We're Home

We are finally home. Today proved to be our most trying day. We got to Monroe Air Center around 7am and the airport was completed socked in. While Marty had the 180 fueled, Kay started checking with Flight Service for weather. The entire route from Monroe to Heritage was IFR with extremely low ceilings, some as low as 900 ft AGL. We continued to wait it out and after lots of talking with Flight Service and among ourselves, decided to try it around 12:30pm. We got as far at Lufkin, TX before it was raining so hard that we could not see out of the airplane. We landed and checked weather. It appeared that the weather ceiling was going to get better as we continued, so shortly we were back in the airplane and continuing on to Heritage. The ceilings remained pretty good until we started to get close to Seguin. We finally landed at Heritage with it raining and the grass strip pretty muddy. We called one of our fellow pilots who had hangar space and quickly had Charley into a hangar until the weather clears up.

We had more fun competing in the air race than we ever imagined. In the 17 days on our adventure, we landed at 16 different airports, crossed the Mississippi River 4 times, made new friends with 111 women pilots, and had dinner or lunch with 22 friends from former lives. We did not encounter any major maintenance problems (thanks Tom). Although we are glad to be back home, we will always remember the year that we competed in the 34th Air Race Classic. We are both pretty proud of ourselves. We learned a lot about airplane performance, managing winds, and flybys. All eight of the legs were 2-3 hours hours of crosscountry flying, followed by 20 minutes of excitement. All the flybys were made from wings level one mile out, at either 200 or 300ft AGL. There were always other air racers in the vicinity doing their flybys, which made it even more exciting. We accomplished all three of our goals: We didn't get disqualified, we didn't finish last, and we had FUN.

Our thanks to everyone who provided us with support during our adventure. We enjoyed reading all the e-mails and comments on the blog that we received. We plan on making a copy of our blog to add to our collection of air race memorabilia.

Topping off Fuel Tanks - $160.00
Room for the Nite - $100.00
Competing in the Women's Air Race Classic - PRICELESS

Almost Home

Our day started with low ceilings at Virginia Highlands Airport and we didn't get out until 10:15am. After talking to Flight Service, we altered our flight plan to go from Virginia Highlands Airport to Jackson, TN, due to weather. Before we got to Jackson, we diverted to West Memphis. Shortly thereafter, West Memphis got hit by thunderstorms and we diverted again to Indianola, MS. Not our smartest move. Found out after landing that Indianola gets very little transient traffic and is mostly ag. We fueled up the tanks quickly and took off for Monroe, LA. In Monroe we finally had a chance to put some food in our stomachs and after looking at the weather again, we decided to overnight in Monroe. The plan is to get out early in the morning and finish up our final 3 hours to home. Maintenance OK.

On our way home

We were up at 6am and on our way to FDK by 7. We loaded Charley and moved her around to the maintenance hangar for her oil change. While waiting, we checked and rechecked the weather. Around 11am, the oil change was finished, her fuel tanks were full and we decided to head for Tri Cities (Bristol, TN) before the forecasted storms blew in. Abour 60 miles outside Bristol Marty noticed lots of thunderstorms on top of Bristol and we decided it was time to set Charley down. Kay pulled our her Blackberry and started searching the Airport Facility Directory for nearby airports before we hit weather. We ended up in Abington, VA, about 30 miles outside Bristol. Couldn't have found a nicer place to sit out the weather. The Operations Manager at Abington took us to a motel and gave us his phone number so that he could pick us up tomorrow morning to go back to the airport. We walked across the street to a small Italian restaurant and got something to eat. As we sit in our motel room with full "tummies" we are watching it rain and thunder outside. Tomorrow's forecast is for sunny weather and we hope to get almost all the way home tomorrow. We have been gone for two weeks now, and both of us are anxious to get back. We will keep everyone posted as to our progress. Maintenance OK.

