Minnetta Gardinier
(Pilot)

I began flying in July 2003 and received my private pilot's license in Fall 2004.  I continued my flight instruction and completed an instrument rating in Spring 2006.  In March 2005, I entered into a partnership on a 1978 Cardinal Classic (C177B FG) with Dan Eberl and his family.  Cardinal N1351C is based at IOW in Iowa City, IA, and we will be flying "51-Charlie" again this year in the 2009 ARC as Classic 4.

I discovered The Ninety-Nines, the International Organization of Women Pilots, in 2006 and joined the Iowa Chapter of the North Central Section.  It has provided great opportunities to meet other women pilots and to hear about their aviation experiences.  I learned about the Air Race Classic through the 99s and decided to join this lineage of racers reaching back to 1929.  In 2008, Linda Moody and I partnered as Wild Women of the Wind and flew in our inaugural transcontinental air race as Classic 34.  Click here to read about our 2008 rookie adventures.

I have the pleasure of flying for recreation and for business.  Some of my favorite flights from Iowa  City have taken me to Austin TX, Bozeman MT, Charleston SC, Duluth MN, Kansas City MO, Orlando FL, St. Louis MO, Traverse City MI, and Washington DC.

In my life on the ground, I am an Associate Dean of the Graduate College and an Associate Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Iowa.  As a faculty member at the University of Iowa since 1998, I teach Pharmacology and have directed the Molecular & Cellular Biology graduate program that trains future researchers and instructors.  I have directed a research lab since 1992 that has focused on basic research seeking answers to a few of the many questions surrounding the devastating disease of multiple sclerosis.  We are excited to again raise funds for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society through your sponsorships in 2009.

I am looking forward to flying out to Denver with Linda for the start of the 2009 Air Race Classic.  We will have the privilege to be a part of the 80th anniversary of the women's transcontinental air race.  Follow the route to Atlantic IA as we swing through the south central U.S. this year.

Linda
Moody
(Co-Pilot)

Flying has been series of discoveries for me since I started flying in October, 2004. I have flown a Cessna 152 Aerobat, a Cessna 152 II, a Cessna 172M, a Piper Arrow, and Cardinal 177B RG. I am the owner of a Cessna 172M Skyhawk II. I have flown many happy hours around the New England area and enjoy the thrill of flying "low and slow.” I have now completed one air race from Bozeman MT to Mansfield, MA, and learned a lot from the experience, as well as met a lot of wonderful people on the way. The plane we flew last year was a Cardinal 177B Classic.

This year has been full of more flying adventures. I landed on grass strips, and even took a flying vacation to Northern Maine. Despite the fact that the area where I was vacationing was the foggiest area in the US, I did manage to get a little flying in, and saw Acadia National Park and the Bay of Fundy from the air. I found out that in this area, when the fog goes away, the wind starts, and vice versa. You have to be on your toes!

I am Secretary of the Eastern New England Chapter of the 99s. I am an architect, having earned my Masters in Architecture from MIT, and I have run my own architecture firm, LMA Architects, Inc. since 1991. I am also a Conservation Commissioner in my home town, have been on the Planning Board, and am a museum docent for a Frank Lloyd Wright House in Manchester N.H. I enjoy gardening and volunteering at an animal shelter, working with rabbits, and taking care of my own two rabbits, Angelo and Prancer. I have been married to Steve Russell, a history professor at Northern Essex Community College in Haverhill, MA for 29 years.

Some of my greatest flying moments so far have been landing at a short, grass strip in the White Mountains and taking off, too. It was great! I also was privileged to fly formation over the White Mountains in New Hampshire with a friend flying with me in his plane.

I have been very lucky to have the exposure to flying and to have the opportunity to spend many hours in the air, and to meet so many great people on the way.