, IA that we only met yesterday are recognizing us and waving greatings. I think the local police are on to something since everyone carefully obeys all the traffic laws as we go by. They are getting additional enforcement on someone else's dime. Traffic slows down and almost always wait for us to go first at stop signs. Perhaps with some modifications to the Mustang....

The Race Continues

Day 2 was an early start in Lufkin, TX. Everyone there was great and we had the most amazing hotel room. It was at least 4 or 5 times the size of a normal hotel room and felt like a palace. The hotel didn't have a community computer available for use so the night clerk let us use the one in the back office. Folks along the way have been amazingly helpful.

Going into Lufkin the night before we picked up a terrible background noise through our headsets which prohibited us from hearing any radio calls. We couldn't tell if our radio call was going through so made the calls anyway and Sheryl flashed the landing light as we did our low pass over the field which is the ARC way of communicating a radio failure. Others on the ground said that our communications were coming through okay so we decided to troubleshoot when we got into the air the next day, knowing that we could always use the handheld again.

We were wheels up from Lufkin bright and early on Wednesday and continued to have radio problems. Sheryl pulled out the instructions for the new communication box and checked all the connections with no success. We bypassed the new box only to find out that the interference was still going on. It was only when we switched off the VOR that all went gloriously silent again. Sheryl reconnected the communication box and we happily continued on our way.

The next stop was Russelville, AR. The little FBO there is brand new and even smells new. We had lovely treatment, lots of cold drinks and were off again to Grenada, MS. In Grenada Sheryl bonded with a fellow that is retired from the USPS. They had lots to talk about. We met his mother in the FBO where she fed us homemade BBQ (again) and potato chip cookies. Mom is a retired school teacher and had some interesting stories to tell regarding how civil rights ruined the local school system by allowing "them" in as teachers and the folks there shared their dismay that we were not all white pilots. Oops, it was time to say goodbye to ol' MS.

By now Sheryl and I were consistently doing short field take offs to account for the high density altitudes and the trees and hillsides at the runways ends. That seems to be working pretty well for us.

Sparta, TN was our next and final stop of the day. Our flight there was unremarkable, although finding the airport behind several towered hills that appeared to be ominously higher than published minimum altitudes was interesting. There were thunderstorms between TN and the next stop in IL and after flying three legs we decided to stay in Sparta for the night. We checked in with the stop chair and he was very helpful in getting us a room. When we asked how to get to the hotel he just shrugged his shoulders and said that we should do it anyway we could, but be sure to get whoever took us there "to promise" to pick us up on the morning and return us to the airport. Great help! We enlisted the help of a local pilot named Tom who piled us into his pickup truck and delivered us to the hotel. He even offered and followed through on picking us up in the morning and taking us back to the airport. What a guy!

The hotel in Sparta had two local restaurants. One a Waffle House and one a KFC. Six of us pilots grouped together walking around the area trying to find some alternative, and finally ended up at the Waffle House. As we sat eating our dinners we started to read the posted signs, such as the one requiring shirts and shoes to be served. Perhaps it was the stress of the long day but we all started to laugh at there being no requirement for bottoms and our humor went south from there. We laughed at the corniest jokes until our sides hurt. Sandy, from TX, started chocking on her food we were laughing so hard. Sheryl doesn't help matters when she fires out her one liner punch lines. A gentleman eating his dinner started to chat with us and as we each payed our bill and waited outside, we abandoned Sheryl with the talkativ guy. She came running out of the restaurant asking how we could have abandoned her that way which only caused us to break into more laughter.

Upon returning to the hotel we learned that a fellow pilot named Mary broke her ankle in Sweetwater. She tripped when trying to help one of the collegiate teams move their airplane. We all stopped in to visit with her. The poor thing looked like she was in a prize fight with a black eye, skinned shoulder and broken ankle. Her spirits were high and she planned to continue the race flying an Arrow, but from the right seat since she couldn't land without using her foot on the rudder peddles.

Sheryl and I planned to do laundry after dinner but failed to plan on what to wear since we only had two changes of cloths and both needed to be washed. The final plan was for me to sneak down the hotel stairs in PJs and Sheryl's long fleece and sneak into the laundry area unobserved. No such luck. Sandy and Linda beat me to the two washers. Our pilot camaraderie kicked in and after sorting Sheryl's and my cloths into darks and lights, I added our cloths to their wash loads. Geez, when ever would four woman share loads of laundry together? They didn't even comment on my strange attire. It was funny sorting out the cloths afterward and we only had one toss up on a pair of panties that could have been two of ours.