Final Night

Today was the climax of the 34th Air Race Classic. We had the banquet tonight at Dutch's Daughter Restaurant in Frederick, MD. While we didn't win the race, we were both very happy with our air race standing. We finished 36 out of 51 airplanes in the race. We exceeded our handicap speed in most of the legs and exceed all our expectations. We made some lastings friendships and will always have many fond memories of our first air race. Tomorrow we have an oil change scheduled early and then on our way back to Texas. We want to thank everyone who has supported us in this adventure and hope all of you have enjoyed reading our blog. We will let everyone know when we get home.

The Best Day

We had the best day. First Marty's friend, Bonnie, drove up to see us from Kent Island, MD and brought us two coffee cups with airplanes on them and a card that sang "Celebration" to us. We had lunch with her and Marty spoke to the Girl Scouts about her barnstorming days. Then we came back to the hotel and signed our score sheets. We still don't know where we placed, but we did end up on the positive and know that we are not in last place or were disqualified. At 4pm we were invited to a premiere viewing of a new documentary of the 1929 Women's Air Derby (Powder Puff Derby). A friend of Marty's invited us to sit in special reserved seats with two WASPs, Gail Reed and Elaine Harmon. They were both awesome ladies and the documentary was great. From there we went to a VIP Reception where we got to meet with the Curator of the Air and Space Museum who invited Marty and I to a special tour of the new Air and Space Museum at Dulles on Monday afternoon. If all works out with the special tour, we will leave for home on Tuesday instead of Monday after the oil change on Charley. Tomorrow we have lots of activities for the first time air racers and the banquet in the evening where we will learn who won the race and our placement. We will keep everyone posted.

We Finished

We left Parkersburg, WV around 9:15am enroute to Frederick, MD. Had some mountain obscurations flying from WV to MD. Very hazy out and lots of mountains to climb over. A lot different from the flat lands of TX. Got into Frederick around 10:40 with a flourish. We flew the timing line with all the power Charley had, swung her around for a downwind, and on to base and final for Runway 23. We both let out a very loud scream when we touchdown. WE DID IT. We will forever after be known as Classic Air Racers and we have joined an elite group of women who have come before us. We are anxious to get our final score on Sunday evening at the banquet and learn who the winners are. We have a Meltdown Party tonight, so may not be able to blog tomorrow because we will be recovering. We will keep everyone posted as to our final score and placement. Maintenance Still OK. Thanks Tom.

Day 3

We began day 3 of the air race in Elkhart, IN. That proved to be our toughest airport. On our fly-by into Elkhart, the stop watch flew across the cockpit, so we were unable to determine our unofficial ground speed from Carbondale to Elkhart. We spent the night in Elkhart with storms approaching from Chicago with 80 mph winds. We tied Charley down good and she weathered the storm. Were out at the airport by 8am today. The ceilings were low in both Elkhart and Parkersburg, WV, our 7th stop. We decided to wait out the weather and finally departed Elkhart at around 2pm with assurances from the weather briefer that we would have a good tailwind if we left right away. Had a pretty good ground speed into Parkersburg that the weather briefer promised us. We had our second "incident" as we were flying the timing line to depart Elkhart. Just as Marty was on the timing line at 300' AGL, her window came open. She had the airplane at full throttle when it flew open. I screamed at her to keep flying the airplane, and reached around her and closed the window just as we flew over the timing line. We have decided that between the stop watch and the window, we didn't have good luck in Elkhart and would not be stopping there ever again. We got into Parkersburg at around 5:30pm and decided to call it a day. We want to make a grand entrance into Frederick, MD tomorrow. There is supposed to be fog in Parkersburg until around 9am so we are planning to depart around 10. We only have 188nm left to go. Our ground speeds have been pretty good and we only have two legs where our groundspeed was less than our handicap speed. We don't really expect to win the race as first time racers, but we really want to put on a good show. Wish us luck on our last leg tomorrow. Maintenance OK.

