The weekend of April 23rd found 4 of the Paradise Coast members in Fort Lauderdale for the Southeast Section 99s Spring Fling Meeting. Jessica Stearns, Ellen Herr, Judy Bowser and Terry Carbonell were treated by the Gold Coast 99s to a weekend of food and fun.

Friday evening saw the group of 99s - some 40 strong plus guests, on the River Boat tour of the area with barbecue dinner included. Breakfast Saturday morning was accompanied by a guest speaking on aviation accident investigation. The meeting followed where the 501(c)(3) issue was presented, among other things. 99s President, Susan Larson, spoke to the group to tell of the exciting thing happening with International.

Terry and Ellen wandered the town to the shopping district on Las Olas Boulevard, churning the local economy as is required at every 99s meeting. Dinner found the gals gathered once again at Bubba Gumps Seafood for dinner and a show. . . . and a fabulous time was had by all! 

SUNSHINE DERBY 2010

Held at Page Field every year in November, this event invites the public to see static aircraft displays and talk to aviation related organizations and vendors.  The star of this year’s show was a WWII B-25 bomber.  Not to be outdone, our chapter brought its own display aircraft including Jessica Stearns’s vintage yellow Cub, Terry Carbonnell’s Citabria, and also Wild Mama, her racing Cessna 182RG.  Fellow 99 from Winter Haven FL, Jo Alcorn, also joined us in her Cessna 172.  We had several posters and an eye catching table cover for our display made by member Carolyn Skaggs.  A large advertising figure from the movie “Amelia” cast a benevolent eye over our display,

Members Kaye Tucker, Terri Krass, Nancy Moore, Anne Miller, Cheryl Lynn Dratler, and Ellen Herr were available to answer questions about the 99’s and our chapter.  We were assisted by student pilot Patty Berg. Members Joanna Gollin and Rhonda Culmer were unable to be with our group, but flew by us many times giving aircraft rides in a Cessna 172 and Hiller helicopter respectively.

We also distributed flyers about local proficiency race, the Sunshine Derby. We recruited volunteers to help with the start of the Air Race Classic next June. Jo and Terry, previous participants in the Air Race Classic, were on hand to answer questions about women’s air racing.
More than 200 aviation activity bags were given to kids of various ages, along with over 100 Amelia movie posters and hundred of tattoos. The “Girls with Wings” were the most popular of the three temporary tattoo styles offered. 

Money from sale of baked good and raffle tickets and cash donations helped increase the size of our “Wings over Paradise” scholarship fund.

Thanks to a lot of hard work from our members, we met a lot of pilots and aviation enthusiasts.
Can’t wait ‘till next year!!

The 2010 Air Race Classic is now history.
Follow this LINK to see the daily blog from the start here in Fort Myers, FL!

Air Race Classic web site

Take off Video

Please be sure to visit our sponsors website and join us in
thanking them for their support of the 2010 Air Race Classic Start

How well do you know your Paradise Coast 99s trivia? Try the Puzzle in Paradise to find out!
Click here for puzzle solution.

The movie AMELIA  premiered in Fort Myers Friday, October 23 and a group of local 99s along with the Air Race Classic Board were on hand for "dinner and a movie". Our group of about 15 met up at Mimi's Cafe for the usual fare - great food and hangar flying. It was the perfect opportunity for an impromptu girls night out

 
This was a great opportunity to increase the visibility of the 99's and our chapter by distributing information about the 99's outside the movie theatre.  Jessica did a great job at securing us a table at the entry to the movie theatre and Ellen with the help of Carolyn whipped up some quickie posters to let the public know that the legacy of Amelia still lives on. We handed out many flyers for the 99s and for the upcoming Aviation Day at Page field.

I am happy to say that there was a  mention of the "Powder Puff Derby" and of the formation of the 99's in the film; of course, for all of us, the mention was all to brief.

Thanks to all who were in attendance.
 

We were excited to have the Fall Southeast Section Meeting in Asheville, NC. Typically, the scenery is beautiful up in the mountains and the Blue Ridge Chapter had some really nice planned activities. The Paradise Coast Chapter was represented by Ellen Herr (flying up in her Cirrus), Terry Carbonell (with Wild Mama) and Anne Roethke (in her gas guzzling Prius). All in all there were about 25 members of the section in attendance.

We started in the hospitality suite, meeting and greeting and moved to the DoubleTree courtyard where there was a scrumptious spread of all sorts of finger foods. We got to meet and mingle until the party moved back to the hospitality suite for more hangar flying.

