April 10, 2012 Texoma 100 Air Race

The Liberty Gazette

April 10, 2012

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: Busy schedules kept us from early preparation for the Texoma 100 Air Race. Examination of the race course and even hotel reservations would wait until we arrived in Sherman the night before the race. After over a year of installing upgrades to our Grumman Cheetah, now dubbed The Elyminator, chomping at the bit to turn it out and really see what it can do, the good-humored banter for the race season opener fueled my competitive streak. Wayne Lemkelde flies a Grumman Cheetah with similar modifications and is our closest competitor. Apparently those who arrived at Race Central earlier in the evening joined Wayne in the hotel lounge, and as we were winging our way there they were posting in the group web page something about Wayne naming his airplane the “e-linda-nator.” It was on. Wayne was in for it. This was just what I was hungry for – someone to beat.

Mike: Earlier in the week Linda texted to me: “Another Cheetah has entered the race. We need Tim’s wheel pants!” Wheel pants are fairings that cover the wheels making fixed landing gear more aerodynamically clean, which means speed, and to Linda it was a need. We’ve been looking for wheel pants since our worn and cracked ones could no longer be repaired and wanted “speed” pants but have had difficulty locating approved parts. Our friend Tim keeps his Cheetah in a hangar near ours, but how to ask that question - may I borrow your pants? It’s like asking to borrow underwear. But when I managed the awkward question Tim laughed, assuring me that “Cheetahs aren’t bashful,” and yes, we could borrow them.

Linda: I pulled the airplane out of the hangar, fueled, loaded and cleaned while waiting for Mike to get off work. Race organizer Pat Purcell awaited our late arrival at the North Texas Regional Airport to give us a ride to the hotel. The night ended early with thunderstorms, hail and wind passing across the race course just north of the airport where race planes were lined up outside, but not a drop on the ramp.

After the pre-race briefing I caught fellow racer Greg Bordelon giving Wayne some tips on racing, and you can imagine Greg got a good scolding from me. Finally, at race time props began spinning, aircraft began taxiing out, and as Wayne taxied ahead of us I joyfully looked forward to passing him on the course.

Mike and I work well as a team and this race was my turn to fly and his to navigate. We had our race strategy, altitude for each leg, the degree of bank for each turn, and our preferred race communication style, all of which paid off when we caught Wayne before the first turn, passing him on the inside, leaving him in our wake as we turned in our fastest time ever at nearly 155 mph.

Mike: The friendly banter with Wayne continued after the race, and he congratulated us on the win while waiting in line for fuel. That’s what Sport Air Racing League is all about. We are competitive spirits but enjoy the people in our family of racers as much as we enjoy the competition.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

April 3, 2012 A new life for the old Inland

The Liberty Gazette
April 3, 2012

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: Back in February and March last year we shared the story in a five-part series of the Inland Sport airplane, it’s creator, Dewey Bonbrake and his grandson, Lance Borden, who is the proud owner of one of only seven remaining Inland Sports – a 1929 model, disassembled. The excitement grew a few weeks ago when Lance announced he had taken on a partner in the long desired restoration project. So one recent Sunday afternoon a group of us met at a hangar at Ellington Field and loaded the rare antique airplane, piece by piece onto a U-haul truck. Lance and some other guys took the airplane up to an expert restorer in Kansas who has already brought a couple of other Inlands back to glory. We’re anxious to see it fly again some day. This particular airplane, the one Lance has, flew in the all-women’s air race, the Powder Puff Derby. Lance has offered in the past that if Linda wanted to race it in a future Powder Puff Derby he would let her, but I think the rules for minimum horsepower have changed and that airplane would not likely be eligible to compete these days. Still, it has a rich history, having been raced by both Mae Haslip and Marty Bowman, in 1931 and later. Even if she doesn’t race it, it would be great to fly it to the start or finish of the big annual air race next year to show it off. We’re excited for Lance seeing this piece of history and family legacy being brought back to life. It seemed a bit extra special, too, that his son and grandson were there to help load the airplane. A couple of pro photographers were around to document this important step in the Inland’s resuscitation and we all agreed that the photos taken of Lance with his son and grandson next to the airplane must be edited to include their Grandfather Dewey. It’s only proper

Linda: Speaking of racing, the Sport Air Racing League season has begun. I opened the League’s website just as the final grand notes in Arensky’s Overture ~ Dream on the Volga, Opus 16 streamed from my speakers. It was a perfect match for the photo of the day – Bob Mills in his bright red Vans Super Six in about a 30-degree nose up climb-out with his air show smoke on. The 2012 season opener was in Sherman, Texas this past weekend. We’ll have more on that in a later edition. Meanwhile, the second largest fly-in in the world, Sun ‘n Fun in Lakeland, Florida just celebrated another great year with many new product announcements by several aviation companies. Garmin has a new app for pilots, and ForeFlight unveiled its newest offering, a superior mobile weather data gadget for use in the cockpit.

