By Lindsay Hughes | July 7, 2014 Estimated reading time 4 minutes, 51 seconds.
In June, 47 teams competed in the Air Race Classic, flying from Concord, Calif., to New Cumberland, Pa., in just four days. Air Race Classic, Inc. is a non-profit organization that hosts all-female air races, with the goal of encouraging women in aviation. This year, the Montreal Flyers were the only Canadian team to compete, proudly representing McGill University in the collegiate division of the competition.
The Montreal Flyers—comprised of Annie Wen, Sonya Vinderskov, and Emily Fowler—flew a rented Piper Arrow for over 21 hours, coast to coast, finishing in 31st place. The women said that because of the general lack of female pilots, the three team members came together naturally.
“Emily and I went to Oshkosh together last year and learned about the race at a booth,” said Wen. “Since we do not have our IFR (at least one pilot needs to have 500 hours pilot in command time or an instrument rating), we recruited Sonya.”
Although the race location changes every year, organizers always aim to create a cross-country route for competitors. Each team’s plane is assigned a handicap speed, with a goal to reach a ground speed as far over the handicap speed as possible. The competition uses this system to allow each entrant an equal chance at victory.
“This was a new experience for all of us since this was our first time racing,” Wen said about the Montreal Flyers’ strategy. “It’s always good to fly in a straight line, but we needed to take the terrain—especially out West with those high mountains—winds, and visibility into consideration.”
Although this year marked the Montreal Flyers’ first Air Race Classic, the three-woman team is far from inexperienced. Vinderskov is a flight instructor, holding a commercial multi-engine IFR with an instructor rating. Wen, a recent McGill software engineering graduate, began gliding at age 16 in the Air Cadet program and continued on to earn her private pilot’s licence the following year. She’s also a member of the Montreal Soaring Council and is working towards obtaining her commercial pilot’s licence. Fowler also began her aviation career gliding, and transitioned to power aircraft. She earned her FAA private pilot’s licence three years ago.
During the race, the Flyers were able to use that experience to their advantage, with all three women rotating through the roles of pilot-in-command, co-pilot, and navigator. The pilot-in-command concentrated on flying and properly executing fly-bys; the co-pilot focused on radio and technical work up front; while the navigator recorded all flight times, prepared fuel slips, and briefed the fly-bys as the team approached their destinations.
The three women now hope to take the experiences gained from this competition back home, to encourage more potential female pilots.
“We definitely want to share our experiences and bring some of this excitement back to Canada,” the Flyers told Skies. “We want to encourage more young people to consider aviation, and we hope that more Canadians will be represented (in the Air Race Classic) in the future.”
The Montreal Flyers’ 31st-place finish made them the last team to successfully complete the difficult competition, netting them the competition’s SOS Claude Glasson Award.
The Racing Aces team—consisting of Joyce Wilson, Dianna Stanger, and Erin Cude—crossed the finish line first, flying a Cirrus SR-22 aircraft. In partnership with Cirrus Aircraft, all of the team’s proceeds from the race will be donated to a scholarship fund for one future female pilot.
To learn more about the Air Race Classic, visit www.airraceclassic.org.
