The journey home

On Monday morning we arrived at Frederick airport early in hopes to get the ball rolling with classic 58. Our race plane needed an oil change after all the hard work the previous week. We had already made prior arrangements to have this done and it should be ready in 2-3 hours. While classic 58 was being attended to we had breakfast with our support crew and family before they left commercially later that day. When we arrived back at the airport we waited patiently for 58 to be finished. In the mean time weather had started building and was getting worse with every passing minute. We got calls from our support crew that the majors were delaying. So after a few more hours at the airport classic 58 was done with an oil change but we could not depart because of the weather situation. Day 1 departure would lead us right back to the hotel.

Day 2 was much more productive. We got another early start and planned to Louisville Kentucky. Where we found out that the local pronunciation sounds like louvel. After realizing that Mexican food in Kentucky wasn't the smartest move for lunch we jumped back into our trusty plane and headed west. We aimed for Springfield and realized that we could make it all the way to Tulsa Oklahoma. We were exhausted but felt like we made up for Monday's delay. We traveled over 900 miles in 1 day. We were happy that home was only a day away.

Day 3. Another early start. We filed IFR got a weather brief did our preflight and paid our fuel bill. We were set on leaving. Unfortunately 58 decided that the Bendix starter did not want to engage. The theory is too much humidity caused the pin to develop corrosion and therefore preventing the starter from engaging. Well as pilots we knew that we needed mechanical help. Kicking the tire wasn't going to fix this one. After many phone calls and airport security's involvement we were able to get 58 over to another FBO to be attended to. The waiting game started. We "hung out" at the FBO all day long. We had all our personal belongings in the plane so this turned out to be extremely boring. So boring that we took naps on the floor. After an entire day of waiting we find that 58 is all done with maintenance and had also received event #3 of our progressive maintenance. We were set on leaving. But that was not to be, our University is at the end of a fiscal year so word was that we were going to spend the night until we could pay the bill tomorrow. Day 3 finds us back at the same hotel in the same exact room as the night before. We are happy to have maintenance on our plane, although we are a bit low in spirits as we were set on being home tonight. It has been 2.5 weeks away we are ready to be home. We will try again tomorrow.

Updates!

Sorry we haven't been updating more often, we've been so busy and pretty much exhausted! We finished the race in Frederick, Maryland on Thursday, a day earlier than the race deadline which was 5 pm eastern on Friday. We felt really good about our race and felt like we did everything we possibly could have done. We were very proud of the decisions we made and felt like we made some calculated risks that paid off.

We were very bummed on Saturday that we didn't get "the call" saying we made top ten. We kept our heads up and played tourist in Washington DC, so it ended up still being a good day. Then we got the news on Saturday night that we might be in the top 10 since penalties and handicap changes were still being assessed. We didn't want to get our hopes up (or anyone else's) so we didn't tell anyone that they had called and requested our keys for an aircraft inspection (which implies we were top 10).

The banquet was Sunday night and it went really well. We enjoyed the food and the company of our support team (Ryan Albrecht, our coach, Nancy Lawrence, our cheerleader, and Kristen's parents, Joe and Linda, who are two of our biggest fans). We found out that we placed 10th overall (the top 10 get medals so we were very happy!) and 4th collegiate. We did our best and have some great ideas for next year.

We are now trying to make our way back home to Arizona but are still in Frederick for the night as we had to do some maintenance on our airplane and the weather hasn't been cooperating. We shall see what tomorrow brings.

Thank you to everyone who has helped us and supported us along the way. It has truly been an experience of a lifetime.

Day 2

We are already about 80% through the race! This morning we took off from Hot Springs, AK for Cameron, MO. From there we continued on to Murphysboro, IL where we got a hotel room and decided to stop for the day. There was a huge weather system moving in. After taking a look at the weather, we realized that if we waited for the system to pass, we'd be dealing with headwinds during our next leg of the race tomorrow. We left the hotel and decided to continue to Elkhart, IN to take advantage of 20 knot tailwinds ahead of the system. We made it in just ahead of the storm, and 58 was hangared in anticipation of nasty weather. The weather map above shows what the weather was like about 20 minutes after we arrived in Elkhart. We feel really good about our day and the decision to continue on to the next leg, and look forward to day 3 of the race!

KHOT

We are now on the ground in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Today we did well - the airplane ran strong and we feel good about our day. We are also with ERAU Daytona after we did a dual fly-by with them.

First stop: Waycross, GA

We're off to Waycross, Georgia and last to take off. We expect to pass at least 2 slower aircraft that are ahead of us. We have been warned that the first stop will be very busy... good thing we're last to take off!

...and some pics from ERAU Daytona

Some pictures from the trip to the east coast!

1 day till race start

We have meetings scheduled for the entire day. Then it's off to bed for an early rise to race day. We are very excited and cant wait to race.

Classic 58, Kristen and Kim take off for the east coast!

2 Days... and Counting

We had our send-off barbeque at Good-To-Go on Thursday. It was a great turn-out, and the food was excellent. Thank you to everyone who came, Good-To-Go, our sponsors, donors, and everyone else who has helped us and supported us along the way. We really appreciate it!

Our airplane, 46, went into maintenance yesterday for its 100 hour event and was subsequently downed for a maintenance irregularity. A small hole was found on the bulkhead that attaches the vertical stabilizer. Long story short, we had to find a new airplane for our race. Our new race airplane is Riddle 58 and because of the Air Race Classic requirements for aircraft numbering, we are now Classic 58!

We will be washing/waxing/detailing 58 today and adhering new stickers so new pictures of our airplane are forthcoming!

The plan is to leave on Monday, June 14th so it is officially crunch time.

Kristen and Kim - Classic 58 (formerly known as Classic 46)

Two weeks and counting

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is once again gearing up to participate in the Annual Women's Air Race Classic. The race starts in Fort Myers, FL. on June 22 and zig zags around the country to finish on June 25 in Fredrick, MD. Embry-Riddle Prescott is sending one team "classic 46" to compete in this historic race. The team consists of Kristen McTee and Kim Turrell. They will be flying one of the university's Cessna 172's equipped with a G-1,000 glass cockpit. The plane selected for this years race is N546ER. The Cessna will be removed from normal flight line training operations around June 4 in order to start preparations for the race.