99Lin - 99lin

Two little boy Tonkinese kittens joined the Caywood household on Friday.  Welcome to Wilbur "Goose" Caywood and Orville "Maverick" Caywood.  The brothers were born on July 2, 2011 in New Jersey.  Goose is a Solid Blue (grey) and Maverick is a Natural Mink.  They were pretty shy the first two days -- hiding under the bed or couch -- but this evening they have decided we are no longer the enemy and they are jumping up into our laps and wanting hugs and kisses. I chose this breed because they are known to be very affectionate, bold, and intelligent.  They love to play with feathers and chase a laser light spot.  Once they get more comfortable with their new home we'll see how they do in the plane. After all, they have names that would require them to fly!

Many thanks to Tim for adding his pics from our flight out to Oshkosh and the airshow.  Carlo's camera was permanently borrowed by a stranger and we have no hope of seeing it returned.  The equipment loss is replaceable but the many SD cards with details of his plane building progress, recent trips, and Airventure are gone.  Luckily I had downloaded his pics from the flight out and he had copied most of the other pictures except the show pics to his PC before we left.

Anyway -- great memories captured by Tim. He has tons of movie footage too so will have to get a link posted for that and to his blog.

Mom, Carlo and I took off for Oshkosh about 11 am eastern today from Frederick. We flew together with our friends Paul, Tom, and Tim, who were in Paul's Mooney.  Paul is very brave as he just got his private ticket this week!  We had a bit of weather to skirt around and sometimes climb or descend to avoid but we never got wet -- surprisingly.  I had actually filed IFR but the ceilings started to lift and we were able to make it over the mountains to Pittsburgh fine.  I flew lead as Freakin Awesome had current terrain, flite charts, nav databases and, best of all, new synthetic vision.  Very cool.  I had planned originally to stop at KJXN - Jackson County, Michigan.  Cheap fuel AND a restaurant on the field.  The weather didn't look like it would cooperate so we decided to go due west and stop at Joliet as fuel was even cheaper there and I knew we could get sandwiches at the gas station. From there we could go up the west side of the lake direct to OSH.  As we got to Mansfield, OH we checked again and JXN looked like a bette choice.  The restaurant was great and we were soon on our way. The only time we had to talk to anyone today was the tower at JXN and we couldn't climb because of low ceilings right after JXN and had to request permission to transition thru Battle Creek and Kalamazoo. After those 20 to 30 miles we didn't speak to a soul again. Carlo got some great air to air shots of Paul's plane.  A great start to a great week of vacation.  We are at the same house as we rented last year and the owners are so very kind and the house is immaculate. Looking forward to seeing several of the air racers, Lynda Meeks and her Girls with Wings booth, the all-women picture on Friday, and lots of 99's. Bev and Al are expected Monday. Tom Katzenberger landed not long after us and we saw him and his Maule set up in the North 40.  I landed on 18R on the Orange Dot and literally put it on the dot.  We had to taxi all the way back to runway 9-27 in the grass, then taxi aside 9 to the end, then back up along the left side of 27 until we got to General Aviation Parking and parked across from Baslers.  Close to 3 miles of taxiing in the grass.  I was so tired from holding the yoke back that Carlo had to finish the last mile for me.  We completed the evening with Joos Burgers (sloppy joes) and frozen custard at Leon's drive-in, an Oshkosh Icon.

Gail Norman and I traveled out to Oklahoma City, OK this weekend so Gail could receive her George Palmer Putnam Award. Gail was nominated by the Sugarloaf Chapter for her years of involvement with General Aviation in the Frederick area, but most importantly her contribution to the success of the 2010 Air Race Classic Terminus.  Gail was instrumental in helping us create a memorable terminus that was not only successful as a memorable event, but allowed the chapter to raise some much needed funds to support our flying outreach activities. My pics are not the greatest but hoping to get a hold of some of the pics taken by the folks with the "real" cameras!

We left Frederick at 4:30 am on Saturday for a 7 am flight from BWI to STL then on to OKC. We were greeted by Lesly from the 99's HQ, who gave a a wonderful tour of the office space and the museum.  Then off to the hotel to meet up with race friends, section friends, 99 friends from all over, shopping in the flymart, and then the awards dinner.  The bio's of all the winners are posted on the 99's website -- please read them all. Very inspirational and impressive. Looking forward to celebrating on August 21 when we have our own local awards and recognition banquet to share achievements made by our chapter, Gail, and adjoining chapters during the past year.