Also at Sun ‘n Fun began the campaign to build 50 "Fire Hubs" at aviation campsites across the country. The Recreational Aviation Foundation wants to broaden the horizons of pilots and their passengers who fly from one destination to another never exploring what's outside the pilot’s lounge. Campfires and camaraderie make popular aviation gatherings so the nonprofit organization launched this campaign and AOPA sponsored the first Fire Hub, at the Sun 'n Fun campground area. We’ve often said Liberty is a perfect location to fly in and camp out, so maybe one day our airport will join in the fun.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

March 27, 2012 Fullerton-the little airport that could

The Liberty Gazette

March 27, 2012

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: “People come out to the airport all the time telling me about how when they retire they can spend more time here,” says Bill Griggs, owner of AFI Flight Training in sunny Southern California. “I tell them I’ve been doing that for over 40 years now and get paid to hang out here,” he says with a big grin. Bill opened up his flight school in 1967 and has been going strong ever since.

“When I started this business I did a lot of homework,” Bill continues. “I looked at all the airports around Southern California and talked with all the flight schools and figured out what worked and what didn’t. I finally decided on this airport and put together a plan. And it’s worked all these years.” Bill and his son, Bill Jr. still operate AFI where thousands of pilots have learned to fly.

AFI Flight Training, derived from the company’s original name, Aviation Facilities, Inc., is located at Fullerton Municipal Airport which boasts a single runway, 3,100 feet long. That’s 700 feet shorter than Liberty’s airport. 600 airplanes call Fullerton home and it is one of the busiest single-runway general aviation airports in the world, in the middle of some of the most complex and congested airspace in the world, sitting amongst the busy airspace of Santa Ana–John Wayne, Long Beach, Los Angeles and Ontario International airports. When Bill started AFI, Fullerton was just a sleepy little airport out in the corn and strawberry fields. One of the visual checkpoints flying in from over the beach is Knotts’ Berry Farm and to the southwest is the original Disneyland. I did some of my flight training with a flying club at Fullerton in the 1970s and early ‘80s, and took many a checkride from an FAA designated examiner on Bill’s staff, so it was a great pleasure to introduce Linda to Bill while in California a few years ago, and show her the little airport that could, where people came with vision and passion to create success stories.

“I’ve been very fortunate to be able to do what I’ve wanted for so long,” says Bill. “It hasn’t always been easy work, but I have loved it all and look forward to coming here every day. It’s a passion as much as a career or business. It has to be if you are to survive for very long in this business.”

When I was flying out of Fullerton there were five flight schools and airplane dealers on the field. There are still many fixed base operations there but only AFI has remained with the same owner all this time.

Linda: Vision and passion are big things that touch everything you do, but a successful operator doesn’t overlook the small things. Bill Griggs knows the importance of a clean bathroom for instance. “Some business owners don’t realize how important it is,” he says. “Dirty reflects on you.” An observer of human nature, Bill shared a little-known fact with us: “women are funny – they won’t use up a toilet paper roll. They’ll start a new one before one is finished.”

Bill’s well thought through methods of reward and discipline underscore his understanding of people and the industry in which he works, and every bit of how his business and his life are run is based on Biblical principles, the only true recipe for success.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

March 20, 2012 Aviation and Social Media

The Liberty Gazette

March 20, 2012

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: Tweet! Tweet! It’s not just for birds anymore. On Twitter, one “tweets.” Tweeting is one modern-day method of getting real-time information to a target audience, and it’s done in very small amounts – micro-blogging. Social media has become more than just Facebook, and more than just personal. Businesses using social media have found the new marketing and public relations methods, although carried out through different channels, essentially operate most successfully by employing traditional standards. Experience within the aviation community has funneled the proper use of social media into a couple of categories. Some companies find it best to use Twitter, Facebook, and others for purposes of announcements and deal offers, while others use these real-time electronic methods to obtain feedback from customers, to engage them.

