The 62nd annual Hayward Air Rally concluded at McClellan Airport (MCC), with a rookie father and daughter team taking first place.

Pilot Nathan Holderbein flew his Van’s RV-12is with his 16-year-old daughter Millicent Holderbein in the right seat to win the one-day event that began at Hayward Executive Airport (HWD). Intended to award proficiency rather than sheer speed, points are accrued for differences in time and fuel use calculations so lower scores represent more accurate flying. The Holderbeins scored just 21 points, putting them first place. 

“Surprised, shocked,” Nathan Holderbein said of their victory. “I know that we did good, but we’re in a room full of really good pilots, and to win the contest is really cool.”

Along with the first place trophy, the Holderbeins also took home the Best Rookie award at a dinner and awards ceremony held at the Aerospace Museum of California following the rally on Saturday, May 30.

Second place went to pilot Shawn Britton and co-pilot Brian Uretsky who scored 28 in their Beechcraft A36, with third going to Pilot David Hindi and Jeff Zalewski in their Cessna 172 making just 33 points.

Rally participant Hugh Gregg said this year’s course took participants over six checkpoints throughout Northern California. Gregg also serves on the board for the organization and has participated on most years since 1987, he said.

Each Hayward Air Rally course is unique and teams must follow a series of checkpoints along the route, Gregg said. Aircraft equipped with GPS navigation start with a small penalty over teams flying analog instruments. Teams must also submit photos of the checkpoints upon their return, and officials measure the fuel consumption based on the amount of fuel given at the start of the rally.

“One of the things that I hear from people that are in the rally, they talk about how it’s just a fun thing,” Gregg said. “But also, you are honing your pilotage skills. You’re going to go from here to there and you want to get there, now you have to take into account winds aloft and all that, and make sure that everything is fine and that it works well for the rally.”

Nathan Holderbein expressed optimism in an interview with Wingman prior to the awards ceremony saying their fuel calculations were just .1 gallons off from what they actually used.

“I feel like we did pretty good,” he said. “So that means that we’re either going to place really well, or we are in the company of a lot of people who are really good at this, and both of those are fun and cool to think about. There’s a lot of really really good pilots here, and I like to be around people like that.”

Millicent Holderbein said she is a student pilot and plans to get her pilot’s licence when she turns 17. 

“There’s a lot that goes into something like this,” she said of the lessons she has learned by participating in the rally. “I hadn’t really gotten to that stage yet in my flight training, a lot of this is all new to me, the briefings, just all the thinking ahead and steps. I hadn’t quite gotten to that level of thinking yet, I’ve just learned how complex that it can be.”