I organized the best pictures into a photo book and posted it this morning. I ordered a copy but it doesn't appear it will be ready before our 99's meeting next Saturday. We will have a  nice slide show instead.

Freakin Awesome is getting a few avionics checks this week to get the plane back into top shape so it can go back on the rental line at Advanced Helicopters and be ready for our next adventure, EAA Airventure in Oshkosh, WI. 

Susan and I are already talking about the 2012 race and we both hope to participate again next year, with plans to improve our placing into the top 5.

Wow -- The ride home was an additional challenge.

Carlo and I loaded up Freakin Awesome with more luggage than I recall bringing to Iowa with me (or shipping to Mobile from Iowa City), then headed out with a plan to dodge a few thunderstorms near Atlanta. Well, the dodging started pretty quick, we had to turn due north to get around the storms, plus around Atlanta's Class B airspace, then decided, wisely, to descend from 7500 feet instead of climbing higher over the cloud tops we were tired of steering around.  We stayed dry the entire time -- maybe a few spits of rain, but eventually, found a wonderful new stop in NC called Shelby County, just southwest of Charlotte Class B (KEHO) -- literally just a few miles away. 24 hour access to a beautiful, new FBO stocked with on-your-honor cold water, soda pop, candy, and snack bars and a 24 hour (for real) self-serve fuel pump with $5.30/gal gas. The runway is long and clear of obstructions. A nice break to have an easy approach.  We checked the weather, didn't like it much still, so filled up and scooted -- with Team 27 landing as we were firing back up to take off.  We then picked our way along the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains and just west of Charlottsville, dropping as low as our charts and terrain warnings allowed to avoid the cloud base, that was pushing us to ask for a pop up clearance. Just as we thought we did not have proper separation between clouds, plane, and ground, the sky opened back up, and we had clear sailing the last 60 miles or so into Frederick.  A quick check to see if straight in to Runway 5 would work for everyone resulted in a "negative ghost rider, the pattern is full" shout out so we added a few more minutes to our ride to enter on the recommended 45 degree angle and fly a proper pattern.  We were then greeted by friends and family, as well as the Frederick News Post. A toast, some food, cake, interviews, pictures, and arrival of our sister team, the DC3, made the evening.  Unfortunately, Susan and Andy were a bit further behind in their 172 and got a few more diversions due to weather but they snuck in about 9 pm and Seth and Rick entertained and fed them by the light of generator power. 

What a grand adventure.  Very tired from the andrenalin let down and excited to be 2 lbs lighter.  Now it's time to find all the photos I took on various cameras or friends sent to me from their cameras and organize them into a book, figure out how to edit the hour of GoPro video we took of cloud flying and the take off at Alliance, NE and get poor Freakin Awesome to the avionics doctor to fix her broken oil pressure gauge and electric trim.

The best part -- Susan and I are ready to do it all over again in 2012!!!!

The day started with a mandatory breakfast meeting to review the overall race committee reports -- Judges comments on penalties, themes, handicaps, etc.  We had signed our score sheet on Saturday afternoon and knew our own score but not those of others. We had to keep it all quiet as protests and new handicaps were still being completed.  So, we decided to head out to Pensacola via car and visit the Naval Air Museum.  What a great diversion to get our mind off the race results.

So, we gathered for dinner and awards.

and much to our delight, and lots of angst as all of the leg prizes were awarded yet our names were not called......

We were then called for tenth place!!!!

We made the top ten --- our goal!

What a great way to end this effort, with four of our five goals met" 

Have fun - check

Finish the race - check

Finish it with no penalties - check

Place top ten - check

Win 1st place overall --- NEXT YEAR!!!

We received a call late on Friday that we were in the top 14 and would be inspected on Saturday morning.  Susan and I were a bundle of nerves all evening and the next day when we drove back over to the airport.  Only one of us could attend the inspection so Susan waited inside while I stood by the plane in case there were questions.  No issues were found, although we had encountered a bad oil pressure reading on our way in to Norman, OK and had to have the transducer removed and the pressure checked without it to verify the engine was ok.  We also had the auto pilot fail on the way into Mobile so we had to report that as well.  After that, we picked up Carlo at Mobile Regional-- he took a commercial flight down to ride back with me in Freakin Awesome -- and relaxed a bit by visiting the Mardi Gras Museum next to our hotel.  Our new friends, and first time racers, team 13 (coolest Maule around), had a prop governor problem in El Dorado and did not finish but made it to Mobile late on Friday.  We bought them some cute pirate pins as encouragement and a thank you for the support they gave us. We hope they can race again next year.  We then had a wonderful sunset dinner at Ed's Seafood Shed with our fellow Mid-Atlantic Race Team 27 - the DC3's

