[Rhodes22-list] Air Races - Mary Dilda

[brad haslett]

Hank,

Ouch!  That hurts just to think about, and expensive! 
Mary and her husband Steve bought their first T-6 from
another of our pilots, Jimmy Gist. Steve has his own
T-6 now and is President of the T-6 race association. 
Expensive toys but now they have several sponsers.
Mac-Tools already sponsered a racer at Reno and so
Snap-On picked up Mary.  A semi-truck pulled up to
their hangar one day and said "I got your tools". 
Steve explained that they didn't order any tools. 
Snap-on gave them about five or so fully stocked tool
boxes with just about everything they make. The boxes
cover the whole back wall of their hangar.

Several of my co-workers that live in Texas are
involved in the Confederate Air Force.  Neat
organization. Last week I stumbled on a company that
is selling fractional ownership shares in a DC-3 for
corporate use (just like Warren Buffet's company
NetJets) does for corporate jets.  I'd like to see
someone do that for a Connie, still the sexiest
transport ever built.

Brad

PS:  While I was typing this crew scheduling called to
advise me I've been bumped off tomorrows trip to EWR
because training needs it.  Were going sailing!  Were
going sailing!

--- Hank <hnw555 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Brad,
> 
> A friend of mine used to own a T6 in the Confederate
> Airforce back in
> Houston.  He always tells the story of being at an
> airshow with a
> bunch of other T6s and as he is on final for landing
> he hears the
> tower "White T6, your gear's up".  Well, he looked
> around and thought
> "That fool behind me forgot to drop his gear."  As
> he continues on
> down to the runway, the tower calls out "White T6,
> your gear's still
> up".  He then remembers thinking, "That fool must
> not have his radio
> on, either!"  Just about then he touches down on his
> belly and makes a
> nice slide down the runway.  OOPS!
> 
> Trivia 101.  Hollywood used the T6 to re-create the
> Japanese Zoro for
> the movie "Tora! Tora! Tora!"
> 
> Hank
> 
> On 6/1/05, brad haslett <flybrad at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > Here is an article from today's Memphis Commercial
> > Apppeal. You've heard me talk about Mary before.
> I've
> > attached the photos from the article to spare you
> > registering with the paper to view them, but they
> may
> > be small (there is no news value in actually
> reading
> > the Appeal and unless you need to line a bird
> cage, no
> > reason to buy a hard copy).
> > 
> >
>
http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/local_news/article/0,1426,MCA_437_3820744,00.html
> > 
> > 
> > Photos by Thomas Busler/The Commercial Appeal
> > 
> > Mary Dilda, a FedEx pilot, aerobat and competitive
> > airplane racer, will compete in the Tunica Air
> Races
> > this week.
> > 
> > Heart for flying
> > Dashing around pylons, pilot lives for aerial
> thrill
> > 
> > By Oliver Staley
> > Contact
> > May 31, 2005
> > 
> > Mary Dilda slices through the early evening air at
> > sickening speed.
> > 
> > The speedometer creeps up -- 200, 210, 220 mph --
> as
> > the plane screams down, hurtling toward the Olive
> > Branch runway.
> > 
> > 
> > As the passenger behind her turns first white,
> then
> > green, Dilda banks her T6 so steeply that its left
> > wing is sticking straight up and the tip of the
> right
> > wing is just 10 feet off the ground.
> > 
> > Her husband, standing on the ground, flickers past
> and
> > Dilda pulls back hard on the stick, lifting the
> plane
> > skyward, ready to do it again.
> > 
> > After about 20 minutes Dilda is back on the
> ground,
> > laughing. Her passenger is soaked with sweat and
> > quivering, but she looks as fresh as when she
> climbed
> > in the cockpit.
> > 
> > In truth, the flight wasn't much of a workout for
> > Dilda, a FedEx pilot, aerobat and competitive
> airplane
> > racer. With the Tunica Air Races just weeks away,
> > Dilda was tuning up her T6 Two of Hearts, a
> > single-engine World War II propeller plane she
> owns
> > with her husband, Steve, in preparation for three
> days
> > of racing.
> > 
> > A race, she said, is a mental and physical battle,
> > with as many as six planes banking in unison
> around a
> > five-mile course of pylons.
> > 
> > "You've got planes on either side of you," she
> said.
> > "It's incredible."
> > 
> > During racing the planes are sealed to be as
> > aerodynamic as possible, and the temperature in
> the
> > cockpits climbs well past 100 degrees. The noise
> can
> > be deafening and pilots fight centrifugal forces
> that
> > can approach 10 Gs. And unlike in auto racing,
> where
> > the drag of a car in front can help, the
> slipstream of
> > another plane is no place to be.
> > 
> > "If you get into any wake turbulence it has a
> tendency
> > to knock you around," potentially into the pylons
> or
> > other planes, Dilda said. "They have had planes
> > connect and they never make it."
> > 
> > Death is a reality in air racing. Fourteen pilots
> have
> > been killed since 1964 at the Reno Air Races --
> until
> > this year the sport's only regular venue -- and
> given
> > how few people compete in the extraordinarily
> > expensive pastime, few other sports have as high a
> > fatality rate.
> > 
> > It's the sport's danger, though, that creates the
> > thrills. It's why NASCAR is more exciting than
> track
> > meets and why people go to the rodeo.
> > 
> > Dilda is up front about the risk but doesn't dwell
> on
> > it.
> > 
> > "It is dangerous but these things can happen at
> any
> > point in time," she said. Besides, she said, the
> > pilots she races "are the cream of the crop."
> > 
> > At 46, Dilda is blonde, trim and disarmingly
> friendly.
> > But her ready smile belies the cut- throat
> instincts
> > of a competitor.
> > 
> > In her eight years of racing at Reno she has
> finished
> > in the top five of the T6 class in all but her
> first
> > year, with two second-place finishes. In 2002,
> flying
> > a borrowed Czech fighter at more than 400 mph, she
> won
> > the jet class, beating a field that included a
> pair of
> > astronauts.
> > 
> > Dilda has been flying since she was a teenager in
> > rural New Mexico, tagging along with her rancher
> > father in his Cessna. At Oklahoma State
> University,
> > Dilda gave flying lessons and soon after joined
> the
> > Air Force.
> > 
> > She served for 10 years, including during the
> first
> > Gulf War when she flew massive C141 cargo planes.
> > 
> > She has been with FedEx since 1994 as a simulator
> > instructor and more recently a cargo pilot. Racing
> and
> > stunt flying followed, after she and Steve bought
> Two
> > of Hearts in 1996. Steve has raced in the past but
> > he'll serve as the "air boss" at the Tunica races,
> > directing the planes from the ground.
> > 
> > Her dedication to flying has resulted in some
> > sacrifices, notably not having children.
> > 
> > "When I was young I decided I was going to be a
> mother
> > or a pilot but I couldn't do both," she said. "I
> give
> > credit to all the women who do it, but gosh ..."
> > 
> > No children, of course, means more time to spend
> aloft
> 
=== message truncated ===



		
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