PODCAST: Dan Sloat and Ted Angel on the Pulitzer Air Race Revival and how teams get can involved in this year’s edition

Our next pod­cast episode is live! This week, we were joined by Dan Sloat, Founder and Pres­i­dent of the Advanced Air Mobil­i­ty Insti­tute, and Ted Angel, Exec­u­tive Direc­tor of the Nation­al Advanced Air Mobil­i­ty Cen­ter of Excel­lence (NAAMCE), about the return of the his­toric Pulitzer Air Race — set for Octo­ber 12, 2025 in Spring­field, Ohio.

Reviv­ing the spir­it of the 1920s Pulitzer Tro­phy races, this mod­ern edi­tion will show­case the lat­est in elec­tric and hybrid-elec­tric air­craft, sus­tain­able avi­a­tion tech­nol­o­gy, and autonomous flight sys­tems. The event will be held on the cen­ten­ni­al of the last Pulitzer Air Race and aims to boost pub­lic engage­ment with the “third rev­o­lu­tion of flight.”

The inau­gur­al mod­ern race will fea­ture a 60-nau­ti­cal-mile tri­an­gu­lar course (10 nm legs, two laps) focused on speed. Entries must be all-elec­tric, heav­ier-than-air, crewed air­craft with FAA air­wor­thi­ness approval. While show­cas­ing engi­neer­ing progress, the event also seeks to encour­age young tal­ent and gen­der diver­si­ty in avi­a­tion.

In this episode, dis­cov­er:

• Why Spring­field, Ohio was cho­sen as the host city
• How the race will spot­light elec­tric and hybrid-elec­tric air­craft
• The unique 60-nau­ti­cal-mile course designed for today’s tech­nol­o­gy
• Plans for a four-day cel­e­bra­tion includ­ing a job fair, STEM activ­i­ties, and the Nation­al AAM Indus­try Forum
• Oppor­tu­ni­ties for stu­dent teams, indus­try play­ers, and inter­na­tion­al pilots to take part

Click on the Play but­ton below to lis­ten to the episode, which is also avail­able on whichev­er pod­cast plat­form you choose.