The last part of our race was so hectic and with all of our required activities after landing and fretting about how we did, I lost track of writing notes but I will fill in more when we get home.  Friday's launch from El Dorado into Mobile was not rushed due to some marginal VFR weather in the morning. We took off between packs of people and had great spacing, which allowed us to drift north of some restricted airspace but still be in good shape to head straight into Mobile, with a plan to slide under the Class C outer shelf at low level if we couldn't get permission to transition. We picked up a squak code with no trouble and had a smooth handoff  from enroute to the tower and a fantastic flyby at top speed.  We were lucky because some teams were vectored and lost time, others diverted due to weather on Thursday evening, including a layover at another airport to avoid a storm.

With the start not ocurring until noon yesterday, we were able to get some rest and take our time prepping for the day.  After a quick takeoff/reminder briefing regarding how to fly the timing line, we lined up in race number order and took off for our first leg down to Great Bend, KS.  We enjoyed a tailwind but the ride was hot and bumpy and the terrain slowly declined as we reached our destination. We tried to video the flybys but won't be able to load them until we get back to MD.  We then hung out for a few hours, hoping to catch more favorable winds to Borger, TX, our next stop. The Chamber of Commerce at Borger met us and drove us to our hotels. It was late when we arrived and the restaurants were all closed but the owner of our hotel personally drove to a local bar that had food service and picked us up a couple of hamburgers.  Incredibly friendly and caring people in Borger. We had a slight tailwind for 3/4 of the way then a slight headwind into Borger.  We saw the oil refinery before we spotted the runway, which blended into the brown terrain. 
Thank goodness we have the OBS function on the GPS, which dialed us straight into the runway for the flyby. Although late to land, we managed to get onto the list in 20th place, which allowed us to depart a bit earlier, which was our plan.

Wed morning we had a 5:15 am pickup as the first wheels up was allowed at 6:30 am.  As the sun came up, Classic Racers 11 and 1 (numbers 1 & 2 winners from 2010) took off.  We followed shortly and flew a beautiful timing line.  We had a bit of computer trouble though and pulled out of the lineup temporarily but was able to solve it -- the autopilot did not come alive right away but then worked fine.  A quick turn to the east and we were headed to Norman and El Dorado. There was busy airspace and a tower to deal with around Norman, OK - including Oklahoma City Airport.  The tower at Norman doesn't open until 8 am so we caught them just as they were coming alive.  Our fears of getting a 360 before we could flyby, and effectively kill our chance at placing, were not realized. However, as we passed the timing line, we received a low oil pressure warning and by the time we were able to land, we had zero pressure.  As I type this, the plane is in the maintenance hangar to get a pressure check.  Hopefully it will be nothing but we have made hotel reservations and signed the Remain Overnight (RON) list.  We are going to check out the plane status here shortly and take some pictures to pass the time.  Another good omen was that El Dorado went IFR unexpectedly and a few teams did flyby's to continue and probably got stuck and either had to turn around, hold, or DQ and file IFR.  I hope they are ok and were able to miss the weather.  Several teams have taken off recently as the ceilings were lifting at ELD. 

Finally, by 3 pm or so we were ready to launch for El Dorado, Arkansas. We wanted to wait a bit longer to catch more favorable winds but I was worried that we needed to be in the air and test the oil pressure while the mechanic was still on duty in Norman.  We took off with no traffic issues and headed to to ELD with a bit of caution -- not as eager to push the plane as we had on previous legs.  A short ride later, we were on the ground in El Dorado.  The poor airport manager, just a few weeks into the job, had no idea what he had been signed up for.  His little brother took us to the hotel as soon as he got off work and then we joined the DC3 ladies for some R & R at the most interesting bar/restaurant I've ever encountered -- Marilyn's at the Roxie -- an old silent movie theatre that has been restored for special events but stays locked up most of the time while the bar does business in the old box office and food is fetched from another restaurant next door.  A good break from the tension -- and we were joined by the Pirates of Team 13, who dropped us off at the hotel and then agreed to pick us up at 8:15 am for a mid-morning departure.  Interesting strategies developed -- several teams departed as soon as the morning mist allowed, some held back until mid-morning or noon, some shopped for souvenirs and only left when the timers called wanting to know if they could go on break or needed to stand by for an imminent departure. 