While many companies are still finding their way through the learning curve, what’s certain is the importance of how and what a company chooses to tweet. For one company, opening up the lines of communication with customers by asking for feedback can be (and has been) potentially embarrassing, because once a customer’s has been sent, all subscribers are able to see it. But these methods of communication can also work very well, and the aviation industry is jumping aboard like gangbusters. There’s even a social media boot camp for aviation businesses to hone their skills at reputation management. While some 200 airlines are already using some form of social media, airports and aviation related businesses located on airports – called FBOs – have been more cautious.

The Akron-Canton airport in Ohio was one of the first airports to begin tweeting, and on Valentine’s Day this year their public relations strategies were stellar. I saw several tweets throughout the day as they handed out treats to passengers, and by the end of the day they posted a link on Twitter to a video they’d taken of their innovative ideas and posted on YouTube, and tweeted, “What an amazing V-day at CAK! We gave away 500 cupcakes, 300 carnations, and hundreds of Cinnabons and cups of coffee!” Customers posted messages all day long about the great experience coming to the Akron-Canton Airport, adding to the positive image that airport already enjoys. So for those who “followed” the airport on Twitter, they would have seen messages about sweet treats awaiting them upon arrival.

In last month’s publication “Business Standard” Priyanka Joshi wrote, “Twitter plays a vital role in customer relations and engagement while their customers are at the airport as well as while offering specific deals to targeted users.” In fact, it is estimated that 40 per cent of airlines are expanding their social media teams, bringing in employees from marketing, customer service, e-commerce, corporate communications and other departments.

While electronic social media is still relatively new, successful implementation relies on the core standards and philosophies of traditional marketing and public relations. So while we might think younger employees will be more adept at using social media for marketing, without a good understanding of marketing principles a careless plan, haphazard tweeting, posting, or messaging can be disastrous. The traditional marketing professional knows how to build a successful campaign and only has to learn these new methods of communication.

I enjoy watching the many tweets of airports, FBOs, airlines, aviation writers and consultants and many others in the industry embarking on new media.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

March 13, 2012 Beyond the airport fence

The Liberty Gazette

March 13, 2012

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: A small boy presses hard on a bike which from a glance appears too big for him such that he unable to reach the pedals when he sits in the seat. The tree-lined lane he’s traveling is adorned with bushy clumps of grass separating two dirt ruts left by the constant travel of cars. The boy is on a mission, an adventure, having returned to this alluring path, only this time he will go farther, searching and dreaming of what he will find. As he rides onto a portion of the road that is clear of trees, he is startled by a flash of color overhead and the roar of an engine and instinctively ducks his head and rolls off onto the grass on the side of the lane where his bike’s wheels sink into the softer ground and the bike comes to a stop and falls to the side. The young rider tumbles, rolls on the ground and looks off in the direction the startling object has gone.

Jumping to his feet he watches as the airplane makes a smooth climbing turn eventually disappearing behind the trees. The boy remains still, not wanting to move until the engine’s roar is no longer audible, as his mind fills with wonder, who is flying that airplane and where they are going? What does it look like from up there? What does it feel like to fly?

He knows now that what he seeks must be only a short distance more down this lane, and knowing this makes him push harder on the pedals to make the bike go faster. Finally, rounding a corner, there it is: the airport, the very symbol of the gateway to adventure. He had heard there was one here, almost in a mythical sense – nobody in his school really knew for sure. But he has found it. He is the adventurous one willing to search beyond the far horizons to discover, to conquer, to successfully complete his mission.

A short, three-strand wire fence separates a parked truck and car from a little yellow airplane facing away from him and toward the runway. Off to the side around a little building, not much more than a shack, sits another airplane. Sunlight sparkles bright as diamonds through droplets of water as a man hoses dirt off the wings. The young explorer spies a couple of other buildings. From the fence he can see propellers and tails of airplanes parked inside, and his dreams are energized with the idea of flight, flying low over a field, looking out over the horizon a hundred miles or more, where all the world is his to explore. His spirit begins to soar. This is no video game. He has discovered the real thing.

What if there were no airplanes beyond the fence, no roar of an engine as the pilot sets off to far-away places? What if there was no place a boy or girl could go and be inspired? What if children had only TV or computer video games? Would they even seek new horizons or would they become, as Rick Durden asks, "easy prey for the beaten-down adults who tell them to quit dreaming,” to be “content and attuned to just beetling across the surface of life rather than living it fully”?

