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Women of the Air Race Classic visit area
  
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Racers pit at Upper Cumberland Regional Airport
By Greg England
Staff Writer
greg@myspartanews.com
Thirty-two teams of women flyers trimmed their flaps over White County last week when Upper Cumberland Regional Airport served as a checkpoint for the 80th Annual Air Race Classic, which tested pilot’s abilities and their planes performance.
"The race is all women," said Terry Carbonell, a race participant and secretary of the organization’s Board of Directors. "And you have to have at least a pilot and a co-pilot. You can take extra crew members. But the pilot or the co-pilot, one of the two, has to have 500 hours pilot-in-command or instrument rating. So you have to have some experience."
"The race is all women," said Terry Carbonell, a race participant and secretary of the organization’s Board of Directors. "And you have to have at least a pilot and a co-pilot. You can take extra crew members. But the pilot or the co-pilot, one of the two, has to have 500 hours pilot-in-command or instrument rating. So you have to have some experience."
Carbonell, who lives in Alva, Fla., also owns a cabin in Spencer. She and the other participants had four days to finish the 2,715-mile race, which started in Denver, ended in Atlantic, Iowa and included nine legs including UCRA.
"Thirty-four teams entered and we had 32 teams fly," stated Carbonell. "We had seven collegiate teams, which are college students. We had two teams that had mothers and daughters flying together.
Carbonell stated women from all walks of life and all ages participate in the race.
"We had one team that had one of the Women Air Service Pilots - the WASPs," said Carbonell. "That was team number 26 that had Bernice Haydu, who was 88 years old. And she was also our oldest contestant this year. And our youngest contestant was 18 (years old) and just graduated high school."
Air Race Classic, Inc. is a not-for-profit organization that depends on donations and on the work of volunteers. Sponsorships and other donations assist ARC in its mission to encourage and educate women pilots, to increase public awareness of general aviation and women’s roles in aviation, and to preserve and promote the tradition of pioneering women in aviation.
"This year we're celebrating 80 years since the original air race, which was the powder puff derby," stated Carbonell. "And Amelia Earhart was one of the 20 contestants in the original Powder Puff Derby that went from Santa Monica, Calif., to Cleveland (OH)."
Carbonell explained the original derby was started to refute the mistaken impression by men that women were considered 'inherently dangerous creatures and shouldn't be flying a plane.' She says women, at the time, were excluded from other air races.
"What happened as a result of that air race, was that Amelia Earhart got letters to all the women pilots at the time, which was approximately 120 pilots," said Carbonell. "Out of that 120 pilots, 99 of those pilots showed up to form an organization for women pilots and they called that 'The 99's'. And Amelia Earhart was the first president. So from the air race was born, which is now a very large international organization, called The 99's. And that is the Women's Pilots Organization."
She stated many of the 99's members join in the race each year as timers, volunteers, organizers and participants. The race allows pilots to test their skills.
"You need to understand the performance of your plane and how to get the best performance of your plane," stated Carbonell. "You need to understand flight planning. You need to have a really good understanding of weather and wind. And then you need to put it all together and do it faster than everybody else."
This was her third air race and she finished in 11th place.
"I was very, very pleased," said Carbonell. "This is the highest I've ever finished. So I'm getting better every year but I was extremely pleased with 11th place."
The race also allows participants to visit beautiful and unique places. They really enjoy the trip as much as the race.
"Heck yeah, it's a lot of fun - definitely fun," stated Carbonell. "I mean some ladies call it the annual pajama party."
And this year’s trip through the Upper Cumberland area found many vowing to come back when they can stay longer.
"That's one of the things is a lot of the girls, once they fly through an area, they stop and they say 'wow I was only here for one night, but this is an area I'd like to come back to,'" said Carbonell. "The first year I raced, we started in Oklahoma City. I spent three days in Oklahoma City for the race start. And I liked it so much I've made eight return trips. So even though the race only contributed three hotel nights, I've certainly spent quite a number of other nights after that. So there's has a lot of residual, positive impact from the race. It puts Sparta on the map for a lot of people."
"I've been coming to this airport now for the last, I don't know, close to four years," stated Carbonell. "And everybody's been so wonderful here. Everybody in this area has just been overwhelmingly hospitable. And I knew it would be a great place to have a stop for the race. So we're very pleased that everybody came out. It's the kind of thing we like to do and it does bring a good economic benefit to the community."
