Riddle Racer IV

The race is officially over! Kim and I had a great time, learned so much, and grew as pilots. We are very lucky to be given this opportunity to race, and we worked hard over the last few months. Kim had to miss over a week of summer courses to fly in the race, and I had to stop my CFII training to fly. Our team of supporters have helped us through from beginning to end, whether you sponsored us with supplies, donated money, or just tracked us on our blog, we appreciate you taking an interest in what we did these last ten days.

I had a great time flying with Kim, we were friends before the race and we are still friends after (which is saying something, as ten straight days of constant contact and 30 hours in a small plane has lead some racers to part ways by the end of the ordeal). Kim kept me knowing where I was (literally) and was always there to fill in the blank when my brain stopped working. This race is all about teamwork, and I think we did a great job employing crm in the cockpit to make sure we did everything correctly. About half of the race teams were penalized points along the route, usually due to a break down in cockpit communication. Kim and I were not one of those teams, and we are very happy to say that we were penalty-free by the end of the race.

Now Kim is going to stay in Daytona for the rest of summer and start her second summer semester at Riddle as well as begin her CFI at ATP. I leave for California in two days where I will be doing an internship with a corporate aviation company, Solairus Aviation, and just fly for fun. We both have one more fall semester at Riddle before graduating, and look forward to seeing what kind of flying we will be doing in the future.

Thanks again to everyone for your support! I've posted the final pictures in our "Photo Gallery", and you can still see our last few legs back to Daytona if you click on the second link on our "Follow Us" page. Have a great summer!

After a long day of flying, Kim and I completed our last leg to Daytona this evening. We were up early again (though my alarm didn't go off and I was woken up by my mom knocking on my door saying it was time to go). We had both our families at the airplane with us as we pre-flighted (with intermittent photographs) and they were all able to stay and watch us take off. We flew from Frederick, Maryland to Monroe, NC in a little over 3 hours. Good thing this leg didn't count toward the race, we had massive headwinds for the first couple hours of the flight, and we just wanted to get home.

We stopped in Monroe, North Carolina for fuel and because it is the aiport Kim recieved her private pilot certificate at. We had lunch with Kim's grandmother who was one of our biggest sponsors, and then took off again. The weather looked like it may become an issue as we went further south. Florida is notorious for afternoon thunderstorms and even though we talked to a couple different weather breifers, they all said the storms were nowhere near our path, they put in a disclaimer that Florida is unpredictable. Lucky for us we have radar in the airplane and we were able to divert around the small build ups, and completely avoid the big stuff. About an hour into the flight, we noticed we had a stand-by battery annunciator going on and decided that since the weather was looking "iffy" we would divert to Savanna, call maintenance, and get an update on the storms.

Everything checked out okay, and the weather looked like it was going to allow us to make it to Daytona in one day (and in one piece) so we took off again. This time we had to convince ATC to keep us over land and out of the build ups (ERAU policy says we can't go beyond gliding distance of the shore, and ATC wanted us beyond 10 miles out). We managed to stay over the coastline to our left and avoid the thunderstorms to our right. We had a clear area all the way to Daytona, and didn't even get rain on the windshield.

After landing in Daytona, we lugged all our baggage out of the plane, hugged her good-bye (you get attached to a plane after flying 30 hours in 10 days), and we went home.

Check back for at least one more post, kind of a wrap up of the race, and also look for new pictures tomorrow. Now I'm going to bed, it's been a long ten days!

... and they don't look good. Looks like our risky decision to hold back in Missouri ended up being more risky than we planned, something we had realized after hearing other racers stories a few days ago. At the banquet tonight we found out that we placed middle of the pack of 51 racers, so no medal for us this year. We would like to congratulate our sister school ERAU Prescott for placing 10th overall, while we are rivals, we had a great time with them this last week and of course are happy to see our university do well.

So we didn't win a medal, but we looked good trying! Check back later for some pictures of us at the banquet. Thanks also to our support team, Kim and I had the best (and definitely largest of all the teams) support team at the banquet. Our ERAU weather woman Debbie Schaum and her daughter, our financial extrodinairre Debbie Burke and her husband, Kim's mother and fiance, my parents, aunt and uncle, boyfriend, and his mom were all there to cheer us on.

Most importantly, we learned a lot from competing in the race. I have said before that there are women who have raced for over 15 years who never place, or some who get disqualified one year only to win first the next. There are a thousand little decisions we are forced to make on every leg: which altitudes to fly, how to account for turbulence, flying through or over airspace, or changing altitude hoping for better winds. Each race is also marked by a few very large decisions: do we stay behind and hope for better winds, or do we push ahead and risk encountering a storm. In this race we made good little decisions, the legs we flew kept proving that we were using good aeronautical decision making, however a large decision we made (to stay behind in Missouri) ended up being the wrong one. There are risks we take with every leg, and we made that choice in attempt to stand our from the group-think of the other racers, and it didn't pan out. "Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go" - TS Elliot

I would like to thank everyone who has supported us through the race, we have had so much fun learning, flying, and growing. I hope to fly in the air race again soon, and you can bet I will let you know if I do, and I'm sure Kim feels the same. In the meantime, we will still be updating our website, our adventure is not over yet. Kim and I will be making our way towards Daytona tomorrow morning and you will be able to follow us on flightaware.com (just go to our "Follow Us" page and click on the second link).