Saturday morning brought us to the business meeting part of the program. Governor, Lisa Cotham, kept the meeting light and moving along yet still managed to cover all of the business at hand. The biggie on the agenda was review of the 501(c)(3) information for all Chapters. Mary Wunder make a presentation about the 99s Endowment Fund and all the various methods of contribution. Ellen and Terry became the cheerleaders for the 2010 Air Race Classic. There was a lot of interest from the Section Members for participation as this will be THE best opportunity for anyone from the Southeast Section - the whole race is in our back yard!

The speaker for the afternoon luncheon was Denise Water, who gave a talk about air racing - how appropriate for us. She spoke of her around the world air race and also of the 2010 Air Race Classic and we got to plug the upcoming Sunshine Derby as well. There was a small silent auction and we got to sell some raffle tickets for the Paradise Coast Chapter MEGA raffle. So far, we have the aviation quilt and an adventure packet from Caribbean Sky Tours.

The afternoon tours were a wash out. There was heavy rain and a flash flood warning. Some of the 99s went off on their own exploring the town, but we headed back to the hospitality suite for more hangar flying until dinner time at the Renez Restaurant.

We all said our goodbye's early Sunday morning and Terry and Ellen headed back to Florida dodging little pop up storms south of Ocala while Anne was burning up the roads (in her gas guzzling Prius). The Spring Section meeting will be in Fort Lauderdale so we ALL should be able to attend for a good southwest Florida showing!

August found Terry and Cheryl Lynn headed west for the 31st annual Okie Derby proficiency air race, the race after which our own Sunshin Derby is modeled. Not only did they participate in the race, but they still had time for some local Oklahoma sight-seeing - aviation related, of course! Read the full story and see the photos of the trip and the Derby here.

Report of the International Ninety-Nines Convention, Chicago, IL – May 25, 2009
By Jessica Stearns, Paradise Coast Chapter

Chicago is a great place to visit and attend a convention. The Marriott Hotel on Michigan Ave., (The Miracle Mile) was conveniently located within walking distance of many attractions. During some free time I visited the Art Institute of Chicago, Water tower Museum, Millennium Park, and enjoyed dinner with friends at nearby restaurants. The weather cooperated with us and well kept flower beds were at their peak of bloom.

The primary business agenda was about Article V, Sec. 7 of the Bylaws; Termination, Suspension, or Expulsion of Membership. You’d think that this matter was sufficiently covers in the old bylaws. I wonder if our leadership feels threatened by members who wand to voice different views that that of the established leadership? Since I was representing the Paradise Coast Chapter with five votes, I had reviewed the issues with Chapter members and voted as our Chapter felt was best. In fact it was felt that implementing strict expulsion rules would be detrimental to the Ninety-Nines attracting and retaining younger members. 

At the business meeting both views were heard with a few more nay’s speaking. It was announced that 861 Delegate Votes were to be cast, but after the votes were counted for this controversial change, a larger number had been counted, but there was not to be a recount or another vote. Shades of Chicago? Because of the number of members voicing their opinions, concerns, tec., the meeting was extended for two hours after lunch. The other important change was that under Section 4, Classes of Membership, both Academic and FWP’s were deleted. A new class, Associate Member was created to include members who have a Student Pilot Certificate. They will pay reduced dues for the first two years, and then upon renewing for the third year will pay full dues.

In my opinion, a member who has to defend against expulsion will face an undue burden in both costs and time. I feel that membership matters are best resolved at the Chapter level, and as last resort, Section with appeal to International.

I do feel that it is important to attend both Section and Int’l meetings as our opinions, proposals, and ideas need to be heard.
 

Sherrie Lorenz  is in the process of flight planning her trip with this Piper Archer N944CC to Michigan in early September...  She will be sending updates and photos along both during and after the trip so stay tuned for more from Sherrie. Here is Sherrie's report:

Wanted to share some pix of our recent flight up to Michigan with Archer N944CC.  We filed flight plans for the whole trip and flew IFR.  Weather was decent and we had a great flight, visual approaches at every stop.  Our route took us from KFMY (Page Field, Fort Myers, Florida) to our first fuel stop at KCSG in Columbus GA.  Our second stop was at KLEX in Lexington KY.  We enjoyed the scenery along the way and reached KPTK, Oakland County Airport in Pontiac MI by late afternoon. 