It's 9:30 MST and we are in our hotel room, fed, and with 15 other race teams in 3 hotels in Alliance.  Four of us made plans to stop in Grand Island, NE (KGRI) but one decided to re-route to Salina, KS with several other teams and one stayed behind in Iowa City and will come over tomorrow.  The two remaining teams met up with two more that had planned to use Grand Island for a refueling stop too (good fuel price, restaurant on the field). The FBO was wonderful but the wind was howling.  25-29 gusting to 35 but pretty much down the runway.  We filmed our approach into GRI with the new GoPro. Will try to post the video. This was a test for our race video we hope to shoot tomorrow.  Anyway, three of us departed KGRI within a half hour of each other but one team chose to stay overnight and fly over in the morning when the winds are expected to calm down a bit.  The ride from KGRI to Alliance was bumpy, we originally were going to fly VFR but were unsure of the cloud deck in a few places so we filed again.  We were pretty much over the top, then as the terrain rose, we ended up under the clouds. Finally, ATC told us we had to climb from 6,000 to 10,000 feet or figure out another plan because they could no longer track us on radar.  The ground elevation was now at almost 4000 feet so we canceled our IFR plan and dropped to 5,500 ft and flew the rest of the way to Alliance on our own  -- about the last 80 miles or so since the sky was now clear with just isolated stuff visible from miles away.  The winds had been very strong here too most of the day but just as we were nearing the airport, they calmed to 11 knots with no gusting and only about 10 degrees off the runway heading. After a fuel top-off, a quart of oil, and a de-bugging, we headed to the hotel, had dinner with our fellow DC3 team mates, and the Wunder Women (go Mid-Atlantic Section!).  Can't hardly keep our eyes open so heading to bed to prepare for a morning of heavy duty weather strategizing. 

Since all handicaps were not completed in Iowa City and the weather is not cooperating in Alliance, we are all departing with just True Airspeeds as reference to help us with spacing between planes and to have a target for flying against to help with focus on performance.  We were tagged at 146 knots TAS -- a good number to track against for us.

As I was typing the last note the message arrived to us that the new Start is at Noon on Wed in Alliance, Nebraska - the 5th stop along the route - cutting out Brrokings, SD, Jamestown, ND, Spearfish, SD and Rawlins, WY.  We are on our own to make our way to Alliance either VFR or IFR so we are positioned in time at Alliance for the new start.  Susan is making hotel reservations and we are looking at the best possible routing for our direct westerly flight to Alliance tomorrow (or possibly early Wed morning).

The race deadline has been extended to 7:59 pm on Friday in Mobile.

There is a threat of severe weather in Iowa City tonight. We are waiting to hear if the plane made it into a hangar to avoid any hail damage.

Today was a full morning of Flyby Procedure briefings, a safety seminar, and weather briefings.  Four hours of race prep as a group.  We headed out to the airport to check on the plane as there had been heavy rain last night that sounded like hail.  Weather for Iowa City tonight is calling for high winds and possible tornadoes.  We are on the waiting list for a hangar for the plane.  The weather is not looking good enough for an 8 am launch tomorrow.  The officials are reviewing options, including starting Wednesday with a shortened race route, combined with extending the deadline from 5 pm Friday to Sunset.  There are a few legs that lend themselves for shortcutting, like Borger, TX, Spearfish, and Jamestown.  Unfortunately it will lessen the challenge if the western mountain/high elevation legs are cut (and we were looking forward to flying that terrain and altitude)  but the safety factor goes up tremendously.  Low visual conditions coupled with density altitude and 30% or so first time racers makes for a need to be safe yet provide a true challenge.  We will support whatever has to be done to let us race as much of the course as possible with safety in mind and the ability to get to Mobile by Friday night. Not sure if extending into Saturday is an option -- the weather is so unpredictable.

I have some more pics to post later tonight after dinner -- we have decided to carb load anyway and enjoy some comraderie with our fellow racers from DC- the DC3.  We've shipped our extra baggage ahead to Mobile, dirty clothes home, and are ready for final flight planning.  Susan has sticky notes prepared with checklist reminders -- landing lights and cowl flaps and CHT temps.

