“I’m not going to be a non-flying wife.” – Candie Oldham, Flight Instructor

Photo by: Dan Cutrona

While her comrades all discovered flight on their own, for Candie Oldham, 62, her entry into this hobby was different. “My husband really had the interest,” she says, “and I thought, ‘I’m not going to be a ‘non-flying wife’.” Oldham, who works in the retail industry, is the third pilot of the group who lives in Falmouth Airpark, and she, too, is an instructor.

At the time of our interview, Oldham was preparing to compete in this year’s Air Race Classic, which was scheduled to begin June 22 in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Participants in the race have four days to complete all nine legs of the course, which will take them to North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Tennessee, and two stops in Alabama, including the race terminus in the town of Fairhope.

For Oldham, the most exhilarating part of this event is the timing involved. Pilots must fly in low past each airport, where timers begin clocking them; then they fly to the next state—and the next timing point. “It’s a similar feel to sailboat racing [in terms of intensity] and very different from regular flying,” she says. “You’re going full speed, and you don’t want anyone to get in your way until you finish. It’s very exciting.”

For each of these women, flying is much more than a hobby. It has become a way of life, and for some, a career. Each of the women spoke of flying’s transformative qualities and the enrichment they have received from aviation. All six women further cited the importance of Amelia Earhart, and the famed aviator’s legacy, which includes the group she helped start back in 1929, the Ninety-Nines. At the group’s initial meeting, a total of 99 women attended, so the figure became the organization’s name. In the years since, the Ninety-Nines—including individuals like Mitchell, Cheel, Grobstein, Lin, Meyers, and Oldham—have carried the torch for women aviators. “Flying may not be all plain sailing,” Earhart once said, “but the fun of it is worth the price.”