Jenny Jorgensen checks in with her first log entry for the Air Race Classic. Jenny and Mary Build departed June 10 to begin their adventure. The first leg was to fly commercially to St. Paul, MN to pick up the aircraft they will be flying in the race, the 1975 Cessna 182 on floats. Their next leg is to fly directly to Mesa, Arizona, where the race begins.

Sat., June 10, 2006 - 5:30: Bus to Logan and then from there a shuttle to the Sheraton in Revere, where I had sushi and introduced it to Mary. Then it was off to bed with a wake up call request at 4 a.m

Sun. 3:50 a.m.: It is way too early for any sane person to wake up. Showered and ready to catch our shuttle. We were at Logan by 5:30. We checked in, shipped luggage and of course headed for Starbucks! The wait for the plane was fine, boarded and headed to Chicago for a brief landing, a postcard purchase and then back on the plane to St. Paul. Upon arriving at St. Paul we called for a shuttle to the Country Inn. In about 25 minutes we were headed for the inn.

12:00: We checked in to the Inn - fine place, pool, homey feeling. First room had been used and not made up so moved on to a second room. We had lunch and then Mary went for a walk and I went for a run to the airport to check it out. It's definitely more like 2 miles from the hotel, not the posted 1. While at the airport I met Jerry who owns a 1947 Luscombe, tail number N2759K. He showed it to me, proud of the new panel that he'd put in this winter. What fun. Jog back to hotel, more exercise, shower, and then luxurating in the sun and reading. I can't remember the last time I calmly sat and read a book -- oh yes I can, last fall with my honey on our sailing trip.

5:00: I'm off now to see what Mary wants to do for dinner. I know we still need to spread charts out and take a look at our flight route and make a list of charts we need to get from here to AZ

Thursday, June 15th - Mary has called in with a progress report:
In summary, Mary and Jenny spent Monday doing final paperwork in St. Paul. After spending the early morning on Tuesday calibrating the fuel tanks, they departed at 10 a.m., completing two flights that day. On Wednesday they were able to complete three flights, covering 800 miles and enduring continous mountain waves. Mary describes the flights as being "long, bouncy, unsettling and HOT," since they have been heading into the sun the whole way. Crosswinds were also encountered. They landed at 7 p.m. local Mesa, AZ time. They will have four days to rest up and prepare for the race. Jenny will be writing more soon.

Jenny keep us up-to-date with the flights from St. Paul to Mesa and the race preparations:

June 13
Up and going by 6:00 a.m. We gathered what we needed, had breakfast and then had a van ride to the airport where we were to pick up the last of the paperwork for the plane, and then be on our way. When we arrived at Wipaire we had to fill the plane with fuel in increments in order to make a calibrated fuel gauge. We were given the final paperwork that we needed for the race. We asked a few more questions about the plane and then were on our way. The seat belts needed a bit of adjusting so we could use the shoulder straps - those fixed, we were then under way - well up and away.

During the flight we kept close track of the fuel usage, tried various altitudes to determine best fuel, I did more radio work and chart chart work to determine who to call for flight following and who to call for filing a flight plan. We had packed the plane with most of the luggage way aft and bit of it right behind the seats. We also played with the location of my seat to see if that made a difference in speed - and it did! On take off my seat is as far forward as possible and then when we are at cruise it can go back a couple of notches. We had some great views along the way - power lines with five layers of lines on them. We pushed on to Akron, Colorado.

Our stopping point for the day was Akron, not much going on while we were here. The airport is a 7,000 foot wonderfully paved runway. There was a van we could use for the night. We checked in to a non-glamorous hotel that did provide a bar of soap. Restaurant across the street and root beer floats 2 buildings away. It was a long day of flying.

Mary did a great job landing the plane with a good cross wind component.

June 14th
We departed Akron, a small, dusty dry town at 8:15. As we neared Raton, NM we had a nice draft that lifted us to 10,000 feet. We took the lift. Our first gas stop was Raton, New Mexico. Great place for gas, lunch if desired, postcards. Friendly people who keep a photo album - we're in it now! From Raton we continued our flight toward Mesa, AZ. We had another fuel stop at an airport call Truth or Consequences (TCS) - named for the televsion show years ago. There was no one at the small FBO when we arrived but with a phone call there was someone there within a few minutes. It was great to get inside away from the heat. We were working to make sure we were drinking enough water - I didn't pay enough attention to this on the first day. At TCS we also had the opportunity to see the Grumman, "Mistress" originally owned by Howard Hughes! What a great plane and well cared for by the owner.

Our plane was fueled by driving the fuel truck right up under the wing and then climbing up onto the roof of the cab of the truck in order to reach the fuel tanks - there was no ladder tall enough for our plane on amphibs. Creative problem solving here.

From here we flew south towards Deming, New Mexico. Once we flew by Deming, we could then fly slightly northwest to Mesa, AZ. Our views of the farmland below with it's circles were amazing. We had a great view of mountains just past Cochise, NM as we passed over them. Mary saw some buffalo from her side of the plane. We made it to Mesa, AZ late in the day and again Mary did a beautiful landing in windy conditions. We got the plane tied down for the night and had an offer of a ride from Martin at the Helicopter base.

Marge was also there to greet us and make sure we had everything we needed. We were very happy to see the Hilton Hotel - a far cry from the previous night's accommodations. We had a great dinner and went to bed, excited for the next day.

June 15th.
The day began with the luxury of working out in an air conditioned exercise room. We were picked up by Marge and Vikki and headed to the airport. We made arrangements to have the plane cleaned due to no brushes, buckets, tall ladders, etc. It was a great bargain - $60 for the plane to be cleaned. In the meantime we went and signed for the rental car. We made it back to the plane just in time for the fuel man. He was in the process of getting ready to fuel the plane and we wanted to make sure we got the fuel we needed in both wings. The fuel man had to borrow the ladder from the man who was washing the plane because he wasn't prepared for the height of our 182 when on amphibs! Some of the afternoon was spent signing in and talking with several experienced racers. Ruby, an 88-year-old pilot was more than happy to talk with us and answer a variety of questions about racing. She was fascinating to listen to and was very clear about the difference between flying and racing!

Later in the day Mary did some reading about the instruments in the plane and I did chart work - locating the airports along the route and drawing our lines for flying. The next step will be to calculate distances, although they are provided it seemed good practice to spend time with the charts and to become familiar with the terrain over which we would be flying. More of this work for tomorrow also. Off to a good Mexican dinner and to Borders to get the local paper with an article about the race in it.

Traveling in style while on land

June 17th
We spent yesterday running around taking care of last minute details. Mary's been reading more about the plane and I've been drawing the route on the WAC charts and then on the sectionals -some of the legs require using 3 sectionals! I've made calls to the airports where we will be fueling to make sure that they are ready with a 10 foot ladder. Everyone is so surprised to hear "a 182 on amphibs!" It's definitely caused some conversations for sure.

We have a reception to attend tonight. There is a first- timers meeting tomorrow and another event. These are mandatory events and I think (let me confirm this) that we lose points if we don't attend them - can't imagine attendance will be taken, I'll keep you posted. It's great meeting the women pilots - there's a wide range of women from all over the country. I think we came the farthest. Ruby Sheldon, who is 88, is just amazing. She's a real cracker jack and very infomative and a wealth of information for us. I've truly enjoyed talking with her.

Ruby Sheldon, an 88-year-old pilot who is just amazing and completely involved in every aspect of this race. She has provided wonderful advice and is a great role model.

June 18th
Today, Sunday we exercised because we should and then we went to the airport. We checked in and were told that we could do the handicap checkride early tomorrow morning and that they were ready to do our plane inspection. We had all the paperwork and the inspection went fine. We put the numbers on the plane, both on the tail and under the wings. They look great! It was hard getting all the bubbles out from where the numbers were over the rivets, but we managed. The 10 foot ladder has certainly been handy with all these sorts of tasks.

The Credential Check

We went to the first-timer's meeting, which was mandatory and, yes, they did take attendance. We learned about a variety of "dos" and "don'ts" but mostly the message is follow the rules, talk to each other, and have fun. It is a race though, so keep that in mind. There will be many decisions and we will each have our own tasks to complete for each leg, in this way we will work to accomplish all the requirements. We are off to the mandatory banquet tonight and an 8 a.m. weather briefing tomorrow morning.

...and the Race begins!

Tuesday, June 20th
We enjoyed breakfast with all the other racers at 5:30 a.m., had a weather briefing at 6:00, then headed out to the airport at 6:30. The first engine started at 8 a.m. with all the other engines starting up progressively after that. We were signalled when to start our engines. It was amazing to taxi down the taxiway at Falcon Field, Mesa, Arizona with all the other racers - adrenaline and excitement was definitely with us. It was an additional rush to have our very own cheering squad comprised of Mary's daughter Anna and grand-daughter Brianna. We passed the tower and were off with our time started - we were on our way to Santa Teresa (5T6), NM. We arrived at Santa Teresa and were still busy even though the time had stopped. We had a fuel slip to fill out and pass in; fueling was done in the order in which the slips were passed in to the fuel person. We had to close the flight plan, go to the bathroom if we had been drinking enough water (this was stressed at our meetings prior to the race - drink enough water), check the plane for the next leg and double check the fuel level. The fuel people were in white shirts and black bow ties in the hot sun. There was a wonderful spread of food and plenty of cold water.

Our next leg was to Ozona (OZA), TX. Our flight was great. At each leg we were required to make a 10 mile out call for "fly by to land" if we were landing, which we always did to get fuel. On our 10 mile out call coming in to Ozona we heard that there was a plane on the runway with a flat tire and they were quickly taking it off the runway so other racers could land. Again, there was great help at the airport with fuel, pushing airplanes, food and water. Mary had called about weather in order to make a decision about flying a 3rd leg for the day. We couldn't go on due to weather - our next stop at Bryan was IFR and the race rules require VFR conditions. Volunteers were organized to take us to our various hotels and to pick us up the next morning.

Wednesday, June 21
The weather for the morning wasn't favorable for an early start so we arrived at the airport at 7:00, loaded the plane, putting all luggage as far back as it would go, preflighted the plane and were ready to go. We had all been sitting around waiting for Bryan to turn VFR. Mary just happened to talk to the briefer at the right time and found out the IFR conditions were extended to 11a.m., however when she asked for the temperature and dew point spread it was then four degrees and the ceiling was 1000 feet. We were at the very end of the take off list so we looked at each other and slowly walked out to the plane, (if we were ready to go before anyone else we could go to the front of the line). We started the plane and taxied out for our "fly-by to continue" for our destination to Coulter Field (CFD) in Bryan, TX. We were greeted by the Richardson's, friends of Mary. We said a quick hello, refreshed ourselves, had a bottle of cold water and we were off again.

We had another good flight to Morehouse Memorial (2F8) in Bastrop, LA. It was very hot so the bottles of water that were handed to us as soon as we got the plane doors open were very welcomed. We had wonderful help again with fuel - all but the actual fueling of the plane at this stop. Once we had the plane fueled we went into the FBO to find a wonderful spread of food. The cheese sandwich I ate and the PBJ that Mary ate were just what we needed. The bread pudding was outstanding.

Refreshed and relaxed, we were ready for the next leg of the race. We started the plane up and received a call that people on the ground had heard a clap of thunder and thought it might be coming our way. We shut the plane down and waited to see if it was indeed coming our way. We closed the flight plan, checked weather again and were good to go, the storm was not moving toward our flight route. We reopened our flight plan and were on our way. En route we saw weather out over our left wing but it didn't catch up to us and we had another good leg, landing at Ada Municipal (ADH), Ada, OK around 6 p.m. Because we were the first to arrive and start the overnight list it put us in the position to be first for take off the next morning. We ended the day by fueling the plane and tying it down for the night. We again had wonderful volunteers there to greet us, check out the plane, hand us water and arrange for rides to and from the hotels.

Once at the hotel we enjoyed an exercise and debrief swim, ate dinner, looked over the charts for the next day of flying, filed flight plans and got a briefing for the morning. We knew then that we had to be at the aiport and ready to go as soon as possible in order to beat the weather that was predicted. Both days so far had been full, hot, tiring, exhilarating days.

Thursday, June 22
Jenny checked in upon arrival at the terminus: WE ARE HERE in MENOMINEE and it's only Thursday. We arrived around 3:30 but I'll have to confirm that later. We made it and had a GREAT day! We were up and at the airport by 6 a.m., as soon as the timer arrived at 6:30 we were on the runway making our way from Ada, OK to our first stop on Lawrence KS where we arrived to fuel up and take off again for Albert Lea, MN. We had a great flight along this 291 nm route. Upon landing we fueled up both the plane and ourselves and made our way to Menominee. Upon arrival we cleaned all the bugs off the plane and then enjoyed a nice spread of food.

Below, Jenny fowarded all the details of the flights to the terminus.
Very early start to the day. Mary had a great weather briefing for the morning, and we were first on the RON (remain over night) list. As soon as the timing person was at the timing line we were taxing down the runway for our fly-by to continue. We had a beautiful first leg with good winds and high energy for the next three legs. We flew in to Lawrence Municipal (LWC) in Lawrence, KS, fueled the plane and ourselves and were right back in the air. The second leg provided some beautiful scenery below with several lakes that made it hard to fly over knowing that we could land on them with our wonderful amphib plane. Mary could see the docks big enough for us to pull into and she could smell the bacon from the restaurant, but we didn't stop - we were making our way to Minnesota.

I made the 10 mile out call and shortly after so did another racer. I spotted them off the right wing, lower and slightly behind us. Because we were much higher than they were, we were able to gain ground speed on our decent. Mary had to slow down because of the limit of 157 knots indicated airspeed due to the wing tip extension modification. We came roaring across the timing line and continued on to pattern altitude and landing procedure. Albert Lea (EAL), MN was ready for us, provided us with some nutrition and water and off we went again!

Last leg of the Air Race Classic 2006 - it was with mixed feelings that we made our way to Menominee: We were excited to be making our way to the terminus of the race but that also then meant the great adventure was going to be over for this year. During the flight from Albert Lea to Menominee we again had to stay focused on the destination ahead of us and not the wonderful bodies of water that we were passing over on this leg of the race. I had to convince Mary that the water wasn't fit for swimming because it probably had leeches. This helped Mary stay focused on the flight. We landed at Marinette Twin County (MNM), Menominee, MI around 3 p.m. with a good wind coming off Lake Michigan and the excitement of knowing we'd finished the race. We were again welcomed with a bottle of cold water and volunteers to help with fuel. We cleaned the plane and then enjoyed cold fruit and yogurt before heading to the hotel for a much needed rest. We were now part of the women's group of pilots who have completed the Air Race Classic.

As we write we still have paperwork to complete, meetings to attend and a celebratory banquet on Sunday, June 25th. We'd like to make sure to thank our sponsors: Wipaire, for their generosity of providing the Cessna 182 on amphibs; and the following: Jim Build, Alan Faraday, the Forbes, Jorgensen Landscaping, Coastal Orthopedics, Katahdin Wings, and Maine Aviation.

Friday, June 23
We enjoyed not waking up at the crack of dawn and slept in for a change. The morning was spent taking a walk and enjoying sights of Lake Michigan. We took some time to write up the three days of flying and sent them home to our wonderful webmaster, Lori. For part of the afternoon we occupied ourselves with a walk to K-Mart and developed some pictures to mail as postcards. For the evening we attended a mandatory banquet at a yacht club along the shores of Lake Michigan in Menominee. It was an enjoyable evening and nice not to have to think about planning a flight for anywhere the next day. We met the rest of the racers, as by the banquet all racers had to be finished.

Saturday, June 24
The morning started with us treating ourselves to a wonderful breakfast at the Serving Spoon restaurant. It was about a mile walk and well worth it. During the race breakfast consisted of a granolla/protein bar or a donut or even oreo cookies - I enjoyed those on the last day of the race.

After breakfast we picked up our race results and compared them to the times we'd recorded during the race. The time for one of the legs was exactly the same as the timer had recorded: 2:00:01, amazing that we could be that exact. We didn't really know the significance of our score because we were not seeing anyone elses' scores. Our dear supportive Ruby Sheldon checked our score and said we'd done well! So, now we wait until the banquet on Sunday to find our our results in relation to the other racers. Are we in the top 10? That's the question! The race results are not posted prior to the final banquet in order to allow racers to enjoy time together without discussing results and who did better than whom. It's hard to wait but we are glad that we have the time to spend more time with other racers and get to know them a little better. It's an amazing group of women.

The latter half of the morning was spent at the airport with local girl scout groups. It was a great time to share what we do with them and to help them earn their aerospace badge. The history of the race was described for the girls, and they heard from many of the racers and about their aviation professions. They heard from the CEO of Mooney, a charter pilot, a mechanic, a flight instructor, a stewardess, from our own Mary Build, as well as several other women. It was a great opportunity for the racers to share their love of flying as well as how they are making their living. The girls then learned from Ruth Maestre about how an air traffic controller helps keep aviation safe. There was an airport with four runways drawn on the pavement and the girls were walked through traffic landing patterns. Each race team took a girl scout to their plane and let them sit in the pilot seat and have their picture taken. The event ended with the girls each receiving a gift bag filled with many wonderful aviation related items.

We attended a debrief meeting in the afternoon where we shared what would be helpful for first time racers. There were good comments made and they will be taken into account by the board when they are planning for next year's Air Race Classic. We had a quiet dinner and spent the evening relaxing.

We have one more day of required meetings and the banquet and then we will have completely completed the Air Race Classic of 2006. It's been an amazing experience filled with meeting many wonderful women pilots and sharing stories about flying.

Sunday, June 25th
8:00 a.m.: Debrief meeting and breakfast. During the meeting comments were taken about the race and what improvements might be made. Suggetions were offered in a friendly manner. We wanted to provide some feedback but also wanted to make sure that we thought the race had been great and wonderfully organized. Jenny suggested that on our "10 mile fly by to land" call that we also say our location in relation to the airport for the general aviators who might not know about the race and the procedure for our fly by for timing.

The meeting was about an hour long and then we had the day to relax and anticipate the evening banquet. We went to the local craft fair with racers Carolyn and Marge. It was a good fair and we all helped out the economy by making some purchases. By then we were a bit chilled due to rainy weather and so warmed up with a coffee from Serving Spoon - a great place to eat. By late afternoon we began to get ready for the evening.

5:30: Dressed and ready to go to the banquet where we would finally find out about the race results. Our mama birds, Denise and Ruth, graciously drove us and Carolyn and Marge to the banquet. It was a little difficult to be without a car at the terminus but we managed - walking was good for us. The banquet was located at Riverside Country Club in Menominee, MI and was a great spot for the event. Everyone was dressed up, no more of the racing garb, although some teams were still in matching outfits.

We socialized and checked out the silent auction. Items were donated as a fund raiser for the Air Race Classic. Mary donated free flight instruction for a sea plane rating with the winning bid paying for the rent of the plane for instruction. It brought in a lot of money for the Air Race Classic. We hope to see many of the women from the race for a visit in Maine later this summer. We enjoyed dinner and then the awards began. Well, first each team was called and given hugs along with a certificate and a plaque that has the race route in a map of the U.S. Collegiate winners were announced next - this is an award going to the 4th - 1st place winners. Then leg winners were announced. Each leg has a 4th -1st place winner. The results for a team winning one or more legs was announced and called up for their award. There was a Piper award for the team flying the best time in a Piper plane. Finally the top ten teams were announced, starting with the 10th team. We heard the score of 16.-something and we knew it wasn't us. That meant that we'd made the top 10 and were not 10th! We heard four more teams called up who had scores in the 16-something range! Wow. Then we hear, "17.157 Team 33." That was us!

We made our way to the front, Jenny passed her camera to fellow racer, Robin, for pictures to capture the moment in history. We were first time racers, first time float plane, and in 5th place! What a wonderful feeling. Our "mama birds" took 2nd place with a score of 20.230. Yea for them. The winning team had a score of 21.731. Check out the race classic website (www.airraceclassic.org) for full details about results. The evening ended with pictures and payment for the silent auction items.

Wow, we'd done it. We had one little flight back to Minnesota to return Wipaire's plane.

Monday June 26th
We wake up and call weather to find out about weather along our route and learn that we are not in a rush, there's a bit of morning fog along the route and we have an extra hour or so. We enjoyed breakfast in the hotel and waited for the shuttle to take us to the airport - the volunteers throughout the whole race have been terrific, couldn't have asked for more from them. We packed the plane, preflight, fill with fuel and are ready to depart Menominee for Fleming Field (SGS), South St. Paul, MN.

We had a wondeful flight, enjoyed the calmness of pleaure flying, and landed at Fleming Field around 11:00. We shared our results with Wipaire, thanked them for the plane. We will arrive home and after some resting will be eager to share our experience. Again, we'd like to thank Wipaire for the use of the 182 on amphibs - it performend wonderfully, and thank you to our sponsors - Jim Build, Alan Faraday, Katahdin Wings, Jim and Alice Forbes, Coastal Orthopedics, Jorgensen Landscaping, and Maine Aviation Corp.

Mary Build, shown above and at right with AOPA President, Phil Boyer,
after receiving the ACONE State Award.

The Katahdin Wings is very proud announce that Mary Build received an ACONE State Award on April 28, 2005, for contributions to aviation as a CFI/II, FAA Designated Examiner-SES and Aviation Safety Counselor. She produces the annual Seaplane Safety Seminars in NY, NH and ME. and is a recipient of the New England Ninety-Nines Award of Merit. Mary has also been actively involved in elementary school and Aerospace Aviation education programs. The ACONE State Awards are intended to recognize the aviation-related accomplishments of individuals or teams who have made significant contributions to aviation, aerospace history, and/or aviation safety.