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2024 Air Race Classic

Three SIU teams completed the 2024 Air Race Classic over the summer, flying from Carbondale to the terminus at Loveland, Colorado. The Air Race Classic is an all women’s cross-country air race, with routes traditionally in lengths of over 2400 nm. Over 60 all-women teams, collegiate racers and non-collegiate racers, competed in the race held in June. Racers range in age from 17-90+, and any woman with an airworthy airplane is invited to join. Most of the non-collegiate pilots fly for leisure on the side of their normal jobs, ranging from teachers to doctors to airline pilots. The Air Race Classic is an excellent opportunity for women in aviation to test their aviation abilities, form friendships and connections, and represent themselves or the flight school they came from.

This year’s route began at our home airport, KMDH. From Carbondale, the teams stopped in La Porte, IN, Cadillac, MI, Newark, OH, Moline, IL, Owatonna, MN, Moberly, MO, Bartlesville, OK, and Dodge City, KS, before they reached the end of the race in Loveland, CO. The race this year faced the Salukis with many challenges from maintenance to weather, making the race quite difficult. In order to succeed in the Air Race, pilots must use everything they’ve learned from their training, mainly weather and performance concepts, and some form of luck on their side. The three Saluki teams made memories that will last a lifetime, lifelong connections with other women, and tested their knowledge from SIU flight courses to real-world flying experiences.

Heidi Hightower and Rainer FullerMoore led Team #38, Gabi Loeb and Grace Gray led Team #40, and Graci McDaniel and Maya Marenda led Team #41 representing SIU. The Salukis have been racing since 2015, sending at least one team each year. Last year, Graci McDaniel and Meadow Boden received 2nd place overall, and this year Team #38 and Team #41 were able to bring home top 10 finishes in the collegiate division.

2024 Flight Team

Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s Flying Salukis might be young, but youth didn’t stop the team from continuing its legacy of victory in collegiate aviation last week. Paced by top pilot and recent graduate Dayne Snodgrass, the Flying Salukis finished second at the National Intercollegiate Flying Association (NIFA) championships May 18 at Southern Wisconsin Regional Airport in Janesville. The finish marks the 15th straight year that the nine-time national champions have finished in the top five nationally and 12th time in 13 years SIU has been in the top three overall.

With five team members scoring among the top 21 competitors, Coach Nathan J. Lincoln, a senior lecturer in aviation management and flight in the School of Aviation, was pleased with the team’s performance. In the May 13-18 competition with 31 teams, the University of North Dakota won the title, followed by SIU Carbondale just 17 points behind in flight events and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Prescott.

United Airlines Career Day was a Huge Success

United Airlines Career Day was held on October 19, 2024.  The day was enjoyed by 140 Chicago area students and 26 United employees/alumni of the SIU Aviation program. 

The 737 Max 8 arrived in Carbondale a few minutes after 9:00 a.m.  The students disembarked from the plane to fanfare and hand-shakes from administration and aviation faculty, staff and current students.  A group picture was taken by the plane before the students boarded buses to tour campus.  There were lots of smiles on faces as they were fed lunch by the Women in Aviation group and excited to talk about their experiences.  After lunch, a presentation by various United employees, informed students about Aviation and the opportunities that abound at this time in both pilot and maintenance fields.

After lunch and the presentations, the students took a walking tour of the School of Aviation while groups were loaded onto one of the twelve SIU planes for introductory flights.  All students on the United flight were able to get a flight in.

After the tours and flights, students were screened to board the plane for the return trip home.  They were treated to pizza before boarding the plane.

United Airlines Career Day 2024 is in the books and we are looking forward to the next one.  Please watch our website for news on the next Career Day.