Day Two of the Air Race

We were pretty tired after landing in Hot Springs yesterday. The leg from Tuscaloosa to Hot Springs was pretty brutal. It was hot and humid, with lots of thermals. We checked into our hotel in Hot Springs and were in bed and asleep by 8:30 pm. Up again at 6:30 and out to the airport before 7:30 am. First leg was from Hot Springs, AR to Cameron, MO. The weather was still cool and comfortable for that leg. Then it was on from Cameron to Carbondale, IL. We had planned to call it a day in Carbondale, but checked with weather and it appeared that the weather to Elkhart, IN was going to be better in the afternoon than waiting until Wednesday morning. Had a great leg from Carbondale to Elkhart. We had a tailwind with a ground speed of up to 171 knots at times. So here we sit in Elkhart, IN. All three legs were pretty uneventful today. Weather was warm and not too many thermals or turbulence. Hopefully the weather will cooperate again tomorrow and we can make our last two legs, from Elkhart to Parkersburg, WV and then on to Frederick, MD. Maintenance OK.

Race Day

We were up at 5am this morning, had breakfast at 6am, weather briefing at 6:30 and were at the airport by 7am. Loaded up the airplane and were off at 8am. We had a good flight from Ft Myers to Waycross, GA, our first stop. We were met there by volunteers with sodas, water and barbeque sandwiches. Then we were off to our second stop in Tuscaloosa, AL. Tuscaloosa is a towered airport, so it took much longer to get out of there. There were planes coming in for their timing run, flying the pattern, and flying their timing runs to depart for the next stop. Our third stop for the day was Hot Springs, AR. By the time we left Tuscaloosa, it was hot, hot, and more hot. And humid on top of the hot. Lots of thermals and heat for two hours from Tuscaloosa to Hot Springs. By the time we got to Hot Springs, we decided we were finished for the day. It was 3:40 when we landed in Hot Springs and by the time we gathered our gear, found a hotel and got a ride, it was cocktail hour. Had a glass of wine and dinner. As I am writing this blog, we are ready to go to our room and get on our jammies for the night. Plan on getting out of Hot Springs early in the morning for the trip to Cameron, MO and points beyond. We will continue to keep everyone posted on our progress. Maintenance OK.

Tomorrow is Race Day

We finally received our handicap speeds today. Charley was determine to have a best True Airspeed of 139.18. That means if we do better than 139.18 for a leg, it is a good leg, and if we fly slower than 139.18 for a leg, then it probably is not a good leg. At this point, we just want to fly a good clean race with no penalties, and not get disqualified. We have had many briefings in the past two days and both of us are feeling pretty overwhelmed at this point. Hopefully this feeling will go away when we take off tomorrow. We have met lots of a really neat women here, the oldest being 92 years young and the youngest approximately 20 years old. There are at least six octagenarians and six collegiate teams. There are 51 aircraft and race teams competing, and 113 women. Our new motto is have fun, fly safe, go fast, and don't do anything dumb. We will keep everyone posted as to our progress in the race. Wish us fair skies and happy landings.

Inspection Day

Today we had our aircraft inspection scheduled for the AM. Two mechanics gave Charley a pretty good "look over" and checked all our paperwork. We met with the Credentials Crew and they inspected our licenses, medicals and logbooks. All has gone OK. We have already met a lot of nice women and are looking forward to Tuesday when we actually take off for the race.

We made it to Ft Myers

The thunderstorms finally left Orlando around 5pm. We flew out on our way to Ft Myers around 6pm and made it in around 7pm. Had a good final leg on our way to the air race. Today we finally had a chance to sleep in. We went back to Page Field in the afternoon and wiped the bugs and grease off the airplane from the trip. Two of our fellow air racers met us at the airport and provided words of encouragement and advice. Our aircraft inspection is set for tomorrow morning. Then it is smooth sailing until our departure on Tuesday, June 22. Maintenance still OK.