Roll call at 10 am -- no fines for being late were issued this year. Four teams have scratched -- not sure if it was mechnical or weather related.  The excitement is building but in a reserved way.  The weather is still not cooperating -- the remaining handicap flights were cancelled.  They are not sure they will get them all done before the start, putting more pressure on the officials in Mobile when we all arrive. The forecast for Tuesday is calling for severe thunderstorms.  No worries -- the race officials are used to this type of stress and will make sure we don't launch into poor weather conditions.  En route is a different story -- many judgement calls are needed to determine a go/no go decision by the team.  If the weather gets too bad, however, the officials can declare the race completed at any stop -- 0r even decide to eliminate a stop.  The meeting was 2.5 hours with more to come on Monday. 

We spent the afternoon flight planning -- the flyby procedures were posted this morning so we had to chart them, along with finish our direct route charting.  We shopped for snacks, water, batteries, etc. and then got ready for the Welcome Banquet.  A beautiful evening that honored racers who had competed in at least 25 races. Several were in the room, and two teams had members of this elite group.  I snapped pics of all the tables.  Our Cessna shirts were a hit and we received many flattering comments.  Our tablemates included Debi Dreyfus and her Team DC3, along with our tailing competitor, the Pirate Maule, lucky number 13.  We received our 2011 Race Charm and got  very enthused for the race to begin as Marilyn Wilson welcomed us to Fly Camp 2011.

After a restful night we are ready to head over to the airport for our most critical airplane inspection.  Log books are flagged with our last inspections and ready for the race inspectors.  After that, we will do the heavy lifting on our flight planning -- checking weather predictions for the first leg(s) and lots of chart studying -- paper and electronic.

Tonight is the Welcome Barbeque at the airport where all the racers will gather for the first time.  It will be fun to see us all together -- lots a familiar faces from last year and lots of new ones too!

We took our time this morning getting ready, doing a little work, resting, and reviewing procedures for our trip from Joliet to Iowa City.  A nice, fairly calm day with predicted thunderstorms in the afternoon.  We walked back to the airport -- a much more pleasant trek than the one at midnight on Thursday.  We snapped a few pics of the gas station at the end of runway 31 and the FBO hangar.  We chatted with the desk clerk then waited for our top off by a grumpy but eventually very nice line person.  57 gallons taken on board.  The trip over to IOW was uneventful, including a few mile diversion to avoid the Temporary Flight Restriction area around Davenport Airport.  We were greeted upon landing by a couple of very helpful volunteers with water, tie down assistance, and help with luggage.  After a quick de-bugging, we locked up Freakin Awesome then proceeded to register, obtained our race credentials, picked up a rental car, and headed to the hotel. After a brief break, we showered and changed into new "uniforms" then drove to the Iowa City Children's Museum for a wonderful cocktail reception.  Many thanks to Minetta Gardiner and her Race Start Crew.  It was so well organized.  Off to bed -- our plane inspection is at 10 am tomorrow and we must be prompt.

http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/ODE/FrederickNewsPost/

Great pic of Lin, Susan, and Seth

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/displayVideoUpdate.htm?StoryID=122534

fantastic video!

Susan and I were overwhelmed with pride to see the folks who braved the rain to wish us well on our trip to Iowa City.  The Frederick News Post came by as well to take some photos and interview us.  Many thanks to Landmark Aviation for letting us gather in their lobby.

The weather briefer gave us a great suggestion for a route to file in order to avoid the worst of the rain and storms, which was present on our route until Ohio.  With more help from the air traffic controllers, we didn't even really hit any turbulence or strong rain.  A few bumpy clouds but that was it.  Then beautiful clear air and a full moon to guide us to Joliet, Illinois, our fueling and overnight stop.  If the winds had been more cooperative we would have been able to make it all the way to Iowa City but tomorrow we will have a short 1.5 hour or less flight.

Spot may have not tracked properly -- I think I was so excited about leaving I didn't get it activated all the way but you can seee our track on Flight Aware at:

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N935FA

Since we filed and flew Instrument Flight Rules, we were tracked "in the system".

I will do better with Spot tomorrow and we will try to get some photos of beautiful Joliet Airport. 

The approach reminded me of Hagerstown's one runway with the fast food signs --- Joliet has a McDonalds on the end of Runway 13, and we were able to spot our hotel too.

Off to bed, it's past 1 Eastern Time.