On Thursday we waited for an hour or so at the airport for the weather to become MVFR over the course of our next leg. When the weather cleared we left for Jacksonville, IL. The ride there was uneventful, but we fell victim to a story a local told of needing the avoid flying over the prison just 5 miles from the airport. Sheryl and I came in to the airport too high as a result and ended up slipping the plane in to lose altitude in order to do the flyby. Between the low level of fuel in the tanks and forgetting to use carb ice we lost our engine. With the field made I told Sheryl that we would have to forgo the race and just land. As we shifted from fly by set up to landing set up we followed all the emergency start procedures and the engine roared back into life. We proceeded to do the fly by and prepare to set up for a normal landing. The engine quit again so now we decided to land on the closest runway instead of the planned runway. Again the engine kicked over so we proceeded with a normal landing.

Needless to say, we did a careful pre-flight and run-up prior to continuing on.

The second leg of the day was to Racine, WI. We now had to manage the Class B Chicago airspace. We got flight following, but at one point ATC waited too long to pass us to the next frequency so we could hear ATC calling us but they couldn't hear us responding to them. We asked for anyone else on the frequency to relay this message but no one responded. We then proceeded to work our way through every Chicago frequency we could locate until we picked her up again. She gave us a scolding for not responding to her for 5 minutes and didn't seem to listen when we told her we couldn't until finding a different frequency!

The Racine airport is yet another beautiful field. They took good care of us and as we chatted with the racers and checked weather we saw just a bit of heavy rain en route. With only one more leg to go we decided to go for it. We ended up diverting around the rain because it was too heavy to go through, so our time during this last leg will not be very good.

We picked our way between amazingly tall towers in Iowa and found our way into Atlantic, IA one day early! We completed the race in three days and were surprised to realize that we were only the second ones to arrive at the terminus!

The welcome in Atlantic was great. The first plane arrived around 11:30 AM and we didn't get in until 6:30 PM, so folks were primed to provide a hospitable welcome.

Karen Workman, my ARC partner from last year, is one of the terminus volunteers! She was waving from the timing tent with the others as we pulled in and gave us a warm welcome. We also had a wonderful young man named Jessie provide us with cold water and help with the tie downs. I believe he said he was seven.

Sheryl's friends picked us up and after giving us some time to wash up a bit, took us to a fabulous restaurant 12 miles down the road in Anita. We walked into the restaurant only to find the ARC judges, the scorekeeper, the three pilots who already came in and Karen. It's a small world.

Dinner was great and just as we finished there was a funny sound as all the lights went out. As we sat there in total darkness and total silence not sure of what happened, Sheryl piped up and asked if this was how the restaurant indicated it was closing time. The patrons and wait staff all broke out laughing and soon to follow candles were lit and we could see again. Our host and hostess were digging in their pockets for cash since the credit card machine was inoperative. The folks that hadn't eaten yet were unphased since the kitchen used gas for cooking. As we walked out of the restaurant and into the light of the stars the lights started to flash on momentarily until a big explosion with a spray of blue light lit the sky and all went dark again. Upon arriving back at the hotel we were ready for a good night's sleep.

Today we tried to rent a car. The hotel staff suggested a place down the road so off we went on foot to find it. When we got there we learned that they only rented trailers and not cars! Russel, the shop owner, chatted with us about the race, talked about his showcase Harley's and called all the car rental folks in town. There were no cars to rent so he hung a sign in his window stating, "Back in 30 minutes" while joking 30 minutes from when, and drove us to the airport.

We watched many of the planes land and chatted with everyone there. Since we couldn't find a car the airport gave us the courtesy car. What a hoot! It is a black and while police car with the town name pained on the side and outfitted with a spotlight and a big push thingy in the front. We are cruizin!

Tonight we have a melt down party at the airport hangers, tomorrow a host family is having us for dinner, Sunday is the award banquet and we depart for home on Monday.