Just a few more pix of our return flight...  Our first stop was back to KLEX in Lexington KY, and haze and low visibility had us flying the ILS there, but then the weather became even more challenging.  We had to reroute and refile our flight plans to avoid a massive developing ugly weather system West of Atlanta.  We had to divert around a few big cells en route to our second stop in KMCN in Macon GA, where the visibility and ceiling were just low enough to need the ILS to Runway 5 there too.  The remaining flight into Page was clearer, but within a few miles of Page, we suddenly realized that we had lost our radios (we have multiple radios on board, but apparently it was a malfunction in the audio panel switch box)!  We squawked 7600 and scrambled to get the handheld working, then we got a green light from Page Tower and landed safely on Runway 5.  It was quite the adventure! 

Congratulations to Dr. Anne Roethke, our golden member. Anne is celebrating 50 years as a Ninety-Nine member. We are honored to have her as a member of the Paradise Coast Chapter 99s and value her counsel and wisedom.  

Congratulation, Patty! We are all so proud that you have soloed a 152 and a 172 and you are now getting ready for your long cross country enroute to your private pilots' license. We anxiously await the news of your passing your check ride! Whoo-Hooo! 

With light winds and blue skies, seven 99s arrived at the Cockpit Cafe in 5 airplanes and 1 gas guzzling Prias for lunch and hangar flying. Nancy Moore accompanied Ellen Herr in her new (to her) Cirrus (ooooooo); Sherry Lorenze snagged a Cub Club plane; Cheryl Lynn Dratler made the long heard journey from Punta Gorda in her Baron (it was probably a longer taxi to the ramp than flight from PGD); Terry Carbonell came in her Citabria, Wild Child, and Jessica Stearns passed traffic on I-75 as she sported a tailwind in her Cub. Aaaah, yes, and then there was Anne Rothke in that gas guzzling Prias whooshing along (actually, she probably passed Jessica on the way back south).

The afternoon was filled with salads and sandwiches, hangar flying and tales of Oshkosh, the 99s convention, and all sorts of miscellaneous flying trials and tribulations .... and lots of good trips up-coming, too.  

The weather held out for our return trips home as the Florida thunderstorms failed to form until early evening today. This gave us plenty of time to gawk at the awesome pain job in the Pilatus.

Five months ago I became involved with a flying organization called Pilots and Paws.  My friend and fellow Paradise Coast 99, Nancy Moore, and I were looking for new flying opportunities beyond the $100 hamburger when we discovered this organization Pilots and Paws. Founded in 2008 by animal loved Jennifer Bois, the organization acts as a meeting place where people from shelters or rescue organizations that have pets to relocate can connect with pilots who can volunteer their aircraft and time to fly animals to a location where the animals can be adopted.  The website is well equipped with an interactive map that can show available the pilots along a route between a start and destination location using just the zip codes.  Shelters looking to place an animal can contact pilots along the route to a receiving shelter.   Most legs are flown to airports approximately 300 miles apart. If an overnight stay is needed or mechanical or weather problems occur, volunteers are also available to keep the animal overnight and return them to the airport for the next leg of the flight the next morning.

In April we flew our first trip in Nancy’s beautiful 1977 Cessna 182 N7577S. In Marianna FL (KMAI) we picked up a 60 pound lab pup and a 30 pound terrier mix to take to a rescue organization in Stuart.   A volunteer who transported these dogs to the Marianna Airport explained their shelter in Chipley, FL served a five county area.  Due to the poor economy and lack of funding for spay/neuter programs, their high kill shelter had many more dogs available for adoption than they could hope to place.  A seven hour drive to a no kill shelter could be reduced to a 2 hour flight in the 182. We topped off our tanks, loaded our dogs, one in the baggage compartment and one in the rear seat, and away we went.  They were a little tense as passengers and a little smelly, too.  But soon both fell asleep on this beautiful VFR flight.  Landing in Stuart we unloaded our passengers to the waiting volunteers of Dogs and Cats Forever, Inc. in Port St. Lucie.  It was a long  but a very rewarding day taking these dogs where they would have an opportunity for a second chance.

We flew our second trip from Craig Municipal (KCRG) at Jacksonville to Ft. Lauderdale (KFXE) in June.  Our passenger was a 5 month old purebred Australian Shepherd.  Hyatt began his journey near Atlanta, GA and spent the night in Jacksonville.  The foster volunteer delivered our passenger to Craig Air Center, where he thoroughly charmed the FBO’s staff.  The front desk personnel gave him a bowl of water, which he drained.  I just hoped we wouldn’t have a make an unscheduled pit stop.  So this was my leg to fly, and so taxied to the runup area.  Looking behind us after completing the runup we saw Hyatt out of his cage and wanting to join us in the cabin.  After shutting down to “reposition cargo” we departed with Hyatt stretched out in the back seat.  Of course this happened in front of the tower, so I’ll bet the tower personnel got a good laugh watching two women struggle with one dog.    At KFXE we were met by a thundershower, and Lisa of Mini Australian Shephard Rescue.  And a special thanks to the personnel of Banyan Air Services who helped clean up the lobby floor when our passenger quite didn’t make it outside in time after his plane ride.  After all, it was raining!!