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=03oioJ8qqYzhxqaa3kOYQTnulifFyvoJv

Thank you again to Claudius for loaning us his SPOT. I loved using it so much last year that I bought my own. Sadly "Linnie" was lost or left in the back of the last rental car I had.  So, try this link to follow our route again this year.  I will have SPOT on to test it on the way Iowa City and then will turn it on again when we start the race on Tuesday.

Although I was not real active with site content so far, Susan and I are almost ready to depart for Iowa City.

Wow  - can't believe time flew by so fast!

Today is finalization of the 100 hour inspection, then the cleaning begins.

Handicap flight is pending for maybe before we leave Frederick.

Stay tuned, will be updating daily starting today.

Hah Hah -- daily updates did not occur -- too much wrapping up of work work, packing, plane maintenance, etc.  The handicap flight was flown on Wednesday evening just before dark. Nicole Novack, Susan's partner from last year and a CFI, flew as the check pilot. Although we did not have a data tracker, it was a calm and smooth and clear evening and we think she got a good reading. We'll find out I guess....

Susan and I participated in the unique event, that was designed to attract women to consider aviation careers.  About 20 pilots flew 185 women on Saturday. Great day overall and Victoria organized a great event. Also see the article about me and Team Freakin Awesome from Today's Frederick News Post.

http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/ODE/FrederickNewsPost/LandingPage/LandingPage.aspx?href=Rk5QLzIwMTEvMDMvMTU.&pageno=NQ..&entity=QXIwMDUwNQ..&view=ZW50aXR5

February 5 was a rainy and icy day but members of the Sugarloaf, Old Dominion, and DC Chapters attended a safety seminar at AOPA then headed to Olives Restaurant to honor Heather Taylor, Gail Norman, and Frank Du Val for their contributions towards the success of the 2010 Air Race Classic Terminus in Frederick.

FYI -- Susan Beall and I are all registered for the 2011 race as "Freakin Awesome Team 12".

Congrats to Susan Beall and me for earning our Seaplane ratings at Jack Brown's in Winterhaven, FL on November 17.  After a little over 5 hours of instruction and many hours of studying and some chair flying, we took our check rides last Wednesday with John Brown.  We are both looking forward to getting a chance to fly a float plane again soon.

We then attended the Family Day at the Air and Space Museum on the Mall in Washington, DC where I spoke on a panel about air racing and Susan and I posed for a victory photo in the newly renovated Pioneers of Flight exhibit that features air racing and Amelia's Lockheed Vega.

I went through air race withdrawal which included several days of "zombie-like" monotony but think I am recovering at last. Nothing like back at work 'bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed' to force me into the real world! All the preparations for the race, the anxiety it produces, and anticipation of success (or not), are in the background and now's the time to think back and smile. It really was FUN! Yes, I'm shouting!

Lin was a terrific navigator, teammate, negotiator, Terminus Chair, and now I have become a better pilot simply because we did it - together! Yep, and as a side note, I lost 5 pounds! And I have acquired a definite passion for water! My sweet diet water doesn't taste so good after downing gallons of ice cold (and warm) water!!!

To have achieved a decent final standing in the race, we came in 13th place, with my "Sweetie Pie" 1972 Cessna, I am proud of our accomplishment. This was a confidence builder for me and my airplane with the new handicap. We can WIN this race!!!  Yes, it was grueling, uneasy sleep patterns, hit or miss food, oppressive heat, but great camaraderie, seeing the country, and responding to the challenge defines why we do this. The 2010 race is but a dream and I smile as I think about it.  

35 teams are holed up in Elkhart tonight amidst tornado warnings.  We enjoyed a great tailwind on the way up from Carbondale but sounds like some teams ahead of us enjoyed even better ones!  Guess we'll find out on Sunday :)  We stayed at the airport until the plane was towed into a hangar to protect it from the expected hail but we didn't get the brunt of the storm and we are good to go.  Unfortunately, we are at the tail of the overnight list so we'll have a long wait in the morning when they tow the planes out, get those of us fueled that didn't get fuel tonight, then get in line for takeoff. Elkart is towered so we have to follow their instructions versus organizing our own departure.  Carolyn is back up from the basement -- she went to check out the tornado accomodations here -- the banquet room.  Off to bed to be ready for our 6:30 a.m. pickup.  Hopefully we will be off the ground by 9.