Thank you all, and safe flying

We are done! We kicked it into high gear today and finished the last FOUR legs of the race.

Our morning started early, wakeup call at 5am so we could be at the aiport in our plane with the key in the ignition by 630. Twenty minutes later we were on our way to our first stop in Illinois, smooth air, and decent winds. We had an early lunch in Illinois, took a breather, and then headed out for another leg.

On our way to Elkhart, Indiana we were not quite so fortunate with the winds. We hit headwinds for the first time the whole race and Kim and I were getting pretty discouraged. After about twenty minutes of moping about the winds, we decided to deal with it and hope for better winds on the next leg, we landed surprisingly upbeat for a team who encountered headwinds.

Our hoping worked because leg #3 gave us the winds we had been looking for. It looked like our stay in Missouri yesterday was worth it. We were able to fly nice and high and over some scattered clouds, smooth ride and best of all: nice and cool. We started to see some more terrain of rolling hills and cute little towns. We made it to Parkersburg, West Virginia by 6pm and were planning on calling it a day.

However, after arriving in Parkersburg, we decided the tailwinds were too good to pass up so we refueled and hopped back in the plane for one more leg. Best leg yet! Great tailwinds and we were cruising along as fast as our little Cessna could take us. Plus we had another beautiful view, more rolling hills, canyons, rivers, and clouds. Check out our photo gallery soon and you can see what I mean. We flew our timing line by 730 in Frederick, filed into the congo-line to land (as you will see if you check out our GPS tracker, both Kim and my parents thought we missed the airport) and finished the race.

We are so thrilled to be done, and very happy with our decisions along the way. We won't know until Sunday how we placed, but I know Kim and I made the best decisions with the given information and I think we did well. No telling how other racers did until all the times are tallied. Stay tuned for more news and thanks again for following us on our way!

We are in Cameron, Missouri! If you have been following us closely, then you would know that means we only flew one leg today. We were up before 6am again, had "breakfast", and headed out to our plane. We were supposed to be 30th in line for take off (based on the fact that we were 30th to land in Hot Springs) but some women opted to sleep in so we got out early.

It was a gorgeous flight to Missouri, we finally encountered some terrain (a nice sight when you become accustomed to Florida and its mighty flatness). We had tailwinds and smooth air, perfect for the race, and we landed in Cameron before 11am. At that point, we fueled up, cleaned our plane, and waited. After some convincing on the part of our weather team (Debbie Schaum) we decided to hold off our flying until tomorrow, hoping to catch ahold of some better tailwinds. Unfortunately, this is a competition, and we had to remain at the aiport until all the other planes came and went so that no one would get curious as to why we were holding back. It appears we aren't the only ones anticipating tailwinds tomorrow, we are currently one of five teams staying in Missouri which means we are officially in the back of the pack.

Other than that, not too much to report. We made a risky choice to stay back in Missouri and watch 45 other racers come and go. We are hoping we made a good choice, and I will let you know tomorrow how it looks! Oh and check out the photo below that the Chairman of the Flight Department, Ken Byrnes, sent us. It's an ADS-B photo of the first leg of the race. You can see all the planes in the Florida area, inparticular, the line of racers heading to Waycross. We are the first plane in red labeled, N392ER!! Very cool

The race has finally begun! Kim and I were up at 5am to get ready, eat breakfast, and head out to the plane. We were 32nd in line for takeoff but everything moved pretty quickly and we were in the air before 9am. The first leg took us from Ft. Myers to Waycross, GA and there was a steady stream of planes along the way.

We use an air-to-air racing frequency so we can make sure to inform other pilots where we are along the route (usually using DME distances from the destination).

There is a huge range of aircraft used in the race, so it is expected for some planes to be faster than others and therefore pass them en route. It can get pretty complicated when you're passing another racer, we are all usually on the same straight line gps distance to the next airport and on a specific altitude. Most women won't give up any extra information unless absolutely necessary. For example, if they realize they are 123nm away, and another aircraft is too, they do anything they can to not state their race number or altitude which makes it hard for the other aircraft to know where to look.

Kim and I were both the passers and passees along the first route and actually ended up flying into the airport at the same time as another team. We have procedures that allow for us to fly the timing line safely without causing us to lose precious seconds by diverting away from the airport. Meanwhile Waycross was absolutely swarming with pilots. Women were coming into the airport on their flybys, entering the traffic pattern to land, and departing the airport as well. Since it was the first leg, all the women seemed to be there at once, it was like flying into Sun n Fun, except no tower, and all women.