This has been a great flying experience for Nancy and I, and we encourage other pilots to get involved.  We can give you some tips about getting the proper size cages for your plane and how to secure them.   Since Pilots and Paws, Inc. has 501(c)(3) approval, flight expenses are deductible.  From September 12 to the 20th, Pilots N Paws 5000 is being organized nationwide to coordinate the transport of 5000 pets from high kill shelters to areas where shelters are available to place these pets.  This is a great tool to promote the utility and visibility of general aviation while helping reduce the number of animals euthanized nationally.  Please see the website http://pilotsnpaws.org/pnp5000-guidelines/ for more information.

As a follow up- Nancy has completed another "hairy" mission. Check her out on Fox4 News. 

Various members of the Paradise Coast 99s could be seen at the annual air show in Oshkosh, WI, known as AirVenture 2009. Kaye Tucker, Cheryl Lynn Dratler and Terry Carbonell were among those in attendance for this event that some pilots consider "the granddaddy of them all". This years' show featured the arrival and areal demonstration of the Airbus A380, the White Knight 2, Erikson Air Crane and the C-5 plus a host of aerobatic and precision flying performers.

WAI, AOPA and EAA teamed up for WomanVenture 2009 on Friday where the highlight was the mass photo of all the woman pilots who picked up their lavender T-shirts to celebrate the event; followed by the all woman air show for the afternoon.

Besides the air shows, there were forums, movies, panel discussions, speakers, authors, vendors and many displays featuring home built aircraft, warbids, ultra-lights, classics and just regular airplanes galore.

To read all about Terry's adventure to AirVenture, click on http://www.teamwildmama.com/id46.html.

August 2008 found the fearless foursome of Jessica Stearns, Terry Carbonell, Lynn Graham and Suzanne Nickerson flying off to Oklahoma City to compete in the 30th annual Okie Derby. Their efforts were rewarded with a 7th place overall finish - not bad for the team that flew farthest to get there. You can read the full story and see pictures at  http://www.teamwildmama.com/id48.html.

 It's 11th for Classic 11: After four days and 15.5 flight hours, Classic 11 (Terry Carbonell, FL; Caroline Baldwin, NM; Lydia Baldwin, CO) placed 11th in the overall standings for the 2009 Air Race Classic. We had a great time, flew a good, clean race and did not make any major errors. We were faced with headwinds the entire race - as were the rest of the racers - but we managed to find enough pockets of favorable wind to earn ourselves 3 leg prizes. I am looking forward to racing again in 2010, especially with the start right here in Fort Myers! To read the complete race blog from Team Wild Mama, go to our web site at www.teamwildmama.com and click on the 2009 ARC page. For more information about the Air Race Classic, visit the organization web site at www.airraceclassic.org

Welcome to Paradise!

The Paradise Coast Chapter 99s  invite you to Fort Myers, FL for the start of the

2010 Air Race Classic
June 22-25, 2010

Check out the daily blog for the pre-race activities.

         Our host hotel for this prestigious event is the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza.

Reserve your room here for the pre-race dates.

Your race registration for the start is due by May 15th.
Click here for the start registration packet and arrival instructions for Page Field.

Paradise Coast Chapter 99s is actively seeking sponsors for the Start Activities. 

Paradise Coast Chapter 99s is using the race start as our premier fund raising event to raise money for our Wings Over Paradise Scholarship Fund, designed to support the efforts of women learning to fly and pursuing their aviation dreams.

 We are conducting a "MEGA-Raffle" with the drawing to be held on June 20, 2010 at the Start Banquet at the Crowne Plaza. Tickets for the raffle are $5 each or 5 for $20.

Click here to see the growing list of items for the raffle.

To donate an item to the raffle, please contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call Terry at 239-633-0077. 

Please download the sponsorship brochure or contact us for more information.

We want to thank those sponsors who have already contributed.

REXAIR FLIGHT & MAINTENANCE CENTER

Maassen Oil Company

Sports Optics

Miller, Helms, and Folk, PA

Enterprise Rent-a-Car

Hertz Rent-a-Car

Emergency Response International

Marco News Article featuring Paradise Coast 99s! Click here for printable pdf.

A big Happy Birthday to the Paradise Coast Chapter 99s for celebrating our first birthday during the month of May 2008. For a new chapter, we have come a long way!