Our friend, SPOT, pooped out about 10 miles from the airport -- about the time we did.  We did have a small snafu on the line up for the flyby (first timer racer jitters and exhaustion -- I gave Carolyn a bad heading) but, we made it safely into Hot Springs a few minutes later than we had hoped.  We'll have fresh batteries in SPOT tomorrow for our next legs, which we need to review weather to see if it will be a two or three leg day.  The last leg from Tuscaloosa to Hot Springs was temps over 100 degrees in the cockpit with the vents all closed, and Hot Springs, airport sign is KHOT -- quite fitting as it was 97 degrees on the ground when we landed.  We are downtown at the beautiful Arlington Resort Hotel and Spa. Too bad the spa closed at 5.  A long cool shower and we are ready for some food then a good night's sleep. Will try to make notes about our other legs of the flight after dinner.

With over two thirds of the racers being first timers, I am feeling lucky to have a veteran like Carolyn with me.  Goal is to keep good separation from the other planes and fly our own race, on course, and keeping to our planned altitudes, unless the weather changes on us in the morning.  Depending on how tired we are and the time it takes to turn the plane at Waycross, we will complete two and possibly three legs on Tuesday -- also depending on that weather coming across from the mid-west into our route.  May not have time to send notes tomorrow but will try to remember to feed batteries into SPOT so our route can be tracked.  Stay tuned.....

Our tower controller stopped in to brief with us today. She changed her schedule so we could have a female controller send us off on our journey. A wonderful touch.  We will all line up in race order, with instructions to fire up five at a time. That puts us in the fourth grouping to take off.  We have three planes in front of us that are slower to worry about passing and a couple Bonanzas and a retractable gear 182 to worry about passing us. The rest of the crowd should track ahead or behind us with not too much issue.  The first stop is expected to be a zoo.  Most of us need to refuel in order to make it to our second stop.  This will be the most dangerous and congested stop as we will not have spread out yet. 

A three hour marathon of route planning across our almost a dozen charts, verifying waypoints against the GPS Direct Route on my Skypad and pre-programming the 496 I borrowed from Seth and Rick.  Day One has no major airspace issues or significant weather. Day two we may have a Military Operating Area we may have a problem with but again, a good direct route with some good landmarks.  Looking like the faster planes may hit Frederick as early as Wednesday.  If we can't get ahead of it ourselves we may have to sit a day in Missouri or so.   There are three of us in the race with a similar model and vintage plane. We are in the middle of the handicaps for us at 139.92, 135.48 and 122.61. Not sure how that last one got to be so slow.

Spent most of the last two days in mandatory briefings -- race rules, flyby procedures, FAA waivers, first time racers, weather, safety, etc.  Lots of questions and lots of info to record for future reference.  The banquet last night was very nice. We were all introduced and received a beautiful charm that has the race route depicted on it.  A nice break from the briefing room.  This evening Carolyn and I took a little break and drove out to Sanibel Island and had supper at Gramma Dots at the Marina.  It was raining so we didn't get to do any beach walking but still very relaxing. 

Just as we committed to RWY 23, the wind shifted from 4 knots to 8 and was directly down RWY 13 so with a mile left to go, we shifted over, landed, pulled our bags, tied down and the skies opened up on us.  Luckily the hail did not hit the airport directly but the downpour was intense and the hail hit all around us.  Wow -- what a start to the Start! 

Saturday was much less eventful with mostly paperwork -- racer credentials, plane credentials, plane inspections and handicap runs, and a Barbeque that hopefully won't get rained out tonight for too long.  Sunday is an all-hands briefing in the morning then we are on our own to relax a bit and work on flight planning and strategy.

Only one or two lighting strikes were seen by us (two too many) but the stormscope was red and yellow in every direction around us.  We were able to successfully avoid even getting wet for most of the trip but the last hour was light rain with good visibility.  As we reached Lakeland we got far enough behind the storm on on left to start heading south.  We tracked south via Punta Gorda then over to Ft. Myers. We were the second of two planes that made it into the airport between storms, it had been closed on and off all day and one of our sister planes, #10 had to hold for about an hour before being able to land before us. Good timing for us, no holding or landing at the many airports we crossed over on our route.

Well, we are in Ft. Myers and completed our credentials, handicap flight, and plane inspection.  We arrived about 5 yesterday in between some major summer storms that closed the airport a few times with hail and lightning.

