Back to Reality

Atlantic: Thank you for your generosity from touchdown! What a great town y'all have. Classic 17, now back to 1941M, rolled down 30 and turned southbound @ 0830. We stopped @ KOUN to wait out thunderstorms loitering along the Red River from the panhandle through north central Texas. Missed the nephews as they had class & a window opened up around 13:50 so off we went in race mode: VFR low to watch for anything disadventageous. None to be had as...the Red River came into view and clear under the overcast all the way to KLUD.

41M pushed back into her hangar after a top-off ready to go anytime I am. She deserves one last removal of ARC acquired bugs and there she is! Clean, fueled annual time approaching...

One of the best homecomings: our Crepe Myrtles are all in bloom. To enjoy: approach a bloom, look closely for bees, if none present exhale then put your nose right next to the bloom & inhale deeply. Fantastic! Plus a feast for your eyes.

The end-all homecoming is my littlest one Parker telling me all about the goings-on while I've been absent. She is quite the storyteller as you can see. Well, that's about it from this half. Again, I look forward to Nikki's pics.
Healthfully yours,

Sq

Nikki & I capture 5th Place over-all! We'd like to thank our sponsors for their support, fellow racers for their fierce but friendly competition, and the Air Race Classic for coordinating a race spanning nine states. Maybe this will sink in while Nikki sets up her classroom in the morning & I'm somewhere sitting left seat in 41M. Until then, I'll be flying high sans plane.

Earlier, a few of us took a ride over to the Iowa Aviation Museum in Greenfield. What a collection of aircraft, pilot supplies and memorabilia! Here, our senior-most racer Bea stands beside the first type plane she flew.

I know Nicole has many more pictures that she will be posting in the near future - as soon as she gets her computer back & has her homework done ;-) . I look forward to seeing them.

Thank you again everyone! Much health to you all,

Sq

Sunday June 28 2009 ARC

Today started with the All Racers' Breakfast, followed by the All Racers' Debriefing. Another good meeting with exchange of ideas & circumstance in a civil, gentler & kinder way. Here is Bad *ss Caroline sporting her new “Girls Fly” tattoo. Get outta her way! Now we’re getting set for the Iowa Aviation Museum Tour to be followed by the Awards Banquet & Conclusion. The tension builds…

Sq

Dinner with the Trewets

Eleven of us Racers were treated to a wonderful evening with the Trewet extended family & friends. They welcomed us into their home, hosting a wonderful relaxed evening out back, dinner, and desert. We were glad to hear that Papa Trewet has sparked aviation in at least two of the grandchildren. We thank them again for their generosity and wish them a safe summer.

Sq

Mixed Emotions Day...

We'd like to thank all of our sponsors and here, as we promised, we've had Peterson Performance Plus & Lightspeed up front (when parked) and Alto Stratus in the side window. All proceeds are going to Grace Flight of America as a 501 (c)(3) organization that relies completely on donations from individuals, corporations, foundations & special events.


Here, the park in Atlantic welcomes us & the locals to the airport this weekend. It is so nice to see a community support its airport.

This one is for all my friends who know how much I appreciate the lines & flight characteristics of the Cessna 177. A true classic - Minnetta & Linda are flying for the Multiple Sclerosis Society




Well, today started with the First-Time Racers Debriefing; a constructive meeting with many positive and to be improved points. Then, for twelve of us, inspections of planes and for five of us, another box to be flown for the handicap. And for one lucky soul: Mama Carastro is returning from a fly-in in the donated ride of Big Baby Doll: this P-51. Tonight we each have a host family to enjoy the evening with.
Tomorrow we start @ 0800 with All Racers' Breakfast & Debriefing, following with a tour of the Iowa Aviation Museum Tour, then the Awards Banquet & Conclusion of ARC 2009 ! Stay tuned for further announcements...

Sq

DAY 4 2009 AIR RACE CLASSIC *FINAL*

Racine were great hosts among all of our great hosts. They had pulled out Classic 8 as well as Classic 17 from the protective hangars; both ready for their preflights & last leg of ARC 2009. Those completed, we left Racine as many others were coming in from Jacksonville: sitting on the taxiway, listen for the high-speed flybys above your head...is the hair up on the nape of your neck??? YeeeeeeeHaaa! Thanks Racine!

Down on the ground in ATLANTIC, IOWA...the marathon is completed! Nikki is excited she's HOME & Mom met us immediately. Tie-downs applied & a knot tying lesson (thanks Stephanie) in the afternoon shower that started done, we walk into the terminal and find a great welcome from the Atlantic folks. Then it's off to the motel for a refreshing & much needed nap. And it's a good thing I captured THAT as we've just gotten a call: I need to be at the airport by 10am for another timing box to verify the handicap! So, I GET TO FLY AGAIN ! Whoo Hoo! But, now how am I supposed to sleep?!?
Oh, and the Atlantic folks hosted a very nice Hangar Party with part sun, nice breeze & excellent BBQ this afternoon.
Too many thoughts in my head right now... Stay tuned for Race weekend activities...

Sq

2009 Air Race Classic DAY 3

Awoke with the weather as an issue. So, we watched the low progress & were expecting to wait it out till Friday in Jacksonville, when things began to move more quick. Load the plane & off we go in the middle of the afternoon, carefully watching the potential convection soup to our west. Nothing materialized during our hour & a half trip and what a welcome we were treated to in Racine. We were greeted with a warm HELLO and current weather when we reported 10 miles out on the approach! Timers waving HELLO as we taxi'd over to parking, then the airport manager David Mann offered a hangar for 41M, I mean, Classic 17 for the night. Almost forgot to mention the ice cold water & quick fuel; air conditioning in the terminal building enjoyed after bug removal. We are in great position for the last leg of the race: Racine, WI to Atlantic, IA.
Nikki has some in air pictures of a couple of copters flying in formation, but we'll have to download them some other time. I'll try to remember the other digital tomorrow...
Sq

DAY 2 2009 Air Race Classic 17

So, since the pics were uploaded backwards...
We end the day in Jacksonville, IL with the setting sun in our eyes for the final fly-by. And what an interesting fly-by it turns out to be: there is a prison @ 3.5NM on the approach path that we must stay up @ 2000' to pass over. Our fly-by height is 200' above ground level. So, as RACERS, we get to descend at a screaming pace to be at the altitude we need to be at for the timing line (can you see my grin??) Then a close pattern to land in a beautiful part of the country. The people were so glad to see us (the group of seven planes that landed within about an hour of each other) as they had been waiting since yesterday! Another stop with ice cold water & fixins'... and air conditioning in the terminal building that was enjoyed after bug removal. Then, as we were taken - thanks Jack (our driver) - to the hotel, we were in a magical place that I can only describe as what Walt Disney tried to capture with Tinkerbell flying around: the grasses & fields of corn were thick with fireflies that escorted us into town. I used to see a few of them in Western NY while growing up, but I've never been surrounded with this copious amount.

Here is Nikki (that's her on the other side) & Classic 17 getting fuel from the island fuel farm at Sparta, TN: these folks were READY for us! On the radio, asking what we needed as we taxi'd & then...the ice cold water. And did I mention the spread they had here for us? Nice air conditioned terminal building that was enjoyed after bug removal. They also had two computers for us to plan whether or not we'd press on for another leg. Our briefing showed another afternoon of pop-up thunderstorms with the requisite SIGMET. Radar showing the whole southern part of IL with thunderstorms. BUT the outlook says they will be dissipating...checking the Water Vapor 1km tells the story: not enough to keep it going, so load her up & here we go! Thank you Sparta!
We stayed VFR below and could easily see the buildups as well as the little rain showers that were able to form. And of course we called & filed another PIREP & got the goods enroute from Flight Watch.

Wild Mama Pilot Terry got this shot of us as we performed our fly-by to continue at Grenada, MS after stopping for fuel. When we arrived, we were greeted with personnel waiting for us on the ramp & in the terminal building: cold water & an excellent lunch. Quick fuel service was had, air conditioning enjoyed after bug removal & the personnel were friendly & welcoming. Thank you Grenada!

Well, we missed the 1st alarm, the 2nd alarm and thankfully were awakened with the 3rd alarm. A quick Holiday Inn Express breakfast bar & off to the airport we go. Classic 17 all fueled & debugged from last night just waiting for us. Preflight completed, we left with the arrivals & quick turns of some of the teams that had left Sweetwater earlier. Just prior to packing the plane, I was able to get an excellent picture of Team Wild Mama performing her fly-by to land. Can you hear that? vvvvvvvvrrrrroooommmmmmm aaaahhhhhh !!! Thank you Lufkin!
We stayed lower for this leg & performed a fly-by to continue at Russellville, AR & onto Grenada, MS (see above).

The Race is ON !

Our time across the timing line this morning (unofficial) was 14 22 05 Z (8:22am MT) at Denver Centennial. Off to a flyby at Liberal, KS then onto Sweetwater, TX where we made a full stop for fuel & a quick turn to continue onto Lufkin, TX. We passed the timing line here at 21 55 22 Z (3:55pm CT). While we were enroute, a convective sigmet was posted, and since no HIWAS stations were near (and Lufkin's VORTAC with HIWAS is unoperative) I called Flight Watch for weather while northeast of Waco. Storms had popped up in the heating of the day along the northeast portion of TX & the southern 2/3rds of AR. What to do? Let's stop at Lufkin, gas up & check weather, read: look at a RADAR ourselves. The volunteers here were great for a quick top-off & a very cold bottle of water which went down fast. Unfortunately, racing under & around thunderstorms is not conducive to a fast legtime, so here we stay. Looking forward to tomorrow, fog is forecasted for Russellville, AR & not forecasted to burn off until 9am. Unfortunately, Nikki has already passed out cold & I can't tell her to sleep in, so I'll just set the alarm later.
An extra special surprise: we called Abilene Approach for permission to transition their airspace from west to east as soon as we left Sweetwater. Low & behold, Cardinal N11950 checked in! I sneaked in a "Hi" to John & when we exited the airspace to the east, we had a nice chat on the air-to-air frequency & he wished us the best of luck for the race. N11950 was the first (quarter) airplane I owned with John, Skip, Ray & their families before 41M made it into my world.
Needing some rest, I'll close now. Stay tuned!

Sq

Safety, education, promotion of women in aviation. Here we are in the fly by briefing to be followed by the safety briefing, outlook weather briefing, and the FIRST TIMERS briefing. Nikki skipped the 1st timers' to go to the Golden State National Park and Golden Colorado: Home of COORS. She's back & now we have PLANNING to do. See y'all tomorrow.

Sq

Centennial is a Community that supports their airports. I am looking forward to seeing this spread.

Sq

Sunday night brought the Take-Off Banquet hosted by the Colorado 99's which have done an awesome job with everything here at the Start. Quite a few racers had families at the dinner & I sat in the rowdy back with my Thelma. An education to be had at that table...
Sq

Sunday June 21

While Squeege was flying the timeline to get our handicap, I attended a special event that the Denver Jet Center put on. It was the premier of the Pancho Barnes movie,and about the Living Legend series. The event had the first female commercial pilot, the artist who did the program book cover, and fellow speakers. I did not get to stay for the whole event,as we had a all racer meeting that was mandatory.

There's Nikki right in her element: teaching! Air Race Classic folks showed the local kids airplanes, then brought them up to the ramp where a nice chalk masterpiece of an airport was quickly drawn & the kids got to simulate planes in the pattern. Next brought the kids inside to two activities.
Next on the schedule: Welcome reception.
Both of todays' excursions are hosted in KAPA's Denver Tech Center East. Thank you!
Sq

Got her! After 1) working today, 2) flying today: now current & has her high performance rating, and 3) catching a commercial flight she's got her feet up. That's good, 'cause we've got some strategy planning to do.

Sq

The Inspection Team went through their checklist after our static run-up. Nice to see the Horizon tach match the official digital Proptach. Actually, I felt 41M try to hover ;-) Everything in order and we headed over to TAC Air where she'll be tied down until Tuesday morning. Next on the agenda: PICK UP NICOLE & let the party begin, I mean the planning begin.
Sq

Arrived @ KAPA

41M & I had a four hour flight to Denver today at 10,500 feet. The last hour and fifteen minutes complete with continuous light chop. Fortunately, there were no cookies in the plane to be tossed. I quickly cleaned off the bugs before they dried on, loaded the rental & got in touch with family here.
Going to get some rest tonight & then get in touch with my Private Pilot Flight Instructor Lisa who I have not seen in (have to check my logbook) wow! ten years!
Will sign up for (hopefully) an early inspection for Friday.
Sq

All About the Bird

Yesterday, Sis Pauline & I cruised up to Norman, OK to see the nephews [and circulate some warm oil]. Old Mother Hubbard didn't have anything on the boys' shelves! That fixed, 41M performed flawlessly for the trips there & back without picking up too many Texas-sized bugs.

Today has been all about 41M. The race numbers went on last night; she's had her bath & fresh wax job today as well as an inside clean. Another read through the rules & final paperwork notations tonight are in order. That will leave packing and more weather/winds aloft forecast study.

Yeeeeeee HA!

Sq

Who is GraceFlight.org

This is taking from the GraceFlight.org website itself, www.graceflight.org.

The mission of Grace Flight of America is to help people in need of free air transportation for medical and humanitarian purposes. It is our goal to remove the transportation burden from patients so they can get to specialized medical treatment not available to them locally and focus on getting well. Many of our patients do not have access to conventional transportation or are too ill to drive or fly commercially. Grace Flight is here to help! Completely free of charge! Grace Flight of America relies completely on volunteer pilots and donations from individuals, foundations, clubs and corporations.

Two weeks

It's the two week countdown. By this time in exactly two weeks, we will have flown some of our legs. I know I am getting excted. Squeege and I are preparing by flight planning, trying to get last minute sponsors, I'm getting my high performance rating,and will have that done by the time I leave next Friday that way I will be checked out for the 182. I will be leaving for Denver Friday night. Squeege is leaving in the middle of the week for Denver,since she has the plane,and has to fly the plane itself to Denver,and we all want to make sure it's ready for inspection and ready to go.
Let's go Snow Eagles, there are a lot of preschoolers checking in on us. They have first dibbs on our whereabouts,since they are the ones who named our team.