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

March 6, 2012 Community Airports

The Liberty Gazette

March 6, 2012

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda:After spending a lot of time with airport executives in the Houston area and beyond we see the results of good and not so good ideas. Airports are complex organizations, each a unique “mirror” of the community it serves requiring competent administration to manage them. First impressions are important and an airport, being the community’s front door, says “welcome,” or otherwise to newcomers.

Just like a business, an airport’s reputation in the local and aviation communities is built by a combination of influences, including policy-makers and tenants of the airport. The American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) recognizes that for an airport to be successful policy-makers must understand and balance two dichotomous philosophies: first, that an airport is a public entity and must be managed as such, and second, that the airport is a business enterprise and must be managed as such. The land and buildings of many public-use airports are publicly owned, by a city or county. The aircraft they host are mostly privately owned, whether by individuals or companies, engaging in commerce, while using airspace controlled by federal government regulations. So in reality there are many things about an airport over which its property owner has little or no control.

AAAE also recognizes that airports represent a variety of perspectives to a community, and expects that most citizens recognize the indispensable role of their airport. Professional airport management training educates students that key stakeholders in government positions sometimes use airports for political advantage, often preventing citizens’ participation in decision making related to airport operations and policy. This unfortunate situation should be addressed where ever it is a problem. No citizen of a community should become persona non grata at the whim of a politician.

Mike: While financial self-sufficiency is a goal, publicly owned airports are subject to public administration and subjected to policy decisions by people often far removed from the industry. Ignorance often cripples the host city and its airport. The most productive goal is for a city to recognize the airport as an asset and put it to work to benefit the community, using its entire economic impact to measure success. The inability to understand the unique nature of airports often leads local government agencies to attempt to put their airport into a frame of reference they better understand, such as parks or public utilities. This is where AAAE and the Aviation Division of the Texas Department of Transportation are such valuable resources. TxDOT’s Aviation Division is recognized as one of the best run state aviation divisions in the country. Under Dave Fulton’s leadership for many years, the entire state has benefited from his dedication to aviation and strong advocacy for airports throughout the state, and has set the standard for other states.

TXDOT holds the purse-strings for all the FAA grant money doled out to community airports such as ours so if they know about something that isn’t right they probably won’t be providing the funding. By utilizing TxDOT’s resources we can avoid costly problems before they occur, some of which come about as a result of depending on other so-called “experts” in aviation, and can expect healthy progress that will spell growth for the community.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

February 28, 2012 Airports are for people who don't fly

The Liberty Gazette
February 28, 2012

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: A mile of highway will take you a mile, but a mile of runway can take you just about anywhere. We’re seeing improvements at the Liberty Airport which is exciting given where we were just five years ago when it was a struggle for some to realize what a gem of an asset we have here, and how underutilized it's been. It is no small matter that City Manager Gary Broz has some experience with airports and understanding of their value. As with any industry, there's no shortage of outsiders, who without knowledge of the industry will criticize, manipulate, demonize, or even attempt to sabotage. We've said it before and despite naysayers, people who only contribute for their own glory, or politicians who once thought they could quietly “get rid of it,” we'll continue to wave the banner for this little airport in Liberty, because it’s an asset that exists to serve the community: Airports are for people who don't fly.

Mike: Why is the Liberty Airport such an important asset? Its importance is found locally, statewide, and nationally. Although our airport does not serve commercial airlines, we do not live in a bubble. Just imagine our highway system. Consider all the on-off ramps taking travelers from the main arteries for transportation to their final destinations. What if there were no on-off ramps? What if interstate highways only allowed access to major hubs? Our ground travel would then be limited to places such as Dallas, Chicago, L.A., and New York. Imagine the traffic jams if there were only these few off-ramps that all traffic must use. Now consider a national emergency of any sort and these being the only ways to get needed supplies and personnel to the scene. Help might be a long time in coming, if ever. This is what would happen if we similarly limited out national airspace system.

Our airport is considered by the FAA as a critical member of the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems, or NPIAS, a 10-year plan continually updated and published by the FAA, listing public use airports and their development programs. The needs identified in the System Plan are considered to be in the national interest, and are classified as significant to the country. The FAA’s long list of objectives includes that airports in the system “should support national objectives for defense, emergency readiness, and postal delivery,” and should provide as many people as possible with convenient access to air transportation, “typically not more than 20 miles travel to the nearest NPIAS airport” and that the entire airport system “should help air transportation contribute to a productive national economy and international competitiveness.”