First Day of the Race

Today is what it is all about. We had our racer breakfast and briefings with ATC and the weather folks at 6 and then it was off to Centennial for the race. Centennial was really organized and got us off in short order. The density altitude was so severe that we barely made it off the runway. Luckily the same type of aircraft took off ahead of us, so we knew what to expect by watching them. We literally skimmed the tops of some buildings, so hopefully the occupants were not looking out the window. GPS keep listing "TERRAIN"! We knew we were low but couldn't do much about it. Eventually we achieved our desired altitude. The fact that the terrain dropped below us was a significant help.

The racers all were chatting on 122.75 and it was a hoot.

We shuffled for position as we flew on to KS, making calls to each other as we overtook or in our case were overtaken several times. Our heads are still spinning from the wake some of the others left but we were laughing and having fun the whole time.

Our first low pass, high speed fly by was in Liberal, KS. What a great airport. They were totally prepared for us, fueled us and the plane and we were off to TX. We crossed over hundreds of miles of desolate terrain and even crossed over Oklahoma. Our next destination was Sweetwater, TX and boy was it hot and a zoo. It was so hot... our shoes stuck to the asphalt! Sweetwater was not prepared for us and not able to handle the onslaught of 30 odd racers in quick succession. They kindly gave us a goody bag with chocolates but they were literally liquid by the time we got attempt eating them so no joy on the chocolate.

Our next and final stop was Lufkin, TX. Lufkin is lovely and we are here for the night. The only restaurant had a 2.5 hour wait, and thus it is the end of a long, hot yet exhilarating day.

Tomorrow? Who knows. We are too tired to contemplate that at the moment but will figure it out by early AM.

Day 7

It has been a week of travel and preparation for the race which finally starts tomorrow.

Due to the poor performance of 701 in the high heat and high density altitude on our way in to Denver there was a nagging concern over whether or not we blew a cylinder. 30 minutes to climb 400o feet worried both Sheryl and I. 701 was already inspected for the race so we obtained permission from race organizers to put it into the shop and get the cylinders checked. Luckily they are all checked out okay. Whew! What a relief. Had they not we would have sat here in CO awaiting repairs and most likely missed the race all together!

701 is loaded heavily with full fuel (a race start requirement), the two of us and luggage. To lighten the load and improve performance we shipped everything we could ahead to the race terminus and it amounted to 50 lbs. Here we thought we were traveling light. Light now is defined as a wash and wear shirt, Capri's, toothbrush, hairbrush and PJ's. Oh, the GPS, too.

We also located an intercom box so communications with ATC and each other will be much better.

Briefings today ran from 8 in the morning until 2:30 in the afternoon, so hopefully we are know what we are supposed to be doing over the next four days. Pictures are posted on www.airraceclassic.org.

Tomorrow will be wheels up at Centennial in Denver between 8 and 9. Our first stop is Liberal, KS, then on to Sweetwater, TX. Weather and time permitting we will proceed on to Lufkin, TX. Total distance is 813 nm (about 9 hours of flying time). Liberal, KS will hold the challenge of 30 odd planes trying to get fueled and back into the air as soon as possible. Sweetwater, TX should be less of a crunch. Too long of a delay will prevent sufficient time for the remainder of our planned route. Once the contestants start to spread out due to airplane type and flying styles we should have less congestion at these little airports which are mostly ill equipped to handle us all at once.

701 also has the distinction of being the second to the worst handicap so most of the folks should be far ahead of us before long.

Wish us luck!

Day 2 to Day 6

Day 2 was a waiting game in Youngstown, OH. Youngstown had lake effect weather and was the only airport in the area that remained IFR most of the day. My time was spent checking updated weather reports, calling Bill and Sheryl for moral support, chatting with the various commercial pilots that came and went and realizing that I really need to get an IFR rating to be able to fly in these situations. Late afternoon the sun came out but there were numerous severe thunderstorms in the area, one of which passed directly overhead. Youngstown was forecasted to be IRF for the next two days and I really needed to get out so made the decision to track the storms using in-flight weather and by just keeping an eye out and either flying around them or landing ahead of them. This was not the safest decision to make and not one that I recommend, but luckily it worked out okay. It was unnerving when tower asked if I was aware of the weather I would be flying into before I left. I said yes and hoped that I would not regret that decision.