She says the participants take the pit stop opportunities to eat and re-fuel the planes. Some spend the night in local hotels.
"You're using your airport for something that's benefiting the community," said Carbonell.
Carbonell said the reason she built a cabin here was because of a day-trip that left her wanting more.
"I came up here to Nashville for some business and, basically, took a drive one day because I had nothing to do and I came out here and I fell in love with the area," stated Carbonell.
Plans are already in the works for next year’s race. For more information, visit http://www.airraceclassic.org.
"Thirty-four teams entered and we had 32 teams fly," stated Carbonell. "We had seven collegiate teams, which are college students. We had two teams that had mothers and daughters flying together.
Carbonell stated women from all walks of life and all ages participate in the race.
"We had one team that had one of the Women Air Service Pilots - the WASPs," said Carbonell. "That was team number 26 that had Bernice Haydu, who was 88 years old. And she was also our oldest contestant this year. And our youngest contestant was 18 (years old) and just graduated high school."
Air Race Classic, Inc. is a not-for-profit organization that depends on donations and on the work of volunteers. Sponsorships and other donations assist ARC in its mission to encourage and educate women pilots, to increase public awareness of general aviation and women’s roles in aviation, and to preserve and promote the tradition of pioneering women in aviation.
"This year we're celebrating 80 years since the original air race, which was the powder puff derby," stated Carbonell. "And Amelia Earhart was one of the 20 contestants in the original Powder Puff Derby that went from Santa Monica, Calif., to Cleveland (OH)."
Carbonell explained the original derby was started to refute the mistaken impression by men that women were considered 'inherently dangerous creatures and shouldn't be flying a plane.' She says women, at the time, were excluded from other air races.
"What happened as a result of that air race, was that Amelia Earhart got letters to all the women pilots at the time, which was approximately 120 pilots," said Carbonell. "Out of that 120 pilots, 99 of those pilots showed up to form an organization for women pilots and they called that 'The 99's'. And Amelia Earhart was the first president. So from the air race was born, which is now a very large international organization, called The 99's. And that is the Women's Pilots Organization."
She stated many of the 99's members join in the race each year as timers, volunteers, organizers and participants. The race allows pilots to test their skills.
"You need to understand the performance of your plane and how to get the best performance of your plane," stated Carbonell. "You need to understand flight planning. You need to have a really good understanding of weather and wind. And then you need to put it all together and do it faster than everybody else."
This was her third air race and she finished in 11th place.
"I was very, very pleased," said Carbonell. "This is the highest I've ever finished. So I'm getting better every year but I was extremely pleased with 11th place."
The race also allows participants to visit beautiful and unique places. They really enjoy the trip as much as the race.
"Heck yeah, it's a lot of fun - definitely fun," stated Carbonell. "I mean some ladies call it the annual pajama party."
And this year’s trip through the Upper Cumberland area found many vowing to come back when they can stay longer.
"That's one of the things is a lot of the girls, once they fly through an area, they stop and they say 'wow I was only here for one night, but this is an area I'd like to come back to,'" said Carbonell. "The first year I raced, we started in Oklahoma City. I spent three days in Oklahoma City for the race start. And I liked it so much I've made eight return trips. So even though the race only contributed three hotel nights, I've certainly spent quite a number of other nights after that. So there's has a lot of residual, positive impact from the race. It puts Sparta on the map for a lot of people."
"I've been coming to this airport now for the last, I don't know, close to four years," stated Carbonell. "And everybody's been so wonderful here. Everybody in this area has just been overwhelmingly hospitable. And I knew it would be a great place to have a stop for the race. So we're very pleased that everybody came out. It's the kind of thing we like to do and it does bring a good economic benefit to the community."
She says the participants take the pit stop opportunities to eat and re-fuel the planes. Some spend the night in local hotels.
"You're using your airport for something that's benefiting the community," said Carbonell.
Carbonell said the reason she built a cabin here was because of a day-trip that left her wanting more.
"I came up here to Nashville for some business and, basically, took a drive one day because I had nothing to do and I came out here and I fell in love with the area," stated Carbonell.
Plans are already in the works for next year’s race. For more information, visit http://www.airraceclassic.org.
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