Reno midair

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Wow, glad I went on Friday :( Had a great time, glad I went. STOL drags were awesome to watch, pit pass was worth the money, a little more shade would have been amazing, watching planes flying never gets old, but watching planes parade around a course playing follow the leader was kind of boring for some of the heats. A few of the heats were true battles and those were a blast, a couple of them were just runaways and those were less entertaining, but then it's that way in any kind of racing when the leader is in a class of their own.

And to those complaining about it just being rich guys showing how to spend a bunch of money, isn't that the case with pretty much every high-end type of racing?
 
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Benito_P said:
And I’ve done aerobatics and formation my entire career. Did my stint in military jets too.
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What career was that? I'm looking for something after my .mil career to get me to 57/60, and the boilerplate option for my demographic doesn't particularly strike my fancy. Always eager to learn of alternate paths I may have not considered/been aware of.
 
hindsight2020 said:
What career was that? I'm looking for something after my .mil career to get me to 57/60, and the boilerplate option for my demographic doesn't particularly strike my fancy. Always eager to learn of alternate paths I may have not considered/been aware of.
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After doing that type of flying in the military, I do part time CFI work and do lots of aerobatic instruction. Never would be interested in racing, however.
 
I love the Reno Air Races and I will miss them.

I will miss the drive over US 50 to Carson City.

I am grateful to all the racers for putting on such a wonderful show.

As I walk around the pits I am amazed at the support systems some racers have.

I know a pilot who was going to fly his Cassutt racer to the Reno Air Races and race when he arrived.

He built wings of his own design.

I don’t know if he made it, I did not see him there and could have easily missed him.

I love the history of air racing and sometime I feel the spirit of my father there.

My father had the first flight in the NA-73X that eventually became the P51 Mustang so when I hear that wonderful cacophony of sounds I feel his legacy.

He was also involved in many aviation competitions.

Bob Hoover’s P51 Ole Yeller was on display brining back memories of his wonderful stories and his part in the history of the Reno Air Races.

It is sad that the last Reno Air Race was marred by a collision on base.

I am sad for the loss of life and the loved ones left behind.

I missed the gold races and suspect neither of the accident pilots would have wanted those races to be canceled.

It had not occurred to me that my passion for the Reno Air Race needed to be justified until I read this thread.

Reading the attacks on the quotes from misguided experts about the value of the Reno Air Races reminds me of an envious child.

I loved the Reno Air Race because it was the Reno Air Race and it will be memories that I cherish till the day I die.
 
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Vance Breese said:
I love the Reno Air Races and I will miss them.

I will miss the drive over US 50 to Carson City.

I am grateful to all the racers for putting on such a wonderful show.

As I walk around the pits I and am amazed at the support systems some racers have.

I know a pilot who was going to fly his Cassutt racer to the Reno Air Races and race when he arrived.

He built wings of his own design.

I don’t know if he made it, I did not see him there and could have easily missed him.

I love the history of air racing and sometime I feel the spirit of my father there.

My father had the first flight in the NA-73X that eventually became the P51 Mustang so when I hear that wonderful cacophony of sounds I feel his legacy.

He was also involved in many aviation competitions.

Bob Hoover’s P51 Ole Yeller was on display brining back memories of his wonderful stories and his part in the history of the Reno Air Races.

It is sad that the last Reno Air Race was marred by a collision on base.

I am sad for the loss of life and the loved ones left behind.

I missed the gold races and suspect neither of the accident pilots would have wanted those races to be canceled.

It had not occurred to me that my passion for the Reno Air Race needed to be justified until I read this thread.

Reading the attacks on the quotes from misguided experts about the value of the Reno Air Races reminds me of an envious child.

I loved the Reno Air Race because it was the Reno Air Race and it will be memories that I cherish till the day I die.
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Thank you and I echo your thoughts.

I’ve been around airplanes (real and RC) my entire life. My dad built a house for an unlimited competitor in 87/88 and attended the 88 races to watch him. He always said someday we’d go (I was very young at the time). That someday happened to be 2011. After years of dreaming/studying/etc the races, it took a long time before I wanted to see them again, but I eventually did. We went back in 2013, 15, and 17. We never made it back after 17, but those few trips will forever stay with me. They mean even more after my mom went in 2015 and 17 and loved the races, despite not otherwise being into racing in general. She absolutely loved Strega, and unfortunately, we lost her a couple years back due to medical issues (to echo the statement in another thread, XXXX cancer).

I wish I could see (and hear) another Merlin at 120+”, see the crews working, and have the great time we always had once more. It was about a lot more than the sum of its parts. But the memories will last forever and I will always hold them close.

