BY CHRISTINE WOLFF
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Amanda Zerr of West Lafayette, Ind., is carrying on the dream of fellow Purdue University aviation technology student Julie Swengel, killed in an accident
(Yoni Pozner photo)
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BATAVIA TOWNSHIP -- With Mom and grandmother at the controls of the single-engine plane, 17-year-old Stephanie Willerth navigated, crossing 11 states in four days.
The three-generation team landed Friday afternoon at the Clermont County Airport, the first double mother - daughter piloting combination in the history of the women-only Air Race Classic.
Another first: A Clermont County finish line for the 2,384.65-mile race -- successor of the Powder Puff Derby airplane race once flown by legendary 1930s aviator Amelia Earhart.
Sticking her arms up in a victory stance, Stephanie -- a student pilot from Lee's Summit, Mo. -- declared as winner the Piper flown by her mother, "just because we made it," she said laughing.
The winner actually won't be announced until Sunday. Each pilot is handicapped depending on the plane's power. The winner gets $5,000.
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"We had a lot of problems getting our act together," said Jeanne Willerth, Stephanie's mother, also from Lee's Summit. "Our first plane was disqualified. . . . We're the "little engine that could.' "
"We'll look back on it for years," said Jean Given, Jeanne's mother, and a former flight instructor from Elkhorn, Neb. Now 75, she has been a pilot since the '40s.
The 22nd Air Race Classic -- for women only -- began Tuesday in Sante Fe, N.M., weaved a zig-zag path with stops in Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Missouri and Georgia. The route changes every year.
Descending from hot hazy skies, the women landed in droves Friday afternoon, with all planes -- about 40 of the 45 that began the race -- on the ground by 2:30 p.m. Race rules required pilots to be at the Clermont airport by 5 p.m. Friday to qualify.
Think about this in Friday's mid-90s heat: Some pilots taped shut the vents that bring outside air inside the cockpit -- the only air-conditioning in most -- to make the craft more aerodynamic. "It adds about 1-2 mph. It all helps," said Paula Rumbaugh, a pilot from Columbus.
The women fly about 20 hours over four days to complete the race, flying only in daylight in good weather and always with two female pilots. Any passenger also must be female and a student pilot.
Jeanne, taught to fly 28 years ago by her mother, said her family entered the race for fun.
"I decided we really needed to do this, an "intergenerational chick trip,' " she said. "We've done something very few women have done."
