Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Farmington Grad Enters Air Race Classic
FAYETTEVILLE — Libby Sargent Wagner, a 2001 Farmington High graduate, competed for the first time in the 37th annual Air Race Classic, a transcontinental air race for women pilots only.
Wagner, who now is a flight instructor in Tulsa, served as the co-pilot for her aircraft, a Cessna Skylane 182A. Elaine Stook of Tulsa piloted the aircraft and the women flew under the team name “TulsaTwo.”
“It was a lot of fun,” Wagner said after finishing the race at Drake Field in Fayetteville. “It was especially fun meeting women from all over the country and getting to see a part of the country that I had not flown over before.”
The Air Race Classic is an organization that encourages current and future women pilots.
“It’s an opportunity to encourage women to look into flying as an occupation or hobby,” said Marolyn Wilson, president of the classic. “We want to encourage young women to look into the air, to look into the sky.”
This year’s Air Race Classic was supposed to start in Pasco, Wash., on June 18 and end four days later on June 21 at Drake Field.
However, cloudy weather conditions in Pasco affected the start of the race. The directors of the race finally decided to let the participants skip the first leg of the race, so the new starting point was Mountain Home, Idaho.
The other stopping points along the 2,449-mile route were Logan, Utah; Rawlins, Wyo.; Spearfish, S. D.; Holdrege, Neb.; LaJunta, Colo.,; Woodward, Okla.; and Fayetteville.
Wagner’s plane had its own problems, Wagner said. The two women had to wait for a part to arrive and they finally were able to take off Wednesday afternoon, June 19.
To make up for lost time, Wagner said the women flew two legs on June 19, four legs on Thursday, June 20 and then flew three legs the last day to finish by the initial deadline, which was 5 p.m. June 21. Because of the weather issues, the race deadline was extended to sunset June 21.
“We made it,” Wagner said. “We had a little bit of tailwind at first and then had a pretty good headwind.”
The race is a handicapped competition, so the plane that comes in first does not necessarily win the race. Each plane is given a handicap speed based on the type of aircraft flown and the goal is to have the actual ground speed above the handicap speed as much as possible.
According to the Air Race Classic website, a part of the competition is to allow the pilots to “play the elements,” such as holding out for better weather or wind, to increase their ground speed. This year, though, pilots didn’t have that luxury, Wagner said. Because the start of the race was delayed due to cloudy conditions, pilots couldn’t wait, hoping for better elements.
“We had to go,” Wagner said.
The TulsaTwo received the second place award for the first leg of the trip and finished in 17th place out of 35 planes for the race.
Wagner’s mother, Betty Sargent of Strickler, recalls that her daughter was 11 years-old when she first announced she wanted to fly. The pilot on that flight allowed Libby and her younger sister to go into the cockpit.
Later, when the family was living in the Tulsa area, a family friend took the two girls up in his plane as a Christmas present.
The friend allowed the girls to fly the plane and he remarked that Libby was a “natural” pilot, Sargent said.
Years later Wagner pursued her dream.
Her family moved to northwest Arkansas, she graduated from Farmington and attended the University of Arkansas for two semesters.
Wagner, 30, said she quickly realized she did not want a desk job, moved to Tulsa and began taking flying lessons. She has been flying for about 11 years and is a flight instructor at Riverside Flight Center. She is approaching 5,000 hours of flying in her log book.
Wagner loves flying and encouraged girls and women to look into the profession.
“There’s not very many of us,” Wagner said. “It’s primarily a male field but any woman who wants to do it, it’s a lot of fun to have the ability to be able to go and fly and see the view from the sky. It gives the opportunity to go places you are not able to go if you are not a pilot.”