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118 women piloting planes on a cross-country air race stopped in Decorah on Tuesday, June 20, 2017. (Allison Wong/KCRG-TV9)

Women only Air Race Classic stops in Decorah

June 23, 2017

After a long day of flying in the Air Race Classic, Debi Dreyfuss is taking time to clean her plane.

She took off from Frederick, Maryland Tuesday morning, and found herself in Decorah, Iowa at the end of the day.

"It was tough weather," she said of the day of flying.

She and her teammate made it through some storms to land in Decorah, but they still have a ways to go.

"We're gonna go up to Bemidji, Minnesota, and then back down to Spencer, Iowa, and then on down south to Texas, and on out to New Mexico," Dreyfuss said.

Travelling 2,600 miles in just four days might sound impossible to some, but these women look forward to the challenge.

"It was just something I had to do," Dakota Fly Girls Co-pilot Ramona Banks said.

"It's exciting. It makes you know your airplane better than you ever thought you would," Dreyfuss added.

And what makes this race even more unique is that the teams are made up entirely of women.

Dreyfuss said, "I think it's awesome because only six percent of pilots are women, and that's in the United States. Worldwide I think it's only three percent."

In a usually men's only world, the women enjoy spending the week together in friendly competition.

Banks said, "hanging out together and sharing our love of aviation, as a pilot this is something you, as a female pilot this is something you couldn't find any place else."

The pilots will wake up early Wednesday morning and making it as far along on their route as the weather will allow them.




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