After dodging weather, getting caught in a downpour that caused me to to backtrack and fly 360s until it passed, the conditions changed to marginal VFR. Through the setting sun and haze I was able to make it to Indiana. As I made my 10 mile call to Sheridan airfield the radioed response was to repeat my call sign. This was Bill Griffith and Sheryl verifying it was really me! I could hear Sheryl cheering in the background which caused me to tear up. Luckily the cloth I use to check oil was still clean and close by for some eye wipes. Sheryl and Bill Griffith gave me a wonderful, warm welcome and it really felt good to finally be there after two longs days of travel. Sheryl was all teared up, too, so we were quite the pair. Bill filled the fuel tanks of 701 as a contribution to the race for Sheryl and I which was a wonderfully generous gesture. Thank you, Bill!

We had a late night diner at Charlstons where we met the manager, Darren Rice who is a friend of Sheryl's. One of the staff that work with Darren is also flying in the air race - what a coincidence!. Darren bought our dinner (Thank you, Darren!). Afterward we did some flight planning for the next day it was lights out at 12:30 AM!

Day 3 began with yet another severe thunderstorm and lots of rain, but the promise of good weather in the afternoon. With the car packed and plans on running some last minute errands, the car would not start. A neighbor offered a jump start but the battery was not the problem. So, the mechanic was called to tow the car and Sheryl enlisted her daughter Heather to drive us to the airport to wait out the weather.

Sheridan airfield has a courtesy car which we borrowed to get a bite to eat. We packed up the plane and set off uneventfully westward. The plan was to drop down into MO to remove ourselves from the areas forecasting thunderstorms. We flew as far as we could and found ourselves in Hannibal, MO for the night. Fuel in Hannibal as $2.90 which is amazingly cheap. The FBO gave us a car for the night and we found a lovely hotel and restaurant. The restaurant had barbecue on the menu so we each ordered BBQ. Our eyes popped when the plates arrived just heaped with BBQ pork.

Day 4 we awoke to clear skies and high density altitude. We chose Hannibal in part because it had a long runway to allow for poor takeoff performance with the density altitude. As we continued our travels we decided to head for Saline, KS. Strong headwinds resulted in slower speeds than expected so we chose Manhattan, KS as an alternate. With the help of Kansas City air traffic control we were vectored around some heavy rain and ended up landing in Forbes, KS for fuel and to allow time for a front to pass along with its high winds and rain (no thunderstorms this time, at least).

Forbes is a huge airfield so we figured we could wait out the weather and have some lunch. A transport plane carrying 80+ young men and women in dress whites landed so we waited until they departed with hopes that the restaurant would still have food left. They did, but interestingly, only serves one thing - you guessed it, BBQ! So, we had MORE BBQ.

As we were set to depart Forbes I called ground for permission to taxi and my response was "airplane calling, we can't read what you are saying". Oh no, radio issues again. We sat and tried to unsuccessfully troubleshoot the problem. The FBO lineman came out to find out what the problem was and called the FBO manager who is also a pilot. Between the four of us we determined that my intercom box shorted and that a workaround would be for me to use the handheld mike to transmit and receive over the overhead speaker and luckily through my headset. This left Sheryl without an ability to communicate outside the airplane and to have to shout back and forth with me above the din of the airplane engine. Not ideal, but it worked. The hardest part was for me to remember to use the hand mike instead of the push to talk button.

We took off and continued westward. The weather was finally on our side and we flew through clear and sunny skies. We still had a headwind, but less now that the front had passed. Denver was still one fuel stop away but due to the delay in getting out of Forbes it was a challenge to find an airfield with a long enough runway and with fuel services available after normal working hours. Radio calls to upcoming airfields resulted in no response except for Colby - Shalz, KS, which is close to the CO line. The lineman responded saying he would wait for us. We fueled up and started out on our final leg to Centennial, CO.

Skies were clear but density altitude was working against us. Climbing out on the last leg was painfully slow. We were concerned that there may be some airplane performance issues but everything we checked, including magnetos, mixture, RPM, engine gauges, etc were reading fine. We finally achieved a flight level of 8,500 ft which would allow for safe entry into the Denver area. As we arrived into Denver airspace we became very busy in the cockpit. We had to remain below Class B airspace and enter Class D airspace very carefully. We did fine except for the early evening haze and sun slanting down from the west which prevented visual contact with the airfield. We were a mere three miles from the airport when a cloud serendipitously passed over blocking the sun so that we could see the runway. We landed, got ourselves tied down and made our way to the hotel. Due to the late hour, the restaurant at the hotel was closed so we ate at the bar. As we sat there many of the other teams arrived so there were many stories to share.

