Carson pilot takes first place in national air race

Dene Chabot-Fence, her first-place gold medal swinging around her neck, hopped up onto the wing of her 1966 Piper Cherokee on Thursday afternoon at the Carson City Airport and talked about what it's like to be a female pilot.

When she first got her license in 1973, aviation wasn't the type of thing women did. Never one to let mainstream dictate her life, she fulfilled what seemed like a pipe dream hatched as a child when her fifth-grade teacher built a cockpit in the classroom and let the children climb on board.

"In my day women could have never been a captain in an aircraft. That was not a possibility for women," the naturopathic doctor, nutritionist and owner of Vitamin Village said. "I'm very excited for young women today. I know a great many of them now, who have been able to continue in the airline industry. At least that glass ceiling is broken."

On June 29, Chabot-Fence and co-pilot Gloria Maes of Kerman, Calif., were awarded first place in the Air Race Classic 08. This was Chabot-Fence's second time finishing at the top over the 22 years she's competed in the all-women transcontinental air race that began in 1929.On June 24, 36 female pilots and co-pilots took off from Bozeman, Mont., with stops in Miles City, Mont., Aberdeen, S.D., Mason City, Iowa, Decatur, Ill., Frankfort, Kent., Franklin, Penn., Saratoga Springs, N.Y., en route to Mansfield, Mass.

Chabot-Fence and Maes beat the competition with the fastest time of just more than 14 hours. A feat not only impressive for the grueling schedule, but because of Chabot-Fence is 75 and Maes is 79.

"This is probably the hardest race I've run for a long time," Chabot-Fence said. "Air racing is an endurance race. It is a bloody battle to compete with the top racers in the country, and they consider me one of them. I don't think about it like that. We are all in deep competition with each other. We're looking for the prizes the trophies and the gold medals."

With only about 6,500 licensed female pilots in the world among a cadre of millions of men, Carson City's Chabot-Fence is an expert pilot with 3,500 hours in the air.

She will continue to fly for pleasure but is uncertain if she'll race again, she said.

"I thought I was done every year."

But come next May, with the Air Race Classic 09 looming, Chabot-Fence may not be able to resist.

"Flying has been the most wonderful thing that I put in my life," she said, recalling one flight over Carson City that she said encompasses all that is wonderful about aviation. "It's unimaginable how breathtaking, awesome it was. It's like you're in another world, like you step into fantasy. All of those things wrapped up in a few moments. For me any flying will do that. Just flying in itself, it's uplifting."

- Contact reporter F.T. Norton at ftnorton@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1213.