They have had lots of support and encouragement from their colleagues:
Go Meg! Lots of support from friends in the residence halls. They cut out our newspaper article pictures and posted them on Megan's door.
Megan and Nicole...posing for a quick picture before departing. GO TEAM!
(NOTE: they will be called "Classic 30" druing the race. Their tail number: N810KS will not be used while they are actually competing in the race.)
Our wonderful maintenance crew put our names on the plane so we would know which plane is ours ... Just kidding.... Now we don’t have to fight over where to sit. Megan is practicing for her CFI in the right seat.
Our first stop on our way to Iowa City was Manhattan (MHK). We took the courtesy car and went to grab Chipolte before our leg to Iowa city or KIOW. We stopped to change and when in the bathroom: Nicole, being the blonde that she is, put her clothes in the sink while she was changing failing to notice that it was an automatic water sink. So her shorts were sopping wet. Good job Nicole!
We are off!
The flight to Manhattan Nicole flew the plane. It was hot on our way to Manhattan and after lunch we were glad to climb up to 4,500 where is was a little cooler.
Below is a picture of a feature the G1000 has called a "Fuel Ring". We set this feature for 45 minute fuel reserve. This means that we can fly anywhere within this given ring (at our current speed, altitude, winds, etc) without running out of fuel.There are a few "rings" below. the most outer ring is when we run out of fuel...we never want to get there. The inner-dotted ring is when we hit that 45 minute reserve, and by that point, if something were to happen, we would want to start on our alternate plans to stop and get fuel.
Some awesome scenery in Iowa... Megan refers to them as "mossy lakes"
Megan is coming in for a landing on Runway 12 in Iowa City. There were several planes in the pattern when we came in. There is not a control tower at this airport, so each aircraft is responsible for keeping visual separation from each other...all part of the fun!
The trip was uneventfull, we didn't even see any other aircraft until we were about 10 miles out from Iowa City. As we got closer to Iowa the terrain started getting greener and there were a lots of hills, trees, and small ponds to observe. Megan flew from the right seat. She has only just begun flying from there so her altitude was hit and miss. Learning to fly from the right seat should be interesting.
Once we got on the ground at Iowa City, we were completly lost. Since neither of us has raced before we weren't sure what to do. But luckily there were lots of very nice volunteers to direct us in the right direction. Where we then parked the plane and both of us tied it down for the day.
While we were trying to figure out how to register and check in we were asked if we could complete our handicapp flight early. (Pretty much just 10 minutes after we landed). So Megan, being the pilot was debriefed on what she would do in the air. While both Nicole and Megan wipped most of the bugs off of the plane (sorry Mike we missed the bug free airspace)!!! Once Megan was up in the air she climbed up to 4,500 ft MSL, to simulate a density altitude of 6,000 ft. Once there she flew four different heading. 360, 90, 270, and 180. She had a check pilot in the aircraft with her to write down her ground speed so they could assign our aircraft a handicap. What this means is that we will have to fly our aircraft at an airspeed faster then our handicapp to earn more points. The handicapp flight went well and we are waiting to see wether we will have to fly again or not. If we don't our aircraft is all ready to go for the race. Our inspections are done, we are checked in, our airplane is rewashed, and we are ready to begin this awesome adventure!!!
Our Maintenance Inspection- They put paint on the nuts and bolts to make sure we do not modify the engine.
Our plan under inspection- They had trouble putting the engine cowling put back on our airplane this morning. Dont worry we double checked all the nuts and bolts and we are good to go.
We also met some of the other racers. One that we met is is Janet Yoder and her copilot Anne! They are super nice. They are Classic 29. Additionally, Janet was Robin and Niki's Mama Bird (to help them through their first race!)
While putting the plane back after inspection we needed help pushing it back into the grass. We got help from a gentleman that worked for a news station and Iowa. And again we were interviewed. It will be on the news in Iowa tonight at 6 and 10 CBS and FOX. We keep saying the cameras follow us.
After inspections, we got to go to the Iowa City Childrens Museum.
Megan at the Iowa City Childrens Museum Take Flight Exhibit. She was trying to fly the Wright Brothers Plane. She managed to land it three times, while Nicole crashed all 4 times. Don't worry, we are well qualified...our airplane doesn't maneuver quite like the Wright Brothers Plane!
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