Plan To Write A Book To Support Aviation Scholarships

A pair of flight instructors from Montgomery County, MD is planning an 8,000 mile 48-state odyssey this summer in a 1938 Piper J-33 Cub (similar aircraft pictured in file photo). Meredith Tcherniavsky, age 40 and her 51-year-old husband Dana Holladay have set July 4 as their departure date from Fallston Airport (W42) in Fallston, MD.

The two plane to fly the 74-year-old Cub counterclockwise around the nation, stopping in a new state nearly every day of their trip. The pair says they expect the journey to last nearly two months, according to a story in The Washington Post.

Tcherniavsky earned her pilot's license in 2003, and the couple bought the restored Cub for about $40,000 in December. She said much of the trip will be "low and slow," with altitudes rarely above 1,000' AGL and averaging about 65 knots. They'll carry a few clothes, a tent, camera, and basic supplies, expecting they'll be camping under the wing of the airplane at some of the small airstrips where they plan to stop.

The couple has been planning the trip for a year, and plan to write a book "Fly the Airplane," with some of the pre-sale proceeds going to the Robert Hawkins Fund, a scholarship program administered through the Congressional Flying Club.

FMI: www.holladayaviation.com, www.ladieslovetaildraggers.com/meredith-tcherniavsky-maryland/