Linda: The Post Office and two world wars built our nation’s airports, and with today’s fast-moving society we need more, not fewer community airports. We need more access to areas beyond those few major cities, because most of the population lives outside those congested places. This is vital to understanding why our airport’s single runway is important on a national scale. It allows us access to a world that would otherwise restrict us from economic growth and vital time-sensitive services. So when you hear us say, “Airports are for people who don’t fly,” as my sister’s Pa-in-law says, “Pay attention!”

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

February 21, 2012 The Business Advantage

The Liberty Gazette

February 21, 2012

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: You often read here about fun places we fly, or people using airplanes for charity or sport, or about significant historical events in which flying is the focus, and it has always been with the idea of showing how aviation benefits us all. Yes, there is the fun part, but aviation is also an efficient and productive means of transportation. That’s why the most successful businesses use business aircraft.

Unfortunately, business aviation has been burdened with an unrealistic image, painted as luxurious, excessive and unnecessary in mainstream media. Overcoming public misconceptions has become essential work for business owners, airports, and the aviation industry as a whole. But, says Paula Williams of Aviation Business Consultants, “companies willing to embrace the controversy will find ways to weather the storms that keep the competition in the hangar.”

Mike: The efficiency and extended range of reachability is attractive: being able to conduct business in three cities in one day and return home in time to get enough rest to go out and do it again the next day. For example, an electrician from out of town who flies in to the Liberty airport to work here in Liberty. Business owners, consultants, engineers, technicians, sales representatives, and many others make use of the Liberty Airport to conduct business. These are the people who keep our country moving. These are the people who make the best use of their time, increasing their efficiency and profitability. Deals may be made on a golf course, but the real work is done in the office, and business aircraft often serve as airborne offices. When moving from one meeting to the next, business can be conducted en route in a confidential environment.

The fact is, Liberty Municipal Airport, like over 5,000 similar airports throughout the country, multiplies the number of places one can travel in a small plane over airlines by a factor of nearly 10. Airlines only serve about 600 U.S. airports and you have to allot time for the drive, “security” screening, loading, and lack of privacy, making airline travel inefficient and less profitable for many businesses when compared with point-to-point travel with their own aircraft. The businessperson pilot who has access to any of the other 8,000+ private landing facilities increases efficiency that much more.

Linda: In their report, “Business Aviation: An Enterprise Value Perspective” (2009), NEXA Advisors concluded that: for the largest public companies in America, those that use business aircraft consistently outperform those that do not; business aviation provides a unique competitive benefit to America’s businesses, both nationally and internationally, expressed through greater shareholder and enterprise value; and business aircraft users are overwhelmingly represented among the most innovative, most admired, best brands, and best places to work. They dominate the list of those companies strongest in corporate governance and responsibility.

NEXA’s further studies of small and medium-sized businesses (2010) examined key drivers of enterprise value, revenue growth, profit growth, and asset efficiency. Their analysis showed that likewise among smaller companies those that use business aviation consistently outperform non-users. In other words, says NEXA, “the use of a business aircraft is a sign of a well-managed company.”

Mike: The competitive edge would not be possible without the use of personal and company-owned aircraft, and without the essential network of airports. We’ll examine that network next week. Till then, blue skies.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

February 14, 2012 Winning - The Man Trophy

The Liberty Gazette
February 14, 2012

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: The competition was stiff and with only five races to go in the 2010 air race season AnnElise Bennett had to make every one, but her mother’s days were winding down, and she had to be there for her. She declined the first-place points in Mesquite, wanting the National Championship to be hers fair and square.

AnnElise: I spent almost every day with Mom in May, June and July, leaving only to go race, with her blessing. She was eager to hear how each race went, and, even as her words became fewer and fewer, she always reminded me that I needed to “go and get that big trophy.” She passed away two weeks before the Great Canadian Air Rally in August. Flying my Cessna 182 to Canada with a side trip to Niagara Falls was the Good Fly and change of scenery I needed.

Races in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, Sherman, Texas, and Courtland, Alabama all went according to the Man Trophy Plan. Going into the final race in Taylor, Texas there were at least half a dozen racers over about a 50-point spread going for three trophies. Depending on how many airplanes showed up in each class and how each of the top racers performed, it was a nail-biter to the very last airplane launched and landed. Complicating my situation, a new racer in a 182 arrived at Taylor. This would be the final obstacle between me and the Man Trophy! I do believe that was the most nervous I’d ever been before a race, because beating or being beaten by another airplane in my class was a 10-point difference. Being neck and neck with so many other (male) racers, I needed every point I could get.

