Such Great Heights

Traveling at 160 mph in the air, Stacey Byczek feels most alive.

The expression “The sky is the limit” illustrates what she hopes to make her career after she graduates from Jacksonville University next year.

“I went up for the first time a few years ago, and I loved it,” Byczek says of flying. “Ever since then, that’s what I’ve wanted to do. There’s nothing like it.”

Byczek has been learning to fly airplanes for two years. And, from June 16 through June 19, she took her skills to new heights when she competed in the 2014 Air Race Classic competition — an all-women, cross-country aviation competition.

The Air Race Classic required competitors — 53 teams of two — to fly from Concord, Calif., to New Cumberland, Pa., by 5 p.m. June 19, while also stopping at eight airports to refuel and monitor the weather.

Teams had three days to reach their destination and were not allowed to fly after sunset or before 6:30 a.m.

The 21-year-old was the co-pilot of a 2,000-pound Cirrus SR20 aircraft with her her flying partner, Katja Jourdan, a New Yorker.

They won fourth place in the first leg of the race from California to Oregon and 10th in the second leg from Oregon to Nevada.

Byczek and Jourdan encountered plane complications and poor weather conditions in Nevada, which forced the women to finish the race Friday, after their deadline.

“On the way to California to start the race, grease was coming out of the propeller,” Byczek says. “We didn’t think we’d be able to race at all. But, we stopped in San Antonio and had someone fix the problems.

The morning of the race (June 16), our spark plugs fouled, and we barely were able to start the competition in time. We barely made it.”

Once in Nevada, snow and ice on the ground delayed takeoff.

Participants also flew over the Rocky Mountains and other areas with poor weather conditions — a factor that made this course the hardest in race history, Byczek says.

“About one-third of the teams weren’t able to finish because of the conditions near the Rockies,” Byczek says. “It’s summertime. We weren’t expecting that kind of weather.”

Even though her first time competing didn’t go as she hoped, the East County resident already has plans for next year, when she will pilot a plane.

Byczek’s journey to the competition started in 2011, when she graduated from Lakewood Ranch High School. She didn’t know what she wanted to study in college until a friend suggested she research aviation programs at Florida colleges.

When she discovered Jacksonville University offers an aviation degree as part of its business program, which combines the basics of flight with business leadership courses, she found her dream, she says.
“This is what I want to do,” Byczek says.

Byczek hopes to become a commercial pilot after she obtains her bachelor’s of science degree in aviation management with flight operations.

BY THE NUMBERS
2 - The number of women flying the plane

31 - The number of teams that completed the race

53 - The number of teams competing

167 - In miles per hour, the team’s fastest clocked speed

2,750 - Miles from Concord, Calif., to New Cumberland, Pa.

8 - The number of stops between start and finish

Contact Amanda Sebastiano at [email protected].