Students compete in plane
race
By Anna Herkamp
Summer
Reporter
A tradition that began in 1919 with women aviators
including, Amelia Earhart, has become an annual event in the School
of Technology.
The Women's Air Race Classic, formerly known as
the Powder Puff Derby, has featured a two-woman team from Purdue for
the past several years.
This year its pilot and co-pilot placed 17th in
the weather-delayed race.
The race began June 26 in San Diego and consisted
of several different "stops" throughout the cross-country journey. The
race was supposed to end in Cincinnati, Ohio; however, because of weather
hazards the race ended in Pratt, Kan.
The plane in this year's race, the Cessna 182,
is a new aircraft chosen by the participants of the race — Ashley
Cavert, a junior in the School of Technology; and Sarah Dittman, a senior
in the School og Technology — as well as faculty members.
Purdue replaced many of its planes last summer,
said Larry Gross, associate professor of aviation technology, so this
year's race was a sort of trial period for the plane.
Dittman, pilot for the race, said she thought she
and co-pilot
Cavert did as well as they could have. She said
flying the route "backwards" as they went west for the race, was good
practice. It gave them confidence in the plane, she said.
Preparation for cross-country flying is hard to
do, Dittman said. "You learn as you go."
The main practice Dittman and Cavert got was flying
to San Diego and checking out the airports and stops that were on the
route, Dittman said.
One of the most difficult challenges Dittman and
Cavert said they faced was flying over mountains. "It's harder to fly
around mountains. The terrain starts at 8,000 feet above sea level,"
Dittman said.
The density altitude affects how well the aircraft
performs, she said. "We knew about flying over this type of terrain,
but once you're actually in it, it's a lot different," she said.
The race itself went as planned except for the
abrupt cancellation due to thunderstorms.
At the beginning of the race, each plane took off
30 seconds after the one in front of them. As the planes progressed
toward the first stop, the faster planes began to pull ahead, said Dittman.
The first stop, in Williams, Ariz., only took two
hours of flying time, and because it took so little time, Dittman and
Cavert decided not to stop, but fly over and go on to the next stop
in Gallup, N.M., where the team decided to stop for the day.
At 6:30 a.m. the next day, Dittman and Cavert were
taking off toward Kansas, where they stayed the night. It was there
the next morning when the teams received a pilot briefing and were told
that bad weather in Tennessee and Arkansas would cancel the remainder
of the race; wherever they were in Kansas was the official place they
would finish.
The teams then had until 5 p.m. the next day to
fly to Cincinnati for the award's banquet.
Despite the cancellation of the last part of the
race, Dittman said she didn't feel cheated, but she felt sad.
"I know it was in the best interest of all the
pilots," she said. Though she is disappointed that the race couldn't
be completed, she said she is satisfied with the place the Cessna 182
came in — 17 out of 31, and second of the two participating colleges.
For Dittman, one aspect of the race remains a success
no matter the team's place.
Dittman and Cavert dedicated the flight to the
memory of Julie Swengel, a former Purdue aviation student and mentor
to Dittman, passed away in September of 1997 due to a fatal plane crash.
They said not only because she was a student in
aviation, but also because she was co-pilot in the race the year she
passed away.
Dittman said Swengel and she had been friends for
a number of years because they lived down the street from one another
and attended the same high school in Greenwood.
Throughout the flight, Swengel's parents sent encouraging
emails, said Cavert. She said she feels like Swengel's dedication is
an important tradition to carry on.
"There are times when you're flying when you feel
someone else flying with you, whether it's God, or Julie. I feel like
she's up there with me (when I fly)," she said.
Dittman said she hopes she will be able to participate
in the race again next year.
Dittman said she'd like to be a corporate pilot.
She said this field would allow her more flexibility than flying for
a commercial airline, "in case you want to have a family later on,"
she said.
Cavert said she plans on flying the race again.
Next year she will hold the pilot's position. She will also commemorate
the flight in Swengel's name, she said.
Cavert said she decided to participate in the race
because it's a great experience. "I'd never been over the mountains
before," she said. It was a wonderful experience to have the opportunity
to meet so many other pilots who've flown for different venues, she
said.
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