Polly Vacher Stops at Oshkosh, on Charity Circumnavigation

Diminutive Polly Vacher, midway through her second circumnavigation of the Earth in her Piper Dakota, has been making appearances at Oshkosh, and trying out her new propeller. ANN was happy when she and her husband, Peter, stopped by our HQ.

She has a long way to go, and has already covered the North Pole; but "I can't start for the South Pole until November," for obvious reasons, she told us.

Even after the first 'round-the-world flight, this one took planning. "I spent two years in intensive training and research. I talked with a lot of experts, and there was so much preparation for this polar flight," she said. "I spent ten days, waiting at Spitzbergen, before the flight to the North Pole. That's 79 degrees North. I was there, talking with Jeppesen, looking for weather. When I got the good weather report, they said I would have clear sky, except at the pole itself; I was on top, there."

87, 88, 89...

"At the pole," Mrs Vacher reminded us, "the compass doesn't work. You might actually be heading North, but you're reading maybe 245 degrees. I talked with an old RAF navigator and learned to navigate with the sun -- there's a sun compass in the airplane. We used a grid system, like what you'd see at the equator, and superimposed it over the pole -- you have to think quite differently."

"The GPS worked absolutely perfectly all the way. I saw 87 degrees north, 88, 89 -- but you don't have a lot of feedback, right at the pole. I was told to plot a course, from 89:59 north, 14 degrees east, to 89:59 north, 159 west -- and I flew right over the pole. The GPS actually said '90 north.' Not many pilots have seen that."

New equipment on the nose:

Polly, just before Oshkosh, got a wish fulfilled. The ice runways especially are not smooth, and she doesn't carry a prop-dressing file, or spare blades for her old 2-blade prop. "I just spent three days in Piqua (OH), at Hartzell. They were marvelous." Polly's Dakota now sports a new, 3-blade prop. "They balanced it quite well. Climb is phenomenal. I really wanted it for the shorter blades, for better ground clearance. It's quieter, too. Cruise? I haven't flown it far enough to tell if there's any significant difference, yet."

Cruising the world...

"I fly seven to nine thousand feet, usually," Polly revealed. "I carry oxygen, too, but I don't like to use it. Over the pole, I went 12,000 feet, and didn't use oxygen. I didn't need it, either. The density altitude over the pole is really quite good." [It's really cold at the pole, at 12,000 feet --ed.] We asked Polly if she could tell when she was getting hypoxic, or if hypoxia were a problem. She has a built-in warning system: "Over nine thousand, ten thousand feet, I start to yawn. That's my signal," she said.

Cruising the world for a good cause:

Polly is flying for Flying for the Disabled, which awards ten flying scholarships a year, to disabled young people. They get 40 hours of time, at bases in either in the US or South Africa. "Many of them get their pilots' licenses; nearly all of them solo," she explained. "It's not really about making more pilots, though" Polly noted; "it's about using learning to fly, to come to terms with disabilities. When these students go to our flight schools, they are taught independence, as well -- they come alone. No caregivers, no Moms. They learn to depend on themselves, and learn that they can do it."

All those names on her wings are direct sponsors of the scholarships. For a certain donation, your name can be added to the list. "We don't take out a penny," she said, "not for fuel, not for administrative expenses, not for our own expenses." Sponsors -- and there are a lot of 'bumper stickers' on her orange PA-28 -- pay expenses. This isn't her 'retirement program,' however. "Whatever is left after expenses -- that money goes to the charity, also," she said.

Polly has met a number of the scholarship recipients on her tour; she has seen three in just the past few days. "Such courage those people show," she said. As she sets off, to complete her run over the South Pole, and eventually home to England, she will have two more items on her airplane, besides that shiny new Hartzell prop: my business card, and my name on her wing --TK.

FMI: www.worldwings.org