We're in Florida

Yesterday we left on our adventure. And it was an adventure. Our first leg was from Heritage to Jennings, LA. No problems there. Had a nice lunch then called Flight Service to check weather and TFR's. There were two 30nm radius Presidential TFRs and four 10nm no fly Presidential TFR's. Took us a while to drive around them and got into Crestview, FL just as the weather was coming in. Spent the night in Ft Walton Beach with a girlfriend and had dinner on the beach with 10 girlfriends. Had a great time. Left Crestview, FL early this morning for Gainesville, FL to have lunch with Kay's sister-in-law. Then it was on down to Orlando, FL to meet briefly with a friend of Marty's from the Flying Circus. Well, the short stop has turned into a long stop. As I am writing on our blog, we have been here for over 2 hours with a huge thunderstorm sitting on top of us. We are hoping it will pass shortly so that we can continue on to Ft Myers. I guess the old adage still holds true. Time to spare, go by air. Anyway, we are hoping for clear weather soon and then on to Ft Myers. We'll keep everyone posted on our progress. Maintenance OK.

We're Finally Off

Tomorrow is D-Day. We are finally off on our adventure. On Thursday we washed the plane and waxed her on Friday. She had her oil changed on Saturday and our mechanic pronounced her ready to race. We have the final flight planning completed and will load the plane tonight. Plan on leaving Heritage Airpark around 7:30am tomorrow. Our first two legs will be from Heritage Airpark to Jennings, LA and then on to Crestview, FL, where we will overnight.


Before we leave and memories get short, there are a lot of people we want to thank for helping us get through the planning stages of this race. First of all, the girlfriends, Julie and Kim, who helped us "bling" and decorate our visors; Pam who provided our cooling fans, Nadine for the neck wraps; and our ground crew at Heritage, Dan, Cliff, Chuck and Trevor who helped us pull the airplane out of the hangar and put her back in numerous times. Thank you Tom, our Maintenance Advisor. You have made our plane as ready as she will ever be to race. And a big thanks to Jim, our Race Advisor, who has given us advice on how to run Charley efficiently and get the most speed out of her. Most of all, we want to thank all the friends and family who have called and e-mailed us with their support and best wishes. We will try to make you all proud by doing our best.

Our goal for the air race is to have fun, fly safe, go fast, and don't do anything dumb.

Latest Update

Charley's Annual Inspection and sign-off was completed on June 1 and our very large number 3 has been predominately displayed on her tail. We have been doing some local flying to get Kay qualified and comfortable in the airplane. On Monday, June 7, Marty flew Charley to Fredericksburg for her "handicap" run. We will not know our handicap speed until the Air Race Classic folks unseal the box and publish our numbers.

Right now we are feeling a little overwhelmed with all the preparations and paperwork. Any modifiction that has been done since the plane came out of the factory has to have documentation in it's logbook. That means 57 years for Charley. Also, there are certain things you must carry in the aircraft. Keeping all this in mind, along with taking the minimal amount of stuff to keep our plane as light as possible, is quite a challenge. All this being new to both of us, has our brains pretty well fried at this point.

We will be gone about 2 1/2 weeks total. We are starting to watch the weather pattern from Texas to Florida, and the Air Race route. We still plan on departing Heritage Airpark on June 14, and doing a daily post to our blog to keep everyone updated as to our progress and whereabouts. Stay tuned for more information.

Annual Inspection and Flight Planning

Today "Charley" went in for her annual inspection prior to the Air Race. So far all is good, with only a few minor repairs to be made. The preliminary flight planning is completed from Heritage Airpark to Fort Meyers, the air race route, and home from Frederick. We are continuing to work with the Air Race Classic folks to get the airplane inspection date set at Fort Myers and the handicap run at Boerne Stage Airfield. We'll keep you posted as we progress in our pre-planning and inspections prior to our departure date of 14 June.

Welcome

Welcome to the Air Race Classic blog for Marty Goppert and Kay Renfrow. We plan on departing Texas on approximately 14 June. We will keep you posted as to our progress in getting to Fort Myers, the air race route, and a trip back home from Frederick, MD. Hope you enjoy reading about our adventure.