The Vegas Showbirds continue their journey on the third day
of the trip to Oklahoma City, (last leg to get there).
We arrived at Wiley Post Airport in the late afternoon.
Friday, June 15th - enroute from Stafford (KOJA) to Wiley Post (KWPA)
We leave Weatherford Stafford airport
with a low ceiling and scattered showers.
Our destination is Wiley Post, but nature
has other plans for us. Water shorted out
the com radios and we turned back.
half way from Weatherford-Stafford
to Wiley Post (Oklahoma City) and
land at Hinton Airport - a new facility
with great hospitality. The weather
just clobbered us as you can see in
this photo - the rain just poured down (foreground) as the plane sits in
transient parking (background).
We finally took off in the afternoon
for our final leg (fingers crossed)
to Wiley Post.
We FINALLY make it to
Wiley Post airport in Oklahoma City.
We're excited, this is where the race begins.
We start to see some blue sky once again!
Thunderstorms and intermittent rain
still loom, but it's clearing and we're
very tired.
We arrive in the late afternoon
at Wiley Post with only the hand held
vioice communications radio to bring us in.
We were
greeted by the 99's
race committee at Atlantic Aviation.
Only about half of the participants
have arrived here so far due to weather delays. The race committee
has
extended the arrival deadline.
(Note: windshield has antenna for GPS
attached with suction cup for reception).
The Vegas Showbirds land at the Ninety-Nines museum
and headquarters in Oklahoma City, just in time to catch
the tail end of the Wine & Cheese Reception, hosted by the
Ninety-Nines museum of women pilots.
The museum featured women aviators from around the country. Terry von Thaden, Louise Thaden's granddaughter, was there signing books - and the Girl Scouts were there too. We mingled with other race team participants, comparing weather related arrival stories for the flight in to Oklahoma City.
The sunset makes a spectacular end
to a very long day (literally and figuratively,
as it is the day after summer solstice).
This image was shot from the balcony
of the Ninety-Nines museum after the Welcome Party ended. It was the first
glimpse of sun we've seen in a
couple days.
Previous day, June 14th
Next day, Saturday, June 16th