Three women from Indiana State University and two from Purdue University are about to take off for a shot at an air race that‘s a descendant from the days of Amelia Earhart.
The 39th annual Air Race Classic runs through Thursday, with 54 all-female teams racing their planes from Fredericksburg, Virginia to Fairhope, Alabama.
The types of planes used in the Air Race harken back to the days of the Women‘s Air Derby, a race that started in 1929, one in which Earhart competed but did not win.
"You can have a single-engine or multi-engine aircraft, but it has to be piston-engine and cannot be supercharged or turbocharged. It has to be naturally aspirated," said Kayleigh Bordner, a junior at Indiana State who will pilot the university‘s entry in the race.
Bordner, a junior who plans on becoming a corporate pilot after graduating, also took part in last year‘s Air Race. "I'm very much a history buff," she said. "It means a lot to me to continue that legacy and tradition of an all women air race and to be able to participate in something that is bigger than just us."
Only about six-percent of professional pilots are women, and Bordner said she hopes the race inspires other women and girls to take an interest in aviation.
ISU is one of 17 college teams competing in the Air Race Classic this year, and you don‘t necessarily have to finish first to be the winner. Each plane is assigned a handicap speed and team members are challenged to develop the best flying strategy based on wind speeds and weather patterns.
Indiana State‘s plane is a single-engine Diamond DA40, "with a top speed of 147 knots, but obviously we hope to go faster than that," Bordner said. That‘s equal to roughly 191 miles an hour.
Purdue University has been prepping a ground team that will monitor radar and forecasts to help their pilots captain Natalie Butler of Palos Park, Ill., and co-pilot Molly Van Scoy ofWilkes Barre, Penn., who are both first-time competitors in the Air Race Classic.
"I love to fly - it's something I have been doing since I was very young," Van Scoy said. "It's something I find joy and freedom in."
Much of this year's Air Race Classic course in the Midwest, with stops in Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Missouri, including one at Lawrenceville-Vincennes International Airport.
