MOULTRIE, Ga. – More than 30 planes competing in the Air Race Classic landed at the Moultrie Municipal Airport on Tuesday morning.

The four-day race started in Lakeland, Fla., at 8 a.m. with pilots taking off 30 seconds apart, on Tuesday, June 21. Fifty teams with 115 women pilots, from across the United States and around the world are competing in the 2,548-mile competition.

Alan Mathis, head of the day-to-day operations at the Moultrie Municipal Airport and owner [along with his wife Dena] of Eagles of America, said that one-third of the teams stopped to get fuel and some stayed overnight in Moultrie on their way to Lakeland yesterday.

“The race puts Moultrie on the aviation map,” Mathis said in an interview Tuesday.

This is the fourth race that the airport has participated in, Mathis said, but it’s the first all-women collegiate event at the airport.

“This is a great thing for young women to see and to be inspired to become a female pilot,” Tommie Beth Willis, the president and CEO of the Moultrie-Colquitt County Chamber of Commerce, said in an interview Tuesday. 

The team’s times are recorded as they pass over the intersection into the airport.

Mathis said that once a team’s time is recorded at the timing area, they forward the time back immediately to Lakeland. 

When a team’s time is recorded, they are judged on their flight pattern, calls and times. He said if a team does its routine perfectly then they can keep their time, but if they complete it poorly, then it can deduct from their time.

The Moultrie Municipal Airport is the hardest stop due to the teams having the shortest amount of time to land, Mathis said. The teams started coming into Moultrie around 10 a.m. They have until 8 p.m. to pass or land to record a time.

“We had to make sure that we could manage the fuel, time and logistics,” Mathis said.

The teams are not required to land at each stop. At least two planes passed over the airport to record a time and continued on with the race. The next stop in the race is Muscle Shoals Airport, also known as Northwest Alabama Regional Airport, in Muscle Shoals, Ala.

“All of them do not stop, but if they refuel, it could help with their speed,” Mathis said.

One of the teams that did stop at the airport was the Michiana Redbirds. The team includes Margaret Wint, the pilot in command, and Susan Glisson, the co-pilot. Wint is from Grand Rapids, Mich., and Glisson is from Evansville, Ind. 

They are team one, and they led the pack from Lakeland, Fla., but were passed by the faster planes shortly after take-off.

“This is our third race together and we’ve flown [to] a lot of places,” Wint said in an interview Tuesday.

They plan to stop at each leg of the race to refuel and rest, according to Glisson.

Another team to land at the airport was the LETU Racers. The team is number five in the race and includes Sadie Morgan, Marena Decker and Mackenzie (“Kenzie”) Fessler. They are currently students at Letourneau University in Longview, Texas. 

“This is their first time racing [in the Air Race Classic,] and they are having a blast,” Morgan said in an interview Tuesday. 

Morgan said that the experience was pretty cool and that having the opportunity to race means a lot to them, especially with the help of the volunteers at the airport.

This year’s destination is Terre Haute Regional Airport in Terre Haute, Ind. The race ends Friday, June 24.

To keep up with the racers’ progress, please refer to https://airraceclassic2022.maprogress.com/#

Other stops in the race

• Muscle Shoals Airport, also known as Northwest Alabama Regional Airport, in Muscle Shoals, Ala.

• Hattiesburg Bobby L. Chain Municipal Airport in Hattiesburg, Miss.

• Pine Bluff Regional Airport – Grider Field, in Pine Bluff, Ark.

• Ada Regional Airport in Ada, Okla.

• Lawrence Municipal Airport in Lawrence, Kan.

• Mount Vernon Outland Airport in Mount Vernon, Ill.

• Tullahoma Regional Airport – William Norther Field in Tullahoma, Tenn.