The 40th annual Air Race Class (ARC) for women pilots will see approximately 55 teams from throughout the country and the world take to the skies in the only race of its kind in the United States.
Officially, the race begins with take-offs early on June 21 at the Prescott Municipal Airport. The finish line is Daytona Beach, Florida, on a pre-determined course that takes pilot teams out of Arizona forests and deserts across the Mid-America heartland to eastern Florida beaches.
Unofficially, preparation of planes and briefing of pilots for the 2,716-mile flight begins several days before, when the women pilots and support personnel begin arriving.
“We’ll have scores of people from all over the country here in Prescott for several days,” said Michelle Day, event chair and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University western region director of alumni relations.
She noted that ERAU is hosting events at both the beginning and the end of the ARC.
What’s more, ERAU-Prescott has two collegiate teams entering. Hannah Rooney (a senior from Youngstown, Ohio) and Rachel Hutzell (a junior from Urbandale, Iowa) are the pilot and co-pilot for one team; and Hannah Burright (a senior from Rancho Cucamonga, California) and Shelby King (a graduate student from Broomfield, California) are the pilot and co-pilot for the other.
In the past, the age span for women participating in the air race ranges from teenagers to experienced pilots in their 80s and 90s.
Significant Community, Regional Involvement
Jason Kadah, ERAU communications and media relations manager, noted that the aviation community in Prescott is already receiving inquiries from throughout the region about attending scheduled events. He said a group of more than 40 Girl Scouts from the greater Phoenix area plans to be here. They will be coming as a part of a “Discover Aviation” program intended to introduce young women to aviation.
“The economic impact of having something like this will be significant. And even better, it gives the community an opportunity to participate and observe many of the ARC activities,” he said.
Registration and credentialing of pilots will occur on Friday and Saturday, June 17-18. Experts will inspect each aircraft, too, to ensure they are fit to compete.
On Sunday, teams will spend time planning and developing race strategies. They will complete the day with a banquet at the Prescott Resort. “The banquet will be open to the public and will provide a genuine educational experience about air racing for those who attend,” Day said.
Monday will require competitors to attend intense briefings about air safety, weather conditions and all other regulations that govern the ARC.
The actual race beginning starts with the “take off” of planes from the airport beginning early on Tuesday, June 21.
“We anticipate hundreds of people visiting the airport just to see planes lining up – five at a time, one behind the other, 30 seconds apart – to begin the race. With 50 to 55 planes readying for takeoff, that’ll be quite a sight,” she said.
The Pilots; The Race
Lara Gaerle, ARC president of Fort Wayne, Indiana, has said, “We look forward to welcoming back veteran racers and meeting new competitors at this year’s start.”
The ARC began in 1929, with the Women’s Air Debry. It continued through the 1930s but was interrupted by World War II. It began again in 1947 and was known as the Powder Puff Derby, where women would compete in cross-country flights.
In 1977, what ultimately became the Air Race Classic had evolved into an organization that encourages woman to become pilots and promotes flying and aviation.
Today, ARC is considered the epitome of women’s aircraft racing. Pilots of all ages and diverse backgrounds will have four days to fly, daytime only, starting in Prescott with intermediate stops across the country and a final touchdown in Daytona Beach.
Two categories of race competition are open: Competition and Non-Competition. The Competition category will receive prizes and awards valued at several thousand dollars.
Another division – Collegiate – promotes participation from women who are enrolled in the accredited university they represent.
The race teams of two or three pilots must have at least 100 hours as a pilot-in-command to qualify. One of them must have at least 500 hours as pilot-in-command or a current instrument rating. Any teammate must have no less than a student pilot certificate.
Pilots must fly normally aspirated, piston-powered fixed-wing airplanes with engines of from 100 to 570 horsepower.
A unique scoring system is used to compute a “handicap” specific to each airplane. The objective is for each team to plan carefully and plot a flight plan to accommodate the kind of plane they are flying, weather, wind and other factors to let each team race against its own best time, not against each other.
“We’ll be inviting the community, especially those interested in aviation, to several of the events we are planning,” said Day. “We’re delighted already to have many local people and organizations volunteering to help in this historic cross-country air race.”
By Ray Newton
For more information, contact Day at michelle.day@erau.edu or 928-777-4210.
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