News/Press Releases

Ashley Tucker and Kendall Higdon will work together as Auburn University's first team to compete in the Air Race Classic, a cross-country airplane race for female pilots.

According to a story by Maggie Wise on the Auburn University website, Tucker and Higdon will be flying a brand new Cessna Skyhawk 172 on lease from Textron Aviation for the Top Hawk collegiate program.

The 2,648-mile race will take Tucker and Higdon through 14 states, where the team will make eight stops—Coshocton, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana; Decorah, Iowa; Bemidji, Minnesota; Spencer, Iowa; Abilene, Kansas; Ardmore, Oklahoma; and Plainview, Texas—before making its final landing at the Santa Fe, New Mexico Municipal Airport.The team will depart from Frederick Municipal Airport in Frederick, Maryland June 20 and, flying only in daylight hours, has until 5 p.m. on June 23 to complete the trip.

Tucker is a certified flight instructor and 2016 Auburn graduate. Higdon is a senior in professional flight management at Auburn.

The story said there will be 53 other teams.

"We're honored to be the first Auburn women competing. Auburn's aviation program has really grown, especially in terms of women joining it, and I'm excited to represent the program in a national competition," Higdon said in the story.

Higdon' mother was a Delta flight attendant. Tucker's father is a pilot with Southwest Airlines.

Auburn University is celebrating 125 years of women at the school this year.