Final Report

Sorry to be so tardy in writing the final chapter, but work and weather got in the way. So, if you are waiting to find out how we did, the answer is - not well at all, but we did have a great time. Race results later in this posting.

Having arrived at terminus, the next two days were spent enjoying the area while waiting on the Sunday night awards banquet for the results. Saturday morning, all racers had to go over their score sheets with the race officials. This was the test for my most critical co-pilot duty as timer. Julia is much more organized and methodical than I, so I was very pleased to be within 2 or 3 seconds of the official time. Saturday afternoon, Becky was occupied with additional handicapping duties, so Robin accompanied us on a tour of the Frederick County wine country. It was so relaxing to drive through the beautiful countryside.

This winery was called the Black Ankle. Look at the roof of the attachment to the left of the main building, and you will see that it has vegetation growing on it. Very "wine country." There were acres and acres of vinyards on the drive to to the winery down Black Ankle road. Bet there is a story behind that name.

We had a very special event on Saturday night. Hood College hosted for us the premier of a documentary, "Breaking Through the Clouds," about the first All Women's Air Derby of 1929 - predecessor of today's Air Race Classic. The film maker is shown here speaking to us before the movie, and many of the people involved in its making were in attendance. The movie has original footage and does a wonderful job of describing aviation of the day and the biographies of the racers. Of course, we all LOVED IT!!! If you want to see it, you can borrow my copy. :)

Sunday morning was the mandatory breakfast & debriefing - several good suggestions for making the race even better. The way it was run this year was a tremendous improvement over the 2008 race, and we frequently expressed our appreciation to the officers.

That afternoon, Becky, Robin, Julia and I drove to Dulles Airport to go through the new (2003) Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. The photos give you an idea of the enormous size of the hangar. Much aviation history. Of interest to me was after the Wright brothers accomplished the first flight, they actually retarded the growth of aviation in the U.S. through their patent. It was not until World War I that their logjam was broken and aviation took off (pun intended).

Our Sunday night banquet was well attended and very exciting for the contestants. Competition among the college teams was especially fierce, and Purdue University won. They also placed fourth overall. The first place winner was Terry Carbonell's team in her Cessna 182 RG. Second place had a Texas pilot/first-time racer, and third place was an all-Texas team. The new rules and handicapping really changed the top ten winner's circle.

We placed way down - 33rd out of the 51 teams. We received a third place on one of the legs, much to our surprise. Our friends, Becky and Robin were one notch above us, and Becky has won it before. Judy and Ruby, both frequently in the top ten, were in 45th place.

Classic 29, Sandi and Heather, received the prize for last place, but they were the stars for their tenacity in completing the race. Two other teams did not complete and two switched to the non-competition category.

The weather for the return to Texas looked very bad for Monday. Aligning perfectly with our course and slightly west (moving eastward) was a cold front with a band of thunderstorms - all the way to Texas. We knew that the earlier we could get in the air, the better our chances. Julia spent a long time on the phone Sunday niht with the Flight Service weather briefer and decided that as we encountered bad weather, we would turn south. Of course, we would be fighting a strong headwind all the way. If you look at the SPOT tracker, you will see that we flew west, then south, then west, then south all day, staying at low altitude for the least headwind.

We lucked out that our first fuel stop had a restaurant that opened just as we got there. Since we had not had breakfast...again....we were very happy to get lunch.

By mid-afternoon, we were hot, tired, and ready to stop. We landed at Holly Springs, southeast of Memphis. They were very nice, but the airport was for a maintenance shop and had no FBO services. Back in the airplane to the big airport in Memphis to overnight. Blessing upon blessing, the next morning we had a tailwind into Austin. By leaving early again, we were able to beat the thunderstorms and arrive safely home.

Total flight time for the trip - 37 hours. Good flying, great teammate - can hardly wait until Fly Camp, a.k.a. Air Race Classic 2012. Thanks for following our blog and sharing the adventure with us. --- Julia & Arlene