El Dorado, AR : "Houston, we have a problem!"



Strategy meeting : Teams 12, 13, & 27 in El Dorado, AR





Arriving in El Dorado the afternoon of June 23rd was uneventful.  More heat, more fanning . . . what's new?  Right?!  A nice gentlemen, Michael Norris, brought us a sledgehammer to help secure the stakes to our plane.  They were B U S Y!!  As it turns out, Josh Zylks, the manager, was new to his position at the airport and his volunteers ditched him at the last minute.  He offered us his personal car.  I finally asked if they had a courtesy car!!  YES THEY DID!!  Off we go to find a hotel.  We'd made contact with some other teams and discovered FREE DRINKS were being served downtown!!  We're IN!  Enjoyed strategizing with the DC3's , Team 27, and Lin and Susan of Team 12.  We even got a private tour of the old theatre!!  After a good night's rest, we picked up our friends across the street and headed out to the airport(June 24.....Terminus).  We checked the weather, checked the oil, etc . . .we were off to Mobile, AL, the last leg of the race!!!  On our runup, we noticed the prop was not cycling as it should.  We waited.  Started over,  did  it once more.  It was 'better'!  Julie's thinking it'll be okay.  Off we go!! "Classic 13, departing, etc".  We're up!!  Flying the pattern to set up for the flyby to start our time, she discovers the gauges were red lining.  Not a good sign.  We spoke briefly and decided to land and NOT do the flyby....go down and check it out!  Right? After we landed she said, "ok, we didn't do the fly by, right?"  I reassured her we had not.  GREAT!  Michael Norris is a qualified airplane mechanic!!!  He's right there waiting when we arrive and park.  Julie and he discuss the problem in the air and what the gauges were showing.  She makes certain he is qualified to sign any papers necessary as far as maintenance goes that are required by the Air Race Classic.  She takes off the cowl.  They're thinking it's the prop governer.  Off it comes. . . they cleanse it with aviation fuel, hoping to free it of any debris that may be sticking inside. We start making calls to anyone we can think of that might have one on a shelf!  No luck!  Julie talks to her mechanic, the people who had done the last major work on the engine,  my mechanic, people from Monroe Air, Ruston folks, people Michael knew, etc.  After taking off the governor and cleansing it, they knew they needed a sealant to put it back together.  Julie goes into town, after taking sandwich orders,  and picks up the sealant.  We eat lunch, one by one.  Julie, Michael and Sarah Childs, who is a test away from her license, are making the necessary steps to get us going, once more!!  2:30 pm we try it again!  At this point, we've got a cheering squad on the ground. Our Mother Birds are there, Maureen Kenney and Barb Goodwin.  We take our pics with them!  Go 13, Go!!  Maureen and Barb taxi out in front of us.  We tell them we'll wait on our departure after their flyby, which is appreciated.  We do our runup.  Things look great!  Off we go!!!  Julie's taking great care of the plane, cycling after up, making sure it's working properly....it's fixed!!!  YEAH!!!  Or so we thought!  We fly the pattern getting lined up for the full throttle flyby.  Red line again!!  Julie announces Classic 13 inbound to land.  Our mother birds hear us and say their condolences....'oh, so sorry....better safe than sorry...we know how you feel...has happened to us before...hope to see you in Mobile' . . . long faces are on the ground.  Our devoted cheering squad tells us how great we sounded and how impressive they were with Julie's nose up attitude in the air!!  Ed Frost calls her a 'show off'!!! ;-))  We realize then that we will in fact not be flying to Mobile in the Maule.  My husband is there, in Mobile, waiting for our arrival.  I call him to report we are on the ground in ELD and asked if he could come retrieve Team 13.  Of course, he would....gladly.  We leave El Dorado in my 172 XP and arrive in Mobile, AL approximately 10:30pm.  Melt down party has come and gone but we had friends waiting on us to arrive at the Holiday Inn Downtown.  Charles(having logged 8 hrs that day) and I said a quick hello and goodnight and Julie stayed to rehash the events only she could tell.  Disappointment for certain for Team 13 but we felt very lucky!!!  We had flown the race, had the good sense to land our plane and made it to Mobile safe and sound!!  Julie and I feel very lucky, still!!  Lucky 13, we will never forget you!!


Julie and Michael discussing the problem.





Classic 13 with their Mother Birds!
Peggy Tucker, Maureen Kenney, Julie Thomas and Barb Goodwin




"Houston, we have a problem!"