Day 5

Saturday was busy with air race activities. We applied our numbers and sponsor adverts and we had the airplane inspected. We visited two pilot shops looking for a new communication box and none were to be had. One pilot shop expects to receive on on Monday, so we sit here with our fingers crossed. There was a lovely reception for the racers sponsored by the Colorado 99s. We managed to burn through the day with no down time.

Day 6

Today there were more air race activities including a briefing and air racer banquet. Now that we are on the ground and preparing for the actual race activities we are having fewer adventures, but still having fun. It is great to see so many of last year's racers and so many of the first time racers.

More to follow...

Day 1

No disappointments on the drama front for day one. Tuesday morning started out with low overcast over Plymouth, MA preventing my departure. Pete, our wonderful airplane mechanic and friend, commented that this was a replay of last year trying to get out for the race.

Once the skies cleared around noon I was off with the goal of reaching Indiana to meet up with Sheryl. Shortly after departure and climbing on top of the clouds my radio went south and I was unable to transmit. Bill had done a great job neatening up the wires with tie wraps so out came my knife as I tried to trouble shoot the problem en route. I finally got the radio working and collected flight following from Providence. Providence turned me over to Bradley and then shortly after things got quiet. The radio was again not transmitting or receiving. More troubleshooting and a while later I received some very negative feedback from Bradley for having an open mike that disrupted their operations. Yikes! That test button on the radio is a good thing to check from time to time when things get quiet. The good news is that I realized I had a problem. The bad news is that I didn't think to change the channel, although I had no way of knowing the problem was manifesting itself as an open mike disrupting communications over Bradley airspace.

Things went smoothly from there into PA until shortly before Wilkes Barre. I had climbed up over the clouds and had to keep climbing to stay above them. At 8,500 feet with cloud tops still looming above me I dropped down through a hole and proceeded at about 3,500 feet. That was fine until the ceiling started dropping more and more. Wilkes Barre suggested that I accept vectors to their airport, land and wait for the overcast to clear a bit. I took their suggestion, especially when seeing how close I was to the mountaintops and the line of windmills along the ridge going into Wilkes Barre.

The briefer indicated I should have VRF weather going west so off I went - for about 25 minutes until turning around. Visibility was below 2000 feet which did not allow for mountain clearance. I have never turned around due to weather before, but remembered the maxim that Bill's flight instructor Brendan Haley used to state, "Better to be on the ground wishing you were flying than being in the air and wishing you were on the ground!"

The next briefer suggested heading north toward Elmira and then heading west, so off I was again.

Forecasts for Ohio were clear, but hazy which meant barely seeing the ground from 4,500 feet. Weather was definitely marginal VFR.

As I came over Youngstown, OH after 7 PM that was it for me for the day. 701 doesn't have an autopilot and my inability to hold a solid altitude and direction were indicative of my fatigue. I put down in Youngstown and called it a day.

Two C5's came in behind me as a flight of two. Very impressive. The fun part was when the tower told them to hold for me to pass. I felt so special and as though I was playing with the big boys.

Wednesday morning the weather in Youngstown is rain and fog, so here I sit waiting for a clearing to continue my journey.

2009 Air Race Classic soon to start

The 2009 Air Race Classic is just around the corner.

My partner this year is Sheryl Cole from Cicero, Indiana. Sheryl has her instrument rating and works for the USPS with hopes of retiring soon and flying commercially.

We will be flying the little Cherokee 140 again, N15701, as Classic 14 (our official race number). My departure from Plymouth, MA is scheduled for early Tuesday, 6/16. I am hoping to make it to Indiana to meet up with Sheryl in one day. With no wind to help or hinder, flying time will be three legs of approximately three hours each so it has the makings of a long day. This will be the longest trip I will have undertaken by myself so wish me luck and a stiff tailwind.

We are required to arrive in Denver no later than noon on Saturday 6/20. If we hit top speeds of 100 mph and have no headwinds that will only require a total of 20 or so hours of actual flight time to get there. Piece of cake. Right???

Many of you know that last year presented my partner Karen and I with several challenges, all of which we managed (with the help of flight instructor husbands and wonderful home based mechanics). Hopefully this year will be less exciting in that regard.