![]() ![]() This year’s route offers a 23-degree change in latitude with stops or fly-bys along the way at airports in Mankato, Minn., Ottumwa, Iowa, Hastings, Neb., Sulphur Springs, Texas, Jonesboro, Ark., Pell City, Ala., and Cross City, Fla., before arriving at the terminus near Miami.Įach plane receives a handicap, and teams race against their own best time, not one another, creating a level playing field between planes of varying speeds. ![]() Liberty first participated in the race in 2012. Of the 44 teams registered for this year’s event, 19 are representing collegiate programs from 15 different universities. Inspired by the Women’s Air Derby that started in 1929 and featured Amelia Earhart among its competitors, the race is celebrating its 46th year and has included female pilots as young as 17 and as old as 94. It has already been an action-packed summer for members of Liberty University’s Liberty Belles flight team as they prepare for the June 20-23 Air Race Classic, a 2,685-mile trek from North Dakota to southern Florida.Įarly Thursday morning, the schedule became even busier as the two teams of three Liberty pilots both flew Cessna Skyhawk 172S planes out of Lynchburg, Va., to arrive in Grand Forks, N.D., by Friday for a weekend full of briefings, banquets, and pre-flight tests before launching on a four-day journey to Homestead, Fla. ![]() Liberty Belles II team members (in red, from left): Katrina Schlenker, Grace Johnson, Abigail Fletcher, and coach Chloe Cady Liberty Belles I (in white, from left): coach Emma Hazel, Olivia Smith, Savannah Hughes, and Madison Calhoun (Photos by Chase Gyles) ![]()
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