I don’t understand why “if you don’t like it, just don’t go” is such a hard concept for some. As much as you dislike it, many of us liked it…and then some.
 
I took a weekend in about 2004 to drive my then girlfriend, and later wife (Tammy), to the Reno Air Races. It was on my bucket list. I went because I wanted to and am glad we made the trip. I thought the air shows between the races were at least as good as the races, but it was awesome to stand as close as I could get to the airfield and watch the gold warbirds thunder around the course. I don't remember all of the airplanes, but I do remember Rare Bear.

I think Tammy got bored with the races and went down to shop at the booths. I stayed behind to watch the airplanes. She came back after a while and asked why I hadn't gone looking for her. I told her I was watching the races. After that, I went shopping with her.

I was thinking about going this year, in memory of the time we went years ago, but circumstances didn't work out. My rationale was I wanted to remember them as they were when Tammy and I went. And, after I heard about the accident, I was doubly glad I stayed home and had a flying lesson so my last memories of Reno wouldn't be on a fatal accident.

My training FBO, Aerodynamic Aviation, has the same initials of something I think most, if not all of us need: Aviators Anonymous.
 
Vance Breese said:
I know a pilot who was going to fly his Cassutt racer to the Reno Air Races and race when he arrived.

He built wings of his own design.

I don’t know if he made it, I did not see him there and could have easily missed him.
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You're not talking about Creighton King are you?
 
TCABM said:
Did you take that? Our seats were just to the right in the E grand stands across from the start/finish line and watched from the Chairman’s Club viewing area.
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Yes I took it. We had reserve grandstand tickets but didn't go to the seats a single time. Our days were spent walking the pits and in the chairman's hospitality tent. This pic was from where we were in the tent. It was at the first concrete block to the left of the hospitality tent alcohol bar.
 
FORANE said:
Yes I took it. We had reserve grandstand tickets but didn't go to the seats a single time. Our days were spent walking the pits and in the chairman's hospitality tent. This pic was from where we were in the tent. It was at the first concrete block to the left of the hospitality tent alcohol bar.
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We spent most of Saturday in the stands and displays since the cloud cover was helping. Sunday morning we watched the STOL drags and early races from the stands, then did pits and wound up at the tent just before they started serving lunch.

I watched the start from in front of the shed to the right of where you were, essentially directly behind the box seats with the “west and wewaxation at last” banner.

I remember the guy in the El Jefe shirt and probably saw you but didn’t have a face to put to a name.
 
I never made it to Reno. Always wanted to go but the timing just never worked out. I'm not sure why people think the races need to be justfied. If a bunch of people want to put money into airplanes and race them around a course at low level why should I care? It doesn't affect me and I'm not paying for it. I do think that they should be moved to a place where there is no risk of an airplane hitting people if it crashes at anytime during the race or immediatly befor or after. I think these past two accidents have shown that more thought needs to be put into what would happen if something went wrong at any point in the race. As long as spectators and local residents not involved with the actual racing can not get hurt then we shouldn't care how risky or dangerous it may or may not be. That is for each pilot participating in the race to decide for themselves.
 
TCABM said:
We spent most of Saturday in the stands and displays since the cloud cover was helping. Sunday morning we watched the STOL drags and early races from the stands, then did pits and wound up at the tent just before they started serving lunch.

I watched the start from in front of the shed to the right of where you were, essentially directly behind the box seats with the “west and wewaxation at last” banner.

I remember the guy in the El Jefe shirt and probably saw you but didn’t have a face to put to a name.
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Sunday morning we went to say hello and wish good luck to our friend Andy Findlay at his pit in the sport class area. After that we went to see the drags but ended up getting there with the stol pits empty of course. The only plane left in the stol pit was this guy in the pic. It looked like he had a Honda engine. I noticed the el jefe guy too; he was in front of us quite a while.IMG20230917093225.jpgIMG20230917093109.jpg
 
Update from Blancolirio Channel (Juan Brown) from yesterday.

 
Grum.Man said:
Absolutely it has! In fact a quick google search tallied up more spectator deaths since 2019 than all of air racing combined. That's not even counting the drivers/riders that have perished. The majority of the spectator deaths at Reno were a result of one incident.
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not the majority, all. the 2011 accident was the first and only time spectators were hurt from an incident at reno
 
This accident has far more to do with pattern ops at non-towered fields than it does with air racing. In fact it has nothing to do with air racing.

This is what can happen when one airplane flies a considerably wider pattern than another.

The video exists and was shared with NTSB only.