One of my stiffest points competitors, Jason Rovey in his RV-8, had seven airplanes in his class. If he did well in this last race he could earn 60 bonus points. As new racers are prone to do, the new fellow in the 182 chose to take a more leisurely pace around the course than I, so when the final results were posted, I was awarded my usual second-place points, behind the fellow in the Cirrus, but ahead of the new racer for the 10 bonus points.

I had managed to survive one of the hardest years of my life, race in ten air races, winning one with Louise Scudieri and losing one to her, and finish 20 points ahead of Jason, good enough for the 2010 Sport Air Racing League Bronze National Championship! Yes, I got silly with my Man Trophy and carried it everywhere – to the party, to bed with me, and even seat belted in the back seat of my trusty steed, “X-ray,” for the ride home.

When my personal results were tallied, I’d inevitably lost my mom (too early), but what I gained in great flying experiences, wonderful new friends, self-confidence with the personal satisfaction of setting a huge goal and ultimately accomplishing that goal in the midst of family tragedy proved that I am making the most of every opportunity, living life to the fullest, and I am okay. That’s what my mom wanted. I think she would be very proud.

Mike: Bobby Bennett won the 2011 SARL Gold National Championship and AnnElise won the Silver National Championship, still the only female pilot on the podium. 2012 is going to be an exciting year!

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

February 7, 2012 AnnElise, Squeege, and the Quest for the Man Trophy

The Liberty Gazette

February 7, 2012

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: Since its inception in 2007 all season point winners in the Sport Air Racing League were men. So AnnElise Bennett set her sights on what she calls the “Man Trophy,” vowing to claim one for her own. Trophies for the most accumulated points are awarded at the last race each year. In her rookie year AnnElise finished 13th in points out of over 100 racers, winning second place in her class. A fellow flying a Cirrus won the First Place Overall National Champion Trophy. AnnElise says that giant wood trophy “made the angels sing in my head, ‘ooohhh, girl, you gotta get one of "those!’” No female pilot had before been to the National Championship podium. There are no monetary prizes, we race for trophies and bragging rights. For AnnElise, that trophy, those bragging rights were priceless in the male-dominated world of aviation. The only way she’d have a chance at the top spot would be to race as many races in the season as possible, accumulating points.

AnnElise: Over the next few weeks, I worked on the Man Trophy Plan in my head. Since we couldn’t afford to go to every race in two airplanes I proposed in 2010 we would fly my airplane to as many of the far away races as we could manage, so I could win a Man Trophy, and 2011 would be Bobby’s year. It was crucial to my goal to do it by myself, in my airplane, so that I was solely responsible for winning (or losing) that big, beautiful piece of wood – and the aforementioned priceless bragging rights.

Linda: But AnnElise’s mother had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and early in 2010 her health took a turn for the worse. She wasn’t afraid of dying, but feared how her death would affect friends and family. She wanted them to live life to the fullest, and AnnElise knew that meant grabbing every experience and adventure she could, to show her mother she would be okay.

AnnElise: Mom was hospitalized several times. My sister and I took turns spending 24-hour shifts with her. And while she wasn’t an “airplane person,” she appreciated that I was, and in spite of declining health she encouraged me not to miss a single race.

2010 started out according to the trophy plan, with races in Taylor, Sherman, and Plainview, Texas; and Cecil County, Maryland. The next race, in Mesquite, would be the fourth time “X-ray” and I raced against my friend Louise Scudieri and her bird, “41Mike.” We start in speed-order, fastest first, and because my speeds had been faster than hers, I took off before she did. We were neck-and-neck around the course, and every time I called a turn, she called her turn, closer and closer, and by the time we crossed the finish line, she’d managed to creep up on me, finishing just seconds behind me – but that’s all it takes.

Mike: Louise won in Mesquite, and AnnElise congratulated her for a very tight race. After the race, however, confusion about mileage and times brought adjustments to the final standings, placing AnnElise in first place. In view of her quest for the Man Trophy, she needed those points, but she had heard Louise’s turn point radio calls and knew her rival was the winner. Being a true competitor, AnnElise declined the first-place points. If the National Championship was to be hers, it would be hers fair and square. We’ll tell you next week what happened. Until then, blue skies.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com