Fifty-four (54) race teams competed in the 39th Annual Air Race Classic (ARC), an all-women’s air race, June 22-25, 2015.
Stephanie Armstrong and Jessica Reed of Southern Illinois University placed first flying a 2011 Cessna Skyhawk 172R; Jennifer Pinkowski, Carly Namihira, and Christina Druskins of the University of North Dakota placed second flying a 2015 Cessna Skyhawk 172S; and Lin Caywood of Frederick, Md. and Robin Hadfield of Canada placed third flying a 2007 Cessna Skylane 182T.
The first-place win means a lot to Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois.
Jessica Reed, a senior in aviation management from Schaumburg, and Stephanie Armstrong, a May 2013 aviation management graduate from Seneca, won both the collegiate and overall title in the 39th annual event. The title is the first in program history. SIU also entered teams in 2010 and 2011.
Reed and Armstrong have been flying together for two years. Reed flew 85 percent of the event; Armstrong handled navigation and communications and took over flying for the timing flybys and landings. The flybys mark the official start and stop times for each leg of the trip’s departure and arrival. Scores are based on a plane’s projected versus actual timed performance.
The most challenging part, in addition to heat in the cockpit, was performing the flybys at each stop. Reed said that staying on altitude “when you are so low and it is bumpy is very stressful and definitely not the situation we are used to.”
Armstrong said the win is “indescribable.” Winning the title as first-time racers is almost unheard of, she said. Armstrong is an assistant instructor and assistant coach with the Flying Salukis.
Of the 54 teams that competed, 17 were collegiate teams. A second SIU team made up of Sarah Demkovich, a graduate assistant from Algonquin, and Emily Frasca, a May 2015 graduate in aviation management from Champaign, was 24th overall and seventh in the collegiate division.
The Air Race Classic is an annual VFR cross-country event flown by airplanes with at least 100 hp, and not more than 600 hp. All aircraft are normally aspirated and piston powered, rated for continuous operation at maximum engine speed. All aircraft are flown for handicap speed before the start. Teams then race their handicap speed, trying to best their own top speed from the first timing line leg to the next timing line. Once the first plane launches, they have four days to fly all nine legs and to arrive and cross the terminus finish line. Pilots this year ranged in age from 18 to 88.
This year’s 2,199 nm race began in Fredericksburg, Va., with stops in Hickory, N.C.; Connellsville, Pa.; Jeffersonville, Ind.; Kalamazoo, Mich.; Lawrenceville, Ill.; Kirksville, Mo.; Union City, Tenn.; and Gadsden, Ala., with the terminus in Fairhope, Ala.
The first Air Race Classic took place in 1929, from Santa Monica, Calif. to the Cleveland Air Races in Ohio. The race was originally called the Women’s Air Derby. Twenty women flew in that first race, including Amelia Earhart. Louise Thaden won the race.
The All Women’s Transcontinental Air Race (Power Puff Derby) started in 1948 and ended in 1977. ARC ran its first race in 1977 with a 2,400-mile race from Santa Rosa, Calif. to Toledo, Ohio, and is the longest running air race in the United States.
Lara Gaerte of Fort Wayne, Indiana, is president of Air Race Classic, Inc. Gaerte and her husband, Tony, own Century Aviation at DeKalb County Airport (KGWB) in Auburn, Indiana, where she is a full-time master flight instructor (www.airraceclassic.org).