It will be interesting to see the patterns of other aircraft to get an idea if 14 was unusually wide on downwind or if 6 was unusually tight or a combination of both.
 
Fearless Tower said:
This accident has far more to do with pattern ops at non-towered fields than it does with air racing. In fact it has nothing to do with air racing.
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Agreed, and a very fair point. Remind me of commentary I made about the general dumb@ssery of the OSH pilgrimage, the Pharisees wanted to crucify me for daring to make the connection. Well, same can be said here then. If the circumstances that lead someone be somewhere are not germane to dying, then what's good for the goose is good for the gander and people need to lay off the Reno pearl clutching.

I got no problem with people calling for boycotts or whatever bug crawls up their @ss about what others find worth patronizing, but if we're gonna be cherry-picking hypocrites across personal participation predilection lines, then yeah that's befitting of ridicule and dismissal.
 
I was there Thursdsay through Sunday. Had my head down in the camera bag when the midair occured. Very sad time. Even though I only knew the pilots by their names and photos in the program, it was a tough afternoon for me. I love the air races. I'm sad that NCAR has left Reno. But, I look forward to going to whatever version survives, wherever it is.

I haven't gone through the photos on my DSLR yet. But, I got this one on the iPhone.

53209093660_04e18e6599_z.jpg
 
This is my wheelhouse guys. Listen up, you just might learn a thing or two.
 
Benito_P said:
This is my wheelhouse guys. Listen up, you just might learn a thing or two.
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Doesn't look like anybody learned much from the Texas disaster — another case of a T-boned airplane falling from the sky in an "airshow" event.
 
dtuuri said:
Doesn't look like anybody learned much from the Texas disaster — another case of a T-boned airplane falling from the sky in an "airshow" event.
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Except it was nothing like that. More closely it’s like the Centennial disaster - a more relevant case of a T-boned airplane airplane falling from the sky.
 
dtuuri said:
Doesn't look like anybody learned much from the Texas disaster — another case of a T-boned airplane falling from the sky in an "airshow" event.
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Well my experience speaks for itself! I’ve flown pointy nosed jets in the upper flight levels at supersonic speeds.

Been on missions that will make the layman’s head spin so fast they’d think they’re a figure skater.

I’m highly respected and revered, as well as highly recommend for business opportunities even outside of my wheelhouse. Nowadays, I use that experience to transport thousands of people in sophisticated transport category jets.

Ive flown fast and high in lands thousands of miles wide. So racing these prop planes is most definitely in my wheelhouse and expertise. That’s the experience level I’m trying to offer to you fine folks on here. The least I I could get is a “thanks”
 
Benito_P said:
Well my experience speaks for itself! I’ve flown pointy nosed jets in the upper flight levels at supersonic speeds.

Been on missions that will make the layman’s head spin so fast they’d think they’re a figure skater.

I’m highly respected and revered, as well as highly recommend for business opportunities even outside of my wheelhouse. Nowadays, I use that experience to transport thousands of people in sophisticated transport category jets.

Ive flown fast and high in lands thousands of miles wide. So racing these prop planes is most definitely in my wheelhouse and expertise. That’s the experience level I’m trying to offer to you fine folks on here. The least I I could get is a “thanks”
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You aren't very perceptive though — I was agreeing with you. Talking down to this audience isn't going to win you many friends either. Put your resume in your profile and let your reasoning appeal to the unwashed is my advice.
 
Benito_P said:
Well my experience speaks for itself! I’ve flown pointy nosed jets in the upper flight levels at supersonic speeds.

Been on missions that will make the layman’s head spin so fast they’d think they’re a figure skater.

I’m highly respected and revered, as well as highly recommend for business opportunities even outside of my wheelhouse. Nowadays, I use that experience to transport thousands of people in sophisticated transport category jets.

Ive flown fast and high in lands thousands of miles wide. So racing these prop planes is most definitely in my wheelhouse and expertise. That’s the experience level I’m trying to offer to you fine folks on here. The least I I could get is a “thanks”
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Very few of us here know who you are. We have less than ten posts for background and don’t know your last name even. It’s fine and good if you are all that, and I’m sure that people listen to you in your familiar circles, but there are posters here that some of us have interacted with over years or decades and they don’t have to prove that their opinion is worth considering. You can’t jump in on the internet behind a screen name and just presume that people take your words with the value and weight that your immediate peers do.
 
RyanShort1 said:
Very few of us here know who you are. We have less than ten posts for background and don’t know your last name even. It’s fine and good if you are all that, and I’m sure that people listen to you in your familiar circles, but there are posters here that some of us have interacted with over years or decades and they don’t have to prove that their opinion is worth considering. You can’t