We left Frederick Thrs eve about 6:30 pm and had a beautiful, calm flight to Kinston, NC, complete with a bit of a tailwind. About 2 hrs of flight time.  The town is so small that the ONE taxi in town had gone to bed already and he had no answering service so the FBO dropped us off a hotel (actually two --the first only had smoking rooms -- in the heart of tobacco country). A few frantic calls in the morning got us a ride back to the airport 

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=03oioJ8qqYzhxqaa3kOYQTnulifFyvoJv

sorry folks - try this one.  Two tracks already showing from our trip down from Frederick.

Hi,

I have a SPOT Messenger. I am sharing my location information with you. Click on the link to see where I am.

Just follow this link to see my location updates:
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=03oioJ8qqYzhxqaa3kOYOTnulifFyvoJv  If the link doesn't work, try copying and pasting it to your browser's address bar.

N21017 is fit for a king! Or rather for a queen!  How about Two queens? She's never shone so beautifully! Today while I was puttering around the airplane, getting the logs in order for the inspection and credential check when we reach Florida, my mechanic came flying in (he is based 30 miles north)! What a surprise! Well, he felt rather guilty because he was carrying several pieces of my airplane!!!  They were minor cosmetic mouldings which he had forgotten. No worry, in a minute they were in place. And one more item - I scraped off old step paint and coated them with new black textured paint. Now she really looks perfect, well, almost!  Tomorrow is the handicapping flight check either in Frederick MD or Pottstown PA. An early morning wakeup call will let me know where the weather will be favorable. I am hopeful that we get a decent handicap so we can really be competitive. Time to get the notebook in order and the race course charted on the sectionals. Running out of time! 

With a big question about the air worthiness of N935FA in time for the race, I am attempting to prepare my airplane, N21017, also a Cessna 182, for readiness. You may think that an airplane is all ready to go at anytime, however, I had originally scheduled my annual inspection for the time during the race, so had to escalate this procedure for an earlier appointment. So "My Sweetie Pie" will be down for inspection the weeks of June 1 and 7 (also having a new windshield installed) and HOPEFULLY she'll be ready for the washing and polishing the week of June 14. Now that's really cutting it close, but on paper it will work!

In the meantime, as an ARC board member, there are many final preparations. The field is huge this year - 54 airplanes, so the readiness at each of the flyby airports has to be mind boggling - timing each one as they speed by at a low altitude, separating the planes as they prepare to land, parking, refueling, and then repeating the flyby procedures as they are timed at takeoff!

Start and Terminus activities are in full prep, nametags to be made, goodie bags to be filled, and PLEASE President Obama, please stay home the weekend of June 25th!  

Poor N935fa was hurt by a renter when he had a hard landing in Parkersburg, WV a few weeks ago. The nose wheel and firewall were damaged and the plane must be towed to Hagerstown for repairs. Carolyn and I are making back-up plans to fly her older model 182 as it's not looking promising for a quick repair.

In the meantime, the Sugarloaf Chapter hosted a booth at EAA's International Learn to Fly Day at Frederick Airport today (June 15). Seth displayed her 1946 Cessna 120 and we were interviewed and photos taken for Frederick Magazine, The Frederick News Post, and AOPA.  See the photos. Rob Cherney stopped by for some antics as well.

Wahoo! The race is on the horizon! Vinyl race numbers (3 1/2 X 18) are being applied to the tail at this very moment and our names with Freakin'Awesome underneath stuck to the door will identify our 'ship'. And we've added an Air Race Classic decale for a bit of class!  Tues., April 20, is the media press conference at FDK when we will officially introduce the race to the public. Look for us on TV!!!!!  There are 44 teams registered to date, a record field, so now is the time to decide '..hmm...what will we wear?'

Well, after thinking I'd finished all the necessary paperwork, I sat down to review the race registration instructions and reached panic level when I realized I had not completed the plane registration forms.  Carolyn and I finished our racer paperwork over a month ago so time allowed complacency to set in.

With the help of Carlo, the power of the internet and my packrat tendicies, I found all of the plane's specifications, including the necessary serial numbers to the propeller hub, the propeller blades, the engine, and the plane itself.

A quick scan later, and we are all ready to go.

Just have to get my medical renewed in 2 weeks, get an instrument proficiency check to make sure I'm up to date on that, and then some practice with Carolyn on our flying CRM.

Getting more excited by the day.

I added two more albums even though the text isn't quite finished -- one from our trip to Etosha in November 2009 and one from our trip to Oshkosh July 2009.

This is where I'll be posting my Air Race Pictures and prep information.