Microburst drama

The morning consisted of the final race briefing at Embry Riddle, trying to stay out of the heat. The briefing included a great but very alarming presentation by one of the professors there, who is also an NTSB investigator, on the hazards and challenges of flying in the mountains, including some rather graphic accounts of crash investigations that he had done. It was a good reminder of the care we have to take when flying in this environment. After lunch, we did the usual last day activities of running around doing laundry, this time at a laudromat in town with a temperature of approximately 110 degrees; and going to Walmart to get supplies of water and snacks.

At the end of the day, the eight Eastern PA girls met for dinner. Just as our dinners arrived, Barb got a call on her cell phone from the race officials, and we rushed over to the airport. We had all noticed some strange looking clouds late afternoon, and it turned out that a microburst (a localized area of severe down drafts and high winds) had directly hit the airport, and we were all summoned to inspect our planes and see whether we had any damage. Our planes were all tied down, but they had spun a little. N222VW was about ten degrees rotated to the left, and that had pulled the tail tiedown really tight, which in turn caused the nose wheel strut to pull up. But there appeared to be no actual damage, and we straightened her up and came back to the hotel. Hopefully all the other planes are OK too. Well, we're all packed and ready to go tomorrow, so early to bed as we have a 5am alarm call!

Astronaut Nicole Stott got our day started.

One of the professors from Embry Riddle who works for NTSB gave us a safety briefing.

Then we briefed procedures.

And more procedures

Finally done listening, time to get ready to fly!

Just liked this picture

Met this very interesting lady named Elizabeth who runs a small gas station. She is originally from England, but has lived in the US for many years. Her son is an Embry Riddle graduate who lost both of his legs when he was shot down flying for the Air Force over Afghanistan. Her former husband was one of the first soldiers in the Korean War (see photo below of is Purple Hearts). She is a big supporter of veterans and has military related items in the little store by the gas station. Here she is pictured wth her "bear force". I stopped for gas and ended up speaking with her for about 15 minutes. She was awesome.

Her husband's display at the store.

Ended the day at the airport inspecting the planes after a microburst pushed them around. All were fine, we are ready to start the race tomorrow.