Continuing to Celebrate a Health Goal Tracy Hudgins Achieves Front Royal/Warren County Airport’s First Patron ‘Trifecta’

Royal Examiner was alerted to a special recognition of a recent birthday celebration, “Trifecta” of aviation-related activities available at the County-overseen Front Royal Airport (FRR). The recognition of airport patron Tracy Hudgins was scheduled for the September 10th meeting of the Front Royal Airport Commission. Given contact information for Hudgins by Skyline Soaring Club/Airport Commission member Erik van Weezendonk, we contacted Ms. Hudgins about her airport-based birthday celebration.

“My birthday was July 10th. The actual Trifecta took place on July 27th. The airport commission invited me to their quarterly meeting held on September 10th to celebrate and present me with a plaque,” Hudgins told us.

And exactly what was she being recognized for accomplishing, we asked.

Tracy Hudgins, with Airport Commission member and ‘Chapter 64’ birthday celebration glider pilot Erik van Weezendonk, on Sept. 10, after receiving her acknowledgment plaque, shown below, for her triple event accomplishment at FRR. Courtesy Photos FRR & Tracy Hudgins

“An Unforgettable Day at Front Royal-Warren County Airport pulling off the Front Royal Hat Trick — skydiving, gliding, and flying in a 1940s military aircraft — all in one day! �✈️💙,” she replied, adding that she was still in awe of the events the airport staff, friends, and associated organizations accomplished for her.

“This incredible experience at Front Royal/Warren County Airport was six months in the making. It took a team of four amazing pilots, dedicated office staff, ground crews, and the passionate volunteers at Skyline Soaring Club to bring this dream to life. It started with a desire and plans hitting the ground running after I sent an email in April to inquire about the opportunity to go up in one of the gliders that call FRR home. We had to work around weather delays, personal appointments, and vacations, but the FRR family finally made it happen on July 27th!!”

We asked Ms. Hudgins about the impetus for such aerial entertainment as a birthday experience and any past connections with FRR:

“I have always had the desire to skydive, but there was always a life reason why I never jumped. As I aged, my weight gain and health prevented skydiving from being an option. I wanted my health back, and I was determined. I promised myself that if I made it to the doctor’s desired weight goal, then I would jump out of a perfectly good airplane. So I did. I gave myself a reward and have continued to jump every year to welcome each new healthy chapter in my life,” Hudgins told us, adding:

“FRR was an easy option for me. I practically lived up on Skyline Drive during my weight loss journey and would see the planes flying above all the time, knowing I was going up one day,” Hudgins responded, explaining this year wasn’t her first birthday skydive:

“I often refer to my adventures in chapters. The Trifecta at the Front Royal/Warren County Airport is part of my Chapter 64 celebration. I celebrate life all year,” Hudgins told us of a positive outlook fueled by her gaining control of an emerging health issue as she moved toward that Chapter 64 experience. But this wasn’t her first post-weight loss skydive, she told us. It was, however, her first aerial birthday “Trifecta”.

And it’s up and off for the most adrenaline-pumping of her three aerial trips aloft to celebrate her July birthday, the skydive. Hudgins credits Skydive Front Royal jumping partner Alfredo Basile, who handled the airborne photo assignment, for getting her down safely for the third year in a row.

“I hit the weight goal in 2023 and have jumped every year since. 2023, 2024, and 2025. I climb mountains to keep my weight down so I can keep going back. As long as I keep the weight off, I reward myself each year.

“I already had planned to skydive to welcome in my Chapter 64. I never imagined that Erik with the Skyline Soaring Club would reply to my email inquiry and not only offer me a ride in a glider, but also an Airplane ride in a 1946 Army L4 ‘Grasshopper’!! The word ‘No’ really never crossed the entire FRR team’s minds. It was always ‘Lets make this happen’.”

Ready to go gliding? Hudgins went gliding with a friend and Skyline Soaring Club pilot Erik van Weezendonk, pictured with her below as their glider is towed back after their landing.

Of her ongoing interest in aviation, Hudgins told us of early roots that made it seem appropriate that the last phase of the “Trifecta” included a historical military aircraft ride. As noted above and in the plaque she was presented, that ride was in a single-engine, high-wing observation and liaison aircraft considered a military version of the Piper Cub, nicknamed the “Grasshopper”. That aerial piece of history was piloted by young Jacob Kosubinsky, she told us before returning to her personal history ties to flight.

Gazing upward from youth

And how about a trip aloft in a circa-1946 Army L-4 high-wing, light observation and liaison monoplane nicknamed the ‘Grasshopper’. This time, Hudgins was piloted by Jacob Kosubinsky, described as a ‘young and spirited’ FRR pilot.

“I am a military brat. My dad was a Marine. We lived in Virginia Beach for 43 years after the Marine Corps, and he worked another 20 years at the Naval Air Station (NAS) Oceana. He took us to see the Blue Angels fly many times. We used to sit out on the perimeter of the base and watch the master jets do their touch-and-go exercises. I have always been around planes,” Hudgins said. And from that family military history she pointed out that FRR-based ‘Skydive Front Royal’ joins with ‘Heroes on the River’ every year to support veterans — from her perspective a BIG plus.

Final Thoughts

“This day was about more than just adventure — it was also a way to shine a light on this community’s aviation gems: Front Royal-Warren County Airport and ‘Skydive Front Royal’, as well as to support the mission of the Skyline Soaring Educational Foundation, which offers scholarships to high school and college students so they can earn their first solo glider flight.

“Aspiring young aviators: you can learn more and apply for scholarships directly at ssefva.org 💫, Hudgins said with a nod toward these websites:

“Special thanks to:

👉 Skydive Front Royal — www.skydivefrontroyal.com

👉 Skyline Soaring Club — www.skylinesoaring.org

👉 Front Royal-Warren County Airport — www.flyfrr.com

👉 Skyline Soaring Educational Foundation — www.ssefva.org

#FrontRoyalAirport #SkylineSoaring #SkydiveFrontRoyal #SupportLocalAviation #GliderScholarships #AvGeek #FlyFrontRoyal

“These guys are all ROCK STARS!” Hudgins said with enthusiasm about the involved teamwork and year-round efforts of these FRR-affiliated aerial entities. “Each one of us has the power to either make or break someone’s day. And WOW, that is a lot of power! Be kind to each other. Let your light shine and brighten the world around you,” Tracy Hudgins concluded philosophically with a nod to those FRR-affiliated personnel who made her day for the start of her Chapter 64 experience.

And it is that positive power to “make” someone’s day that she, in turn, hopes to be in a position to pass on to those she encounters, both personally and professionally, the latter with veterans, as her Chapter 64 experience moves toward the start of another chapter on July 10, 2026.

And Royal Examiner will conclude this accounting of Tracy Hudgins Chapter 64 birthday “Trifecta” at FRR with an equally enthusiastic “Happy Trifecta Birthday wish, Tracy” — if a tad late, with a look forward to an equally rewarding Chapter 65 launching next year.

But looking up, where do you go from here — the moon, Mars, or perhaps an interstellar comet(?) 3’I’/ATLAS, if they, I mean, it’s still hanging around our solar system in 2026???

After we asked how she might be able to top this year’s birthday FRR aerial celebration, Hudgins provided us with these two recent photos she has taken. The first is of the full ‘Blood Moon’ taken Sept. 7, the second of the Milky Way she took on Sept. 1, both from Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park. And we don’t think she was suggesting a trip to the park to view such things at a distance.