The Air Race Classic (ARC), the oldest all-women’s airplane race in the United States, is mourning the loss of veteran air racer Tookie Hensley and her race partner Pamela Bird, killed in a plane crash in Idaho on Thursday morning, along with Tookie’s husband Don.
“Tookie Hensley was an invaluable member of the ARC family,” said Air Race Classic President Lara Gaerte. “As a mentor for novice racers and a welcoming presence for bringing new pilots — including Pam Bird — into the race, she was the heart, soul and spirit of the Air Race Classic. Both ladies will be greatly missed.”
Tookie was a beloved member of the aviation community, both in her hometown of Mohave Valley, Ariz., and among the hundreds of women across the country and around the world who have flown the Air Race Classic.
A flight instructor since 1985, she and her husband, Don, founded Tookie’s Flying Service, an Arizona flight schools, in 1990. Tookie was an instrument flight instructor with more than 30,000 hours logged, an FAA designated examiner and a mentor to generations of pilots.
Tookie, 80, was a veteran of 24 Air Race Classics, winning the race in 2002 and placing in the Top Ten six times. She also flew in the Powder Puff Derby, the Palms to Pine air race and many other aviation competitions, was a member of the Rio Colorado Chapter of The Ninety-Nines, Inc., International Organization of Women Pilots, and served on the ARC Board of Directors from 1985-1991.
Tookie and Don, 84, flew everywhere together, including to every Air Race Classic. Tookie was the smiling face behind the race, and she and Don could often be found greeting old friends and new competitors at the Start. They always went out of their way to make new racers feel welcome.
Pam Bird was one of those new racers when she flew the ARC with Tookie as her partner in 2013. They placed 11th and returned to fly the race last year with Idaho seaplane pilot Tonya Rutan.
Pam, 58, was CEO of Innovative Product Technologies, founder and president of the Inventors Association of Idaho, founder of the Inventors Educational Foundation and a member of the Intermountain Chapter of The Ninety-Nines. She was also co-founder of the Bird Aviation Museum and Invention Center in Sagle, Idaho, with her husband, biomedical engineer and inventor Forrest Bird, who died in August.
The museum has its own private airstrip, Bird Field, where Pam, Tookie and Don took off Thursday morning in a Cessna 182 on a cross-country trip. The plane’s emergency locator transmitter went off 10 minutes later. The subsequent search and rescue operation was joined by Tonya, who found the wreckage in the mountains near Hope, Idaho.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
The Air Race Classic is an all-women airplane race flown over four days every June during daylight hours in visual flight conditions. Teams of two or three female pilots compete flying propeller-driven airplanes, covering a defined course of roughly 2,500 miles that varies every year.
I’m so so sorry to hear about Tookie and Don, I also had a couple of hangers at Eagle Airfield, and interacted with Tookie and Don on an almost daily basis. She would come over almost daily to visit at my hanger after her day was complete and we would sit around and talk aviation. She bought my large hanger from me and used it for her flight training and storage of aircraft. Her Husband Don was a good guy and friend, as her school was across from my hanger. We talked everyday we were at the airfield. I remember her checking me off on a Piper Warrior many years ago at Needles Airport, I rented the airplane on occasion. Meeting Tookie and Don was a great asset in my life and becoming friends. I am very saddened and I will miss them very much..
Tookie and Don will be missed by all.
Just can not understand how this could happen.
Besides the Crop Duster, Bill of Eagle Aviation, Tookie was the last aviation business at Eagle Field (AO9).
We at Eagle are just a very small part of General Aviation, but this hits hard and is a great loss.
Signed: Just another aviator wishing to improve our lot!