Continuing the Tradition of Pioneering Women in Aviation

The Air Race Classic will launch from Southern Illinois Airport (KMDH) in Carbondale/Murphysboro on Tuesday July 18 and terminate 2,610 statute miles later on Saturday July 21 at the Northern Colorado Regional Airport (KFNL) in Loveland, Colorado. 

The annual competition of planning, strategy, skill, and teamwork goes back 95 years to the 1929 Women’s Air Derby when twenty pilots raced from Clover Field in Santa Monica, California, to Cleveland, Ohio, where the National Air Races were held. That first Women’s Air Derby was nicknamed the Powder Puff Derby and the competition included such well-known aviatrices as Amelia Earhart, Bobbi Trout, Pancho Barnes, Louise Thaden, and Phoebe Omlie.

The intermediate stops along this year’s Air Race Classic will be La Porte Municipal Airport (KPPO), La Porte, Indiana; Wexford County Airport (KCAD), Cadillac, Michigan; Newark-Heath Airport (KVTA), Newark, Ohio; Bult Field (C56), Monee, Illinois; Owatonna Degner Regional Airport (KOWA), Owatonna, Minnesota; Omar N. Bradley Airport (KMBY), Moberly, Missouri; Bartlesville Municipal Airport (KBVO), Bartlesville, Oklahoma; and Dodge City Regional Airport (KDDC), Dodge City, Kansas.

Teams consist of all female pilots who fly during daytime VFR conditions in normally aspirated piston engine aircraft. To qualify, pilots must have at least a private pilot certificate and 100 hours PIC, and one must have at least 500 hours PIC or an instrument rating. Additional teammates must hold at least a student pilot certificate.

The race is not simply about speed but skill, teamwork, and strategy. Airplanes of any size and power rating can participate and each is assigned a handicap based on their speed to give any particular team an equal chance at winning. The handicap system means that teams compete against their own speed handicap, not each other, so they must plan for the best use of navigation, weather, winds, and their own ingenuity to beat their handicap by the greatest margin. Essentially they try to fly the most perfect cross country. In reality, the last arrival at the Terminus may be the winner.

FMI:  www.airraceclassic.org, airraceclassic2024.maprogress.com