For our August Fly-In, we planned to fly in 4 planes to the McClellan-Palomar airport in Carlsbad. We gathered at the Observation Deck and took note of the momentous day – Aug 18th is the 89th anniversary of the very first all women’s air derby. The race departed just steps away from us, and it was this event which inspired those women to form a group that would become the Ninety-Nines! It gave me chills just to think about it – our group would be strangers if not for the 99s, and we’re here today because of something that happened 89 years ago in this exact spot.

The weather had other plans for our Fly-In. With a blanket over Santa Monica, and most of the Southern California coast overcast, we made a no-go decision. Though it looked like it was going to break-up above Santa Monica, we couldn’t guarantee it would clear by the time we got to Palomar and many of our VFR pilots didn’t want to get stuck.

We opted for a brunch at nearby M Street in Santa Monica instead. We celebrated the founding women and no shortage of aviation topics to chat about!  Hoping our September Fly-In will involve actual flying.