Next leg was a walk in the park compared to the first. Kim and I had a quick turn around which put us towards the front (don't get too excited, remember the last racer to finish could get first place) but we barely saw another plane the whole leg to Tuscaloosa, and landed without incident.

After waiting over an hour to get the fuel guy to come fuel our plane, we finally departed for our last leg of the day, Tuscaloosa to Hot Springs, Arkansas. Definitely the most stressful leg because Kim and I took off right before ERAU Prescott did, which meant that we were glued to our moving map displaying exactly where Prescott was. We would tense up when they closed the gap, and get excited when we widened it. We ended up meeting up at the very end of the race and did another dual flyby in Hot Springs.

After that leg we were exhausted and called it a day. So now we are in a hotel in Hot Springs and already prepping for tomorrow. Thanks for following us along our way. Three legs down, five to go!

It's already here! Kim and I woke up early this morning for our final briefings before beginning of the race. We spent the rest of the day developing our own personal checklists and breifings (must be Riddle pilots). Nothing too exciting going on, but that should all change tomorrow.

We are in for another early morning, wake up call at 5am, a final racer breifing at 6:30, and then off to the airport. The first team should be lifting off around 8 and we are halfway down the list (Classic 32) so we should be in the air before 9. The first leg takes us to Waycross, Georgia and we will probably be aiming for a quick turn around to our second stop in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Again, see our "Follow Us" page and click on the SPOT link. We have a GPS tracker in the plane so as long as we remember to turn it on, you should be able to follow us in real time along the route. Check in tomorrow for pictures and our stories from Air Race Day One!

Another day closer to the race. We had an early morning breifing on general racing information. All the women racers met in a conference room for a few hours to go over some racing rules, important information, and more paperwork. After that, Kim and I went shopping for last minute supplies like snacks. Once the race starts, we won't be guarenteed a real meal from 6am until as late as 8pm, so we need to bring our own snacks. Some days we may be flying as many as three of four legs in rapid succession. We will have to land at every stop along the way to refuel, but if the weather is good, we will aim for a 20 minute "turn around" which means no time to sit down for a meal.

We just got back from the start banquet where we had delicious food (yummy chocolate cake, and I don't even like cake) and more bonding with the racers. Today was pretty casual, but tomorrow we have almost a whole day of breifings PLUS we have to find time to make our own final preparations for the race. We are getting more and more excited and nervous as the start of the race gets closer. We are so happy to be here and can't wait to get back up in the air!

And check out our photo albums, we are trying to get some good photos in for entertainment. Hope you like them!

Guess what? We are in Ft. Myers! After our delay on Thursday, Kim and I got up in the air early yesterday morning to make it to Ft. Myers, Florida. We had our pilot inspections (verifying logbooks, medicals, pilot certificates, and more) and our airplane inspections (no taking silicone off the inspection panels for 6 hours like last year, thankfully). After that, we were free to head to our hotel and pass out, no more racing requirements for the day.

Today was even less stressful, which was nice because it is my 22nd birthday! It was the last day racers were allowed to arrive, but since we had already completed all the registration forms, briefings and paperwork, we got to sleep in for the first time in a few days. After a couple hours of relaxing by the pool (yes life is rough) we ran some errands, organized our schedule, and went to the all racer BBQ at the airport. We met the mayor of Ft. Myers who is a private pilot, and hung out with all the racers, and all 113 women sang "happy birthday" to me at the BBQ!

After that, we managed to gather most of the other collegiate teams (14 girls) to join Kim and me at Cheeseburger in Paradise to celebrate my birthday. It was great hanging out with the collegiate teams, hearing about the similarities and differences in our flight courses, universities, airplanes, and more. That is what the race is really about: getting to know other pilots and learning from everyone’s experiences. That is especially true of the collegiate teams because we may be sharing a cockpit one day.

Busy day tomorrow, briefings, a banquet, and more prep for the race. Only two more days!

Kim and I were packed and ready to take off early this morning for the start of the race in Ft.Myers, unfortunately, 12 hours later, we are still in Daytona. Our sister school ERAU Prescott was delayed due to weather and we had planned a photo shoot with them before our departure. As luck would have it, by the time they made their way to Daytona, so did the thunderstorms. We missed our window to leave Daytona, but had a great day anyways.

Once Prescott's team arrived, we had lunch with them, took some photos with our supporters and teachers, and was invited to dinner with Dr. Johnson (President of ERAU) and his wife which was great! I even remembered which fork to use, and how to butter my bread the fancy way. Eating at the "yacht club" does make me realize I need to take some etiquet classes. Dr. Johnson has been extremely supportive of both racing teams and we wouldn't be able to compete in the race without him.

Kim and I both headed home 12 hours after we arrived at the flight line, happy to have one more day in our own beds. We will make our second attempt at our departure tomorrow morning around 0900, cross your fingers for no maintenance issues and no weather problems!