Carol Church, of New Cumberland, and Carolyn Van Newkirk, of York, are co-holders of the world record for speed over a recognized course for their type of aircraft, from Oklahoma City to Mobile, Alabama, set on June 23, 2011. They flew their Cessna 182 at a speed of 153.46 mph to set the record.
DAN GLEITER, The Patriot-News
The airplane dips through clouds into bright sunlight and starts a quick descent toward a small airstrip the pilot has never seen before.
Two women at the controls of the Cessna 182 lower the plane to 200 feet above the runway while keeping the aircraft in a straight line. They push the plane as fast as it can go, reaching speeds of 180 mph.
It sounds dangerous. But to Carol Church of New Cumberland and Carolyn Van Newkirk of York, it’s a heckuva lot of fun.
Church, 61, and Van Newkirk — who just admits being old enough to draw Social Security — are helping keep alive a tradition of women barnstorming pilots dating to Amelia Earhart.
The two women even have their own world speed record.
On June 23, Church and Van Newkirk hit 153 mph in Van Newkirk’s Cessna 182 while flying between Oklahoma City and Mobile, Ala.
No one, man or woman, had ever gone that fast between those two points in an aircraft in the same weight class as the Cessna 182, according to the National Aeronautic Association. The association also verified the achievement as a world record according to the Federation Aeronautique Internationale of Switzerland.
The record is so unusual that no one ever held it before, said Art Greenfield, director of contests and records for the national association.
Church and Van Newkirk set the record while flying in the Air Race Classic, a transcontinental race held each year for women. The classic is descended from the Powder Puff Derby, a cross-country race for women pilots that Earhart made famous in 1929.
The midstate women arranged for controllers in the towers from Oklahoma City to Mobile to time their speed as they flew from one location to another. Otherwise, the speed would not be recognized as a record.
Church said going for the record from Oklahoma City to Mobile was like driving down Interstate 81 with your foot on the gas pedal as far as it can go the whole time.
The women shared piloting duties during the transcontinental race. But for the Oklahoma City to Mobile leg, Van Newkirk was the pilot and Church the navigator.
Van Newkirk said during the Air Race Classic pilots can’t communicate with the air traffic control towers. You can’t fly at night or stay in the clouds. You go by what you see in front of you during the day.
“This is real flying. This is finger-on-the-map flying,” Van Newkirk said.
Both women found their passion for flying after each had established themselves in other careers.
Van Newkirk was principal of a private school in Baltimore. She had time on her hands after getting her doctorate from The College of William & Mary. Around 1990, she started taking lessons at York Airport. When the flying school shut down, she continued her lessons at Capital City.
“It became something I just had to do,” Van Newkirk said. “I’d land and say, ‘Holy smoke, look what I just did.’ ”
Church was a teacher at Trinity High School when she started taking lessons about 25 years ago. She became a corporate and charter pilot and, for a period, was a full-time flight instructor at Capital City.
“After 9/11, everything sort of dropped out of aviation. I had to pull out my RN degree to pay the bills,” Church said. Today, Church is a nurse at Holy Spirit Hospital but still teaches flying part-time at Cap City.
Church and Van Newkirk met through the International Organization of Women Pilots. The group is better known as “the 99s,” after how many women showed up for the first meeting that Earhart organized in 1929.
Van Newkirk teaches English at Yorktowne Business Institute. She’s also on the board of the Susquehanna Area Regional Airport Authority, which owns Capital City and Harrisburg International airports.
Van Newkirk wrote a history of female aviators for the 99s. She learned about the Women Airforce Service Pilots, a group of women pilots the U.S. government hired to train male pilots during World War II.
She said as many as 30 of the women were killed during the training, some while flying planes that the men used for target practice. Others died in accidents, like Evelyn Sharp, a WASP killed when her plane malfunctioned at Capital City and crashed into a hill.
Van Newkirk and Church know every time they pilot a plane, they stand on the shoulders of Earhart, the WASPs and other pioneers.
“If I lived 30 years ago, I wouldn’t be doing this,” Van Newkirk said. “It wasn’t accepted practice for a woman to be a daredevil.”
Today, about 10 women pilots are in the chapter covering this region, Church said.
The 2014 Air Race Classic will be special because Capital City Airport will be the end point for the race. Church said the women in the local chapter will paint a large compass rose on the blacktop on Capital City.
“We are going to concentrate on making this terminus a really memorable stop. We want to help the economy, too. These gals will spend money,” Church said.
MORE INFORMATION:
The 2014 Air Race Classic will end at Capital City Airport. To learn more about the race, go to www.airraceclassic.org. To learn more about the International Organization of Women Pilots, go to www.ninety-nines.org.
Source: http://www.pennlive.com
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