even more pics

more pics

race day 3

After sitting all day looking at weather charts, we decided to not go onto Frederick,and will make both legs tomorrow. So it's time to get caught up on the blog.

Last night, we hung out with several other Bonanza Beech team's. We had a tornado warning. Today, Sara and I caught a movie, saw Knight and Day, and ate at Texas Roadhouse for the first time. This trip was alot of first for the teams. Took Sara and Suzanne to Cheeseburgers in Paradise, where I had a yummy non-alcoholic strawberry daq.

2nd day of racing

We flew our second day of racing. Stayed in Cameron, Missouri last night, flew to Carbondale, Illinois, and then our final stop today was Elkhart, Indiana were we are staying the night. Today seemed kind of weird because to me, it is hard to believe that we have only been racing two days,it seems like it has been a few days. We only have two legs left to the end of the race route.

So we landed today in Elkhart,and my camera got sucked out when I opened the door to let air in, while taxing and amazing enough it still works. I watched it drop and there was nothing I could do until we stopped and the Airport Manager was nice enough to drive me onto the taxiway to retrieve it. We ended up at a hotel with most of the racers, so alot of us went to Applebees. While in Applebees, the tornado warning went off on the TV.

Carbondale stop was neat. They had a band playing for us, as well as the cafateria being opened for us for free food and drinks. It was a nice relaxing stop. I am just happy to say all racers made it into a RON spot.

Nicole

first day of racing

We took off about 838 am EDT. We flew by Waycross,and stopped at Tuscaloosa AL for fuel. We took off again and flew by Hot Springs AR, and made our final stop for the night in Cameron, Missouri. Everyone is exhausted as most of us got up at 445 AM EDT, which is 345 AM Central Daylight Time. Suzanne flew the plane,and Sara and I helped with spotting traffic, and navigation. Some places were harry with the traffic. The racers did a good job communicating where we were at,so now one crashed. All planes have made it safely to a RON spot. RON means Remain Over Night designation, and those are the 8 spots that we have to do a fly-by. All racers must be at a RON spot by the end of the Air Race Classic sunset time.
We made it to Cameron, and it was neat. The volunteers had sparkling juice,and home grown strawberried ready for us,when we exited the plane. The airplane cookies were as delicious.

Day 1

Made it to Cameron, MO today. We flew through Waycross, GA, Tulcaloosa, Hot Springs then Cameron. They people in Cameron wereso nice--they brought strawberries and sparkling cider to the side of our plane right after we parked!

It was a SCORCHER! As soon as I walked out this morning, it was uggy and very hot!!! I was sweating immediately! However, it was fun! All 51 teams took off around 8am. It was cool tosee the line of planes. I sat front seat first, then Nikki switched. Suzanne was flying the plane; we were assisting with approaches/flybys, briefing, etc. It was intense! Our top speed for the day was 200kph! Its such a fast plane.

I am exhausted and going to bed, Nicole will beblogging later! BYE

Sara's First Blog

Hey all! I have been getting up to speed over the last 2 days. Our trip starts in exactly 24 hours and I am excited! Today we had briefing and meetings; these were extremely helpful for me. Nikki and I will be assisting Suzanne during flybys, approaches, landings, airtraffic spotting, etc. Flybys are used to "stop" your time at each airport. There is a fairly specific procedure that you have to follow. This will be great practice and lots of fun to see played out. I am brand new to the "racing" style of flying!

Tomorrow, we are planning on stopping at Hot Springs, AK or Cameron,MO. The legs of our trip will be Waycross, GA, Tuscaloosa, AL, Hot Springs, AK, then Cameron, MO. We hope to get to Cameron in order to avoid some weather that could develop later in the week. Each leg is around 280ish miles. Suzanne's cruising speed(technically, our handicap speed) is 172.3kph; she owns a Beech Bonanza. This is waaaay faster than anything I have previously flown; I fly a Cessna150! Anyways, it should be a great trip tomorrow and I looking forward to it.

We will be keeping this updated throughout our journey! Please check back. I hope to have some good pictures from our flight tomorrow that I will post on here. -Sara