Cross Country Air Race Classic finishes in Homestead

The 46th Annual Air Race Classic, which traces its roots to the 1929 Women’s Air Derby, ended this year’s race in Homestead last Friday.

Forty two teams consisting of 100 women pilots raced from Grand Forks, North Dakota to Homestead General Aviation Airport along a 2,684-mile course beginning on Tuesday, June 20th.

All teams had to arrive in Homestead prior to 5 PM on Friday the 23rd. Of the 42 teams, 13 are collegiate teams whose primary pilot must be an undergraduate student. Both Auburn and Liberty Universities fielded multiple teams.

All teams flew single engine utility aircraft.

A pre-race timed flight determined each plane’s maximum speed, setting the benchmark against which it would be scored. The racers were timed along nine legs, taking them from North Dakota to Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Alabama, and Florida.

Finishing position is calculated by subtracting any penalties and the benchmark speed from the average speed over all the legs.

The Air Race Classic is a volunteer organization that works to encourage and educate women pilots, preserving the tradition of female aviation pioneers.

Two of those volunteers, Will Shaw, who works for the FAA in the Miami Tower, and Yogini Modi, owner of Homestead Executive Jet Center took the lead in the planning and execution of the finish operations in Homestead. Shaw told the News Leader that planning began 5 years ago.

The only team from South Florida, #90 Dare to Fly, consisted of pilot Kristen Jurn and copilot Jen Toplak, both from Miami Beach and members of the Florida Gold Coast Chapter of the 99s, a women’s pilot organization.

This was Kirsten’s 4th Air Race Classic and Jen’s first. They credited the support of the members of the 99 and their major sponsors VeriJet, who provided their Cirrus SR22 aircraft, Avinode Group and Gold Standard Aviation.

That support became even more critical when they lost their alternator at 11,500 feet over Texas. After landing on battery power, it was another race to get a replacement shipped in and installed.

Kirsten told us that their success was “Due to teamwork, the aircraft, and luck.” Jen said, “My purpose for the race was to gain more cross-country flying experience, to highlight the caliber of general aviation and especially aviatrix (female aviators).”

The other team that the South Dade News Leader followed was #32 Angel Wings with pilot Jeri Barrientos and copilot Mary McMahon. Jeri is a financial advisor in Tulsa Oklahoma and is currently President of the Tulsa Rotary Club. This was her second Air Race Classic and she had two purposes in mind for her race - promoting aviation careers and furthering her mission to bring awareness to and educate about human trafficking.

She said, “I wanted to use this as a platform.

A great opportunity to go to 10 different states and talk to both Rotary and elected officials about it.” When she landed in Homestead, she was happily greeted by Mayor Steve Losner and had a chance to talk with him. Losner is a third generation Rotarian, active for over 30 years.

We asked Ms. Barrientos about her message to those she talked with at stops during the race. She told us, “Human trafficking can be such a deep dark subject to talk about. It’s very hard for me to talk about. It’s my job to start the conversation, to get people to start to talk and think about what is going on in their own homes.” She continued, “The next step is to follow up with training. Rotary has on-line video training available that can teach how to recognize the signs.”

When asked about future plans, she told us, ”I’m kind of obsessed with aviation. I own seven airplanes. I’m currently restoring a T-32 Curtis Condor with the goal of flying it around the world raising awareness of human trafficking and educating about its detection and prevention.”

The race for the Angel Wings team was not all smooth sailing. Weather issues with thunderstorms left them on the ground in Hastings, Nebraska overnight, short of their planned stop in Kansas. Weather also delayed their departure the next day. This forced the team to cut short their time on the ground in Ponca City, Oklahoma where a group of Jeri’s family and friends were on hand to support the team.

Jeri told us, “We had to grab gas and get on our way. I didn’t get to hug anyone, just wave.”

Their speedy “pit stop” paid off when they landed at Sulphur Springs, Texas with only seconds to spare. The Air Race Classic requires that all the flying is done in daylight with all planes required to be on the ground by a certain time each day. They landed in Homestead just after noon on Friday.

The overall race winner was a college team from Kent State, the #52 Flying Flashes, Peyton Turner and Laura Wilson. They were flying a Cessna 172SP. Second place was also a college team, the #31 Saluki Aces, Graci McDaniel and Meadow Boden of Southern Illinois University Carbondale. They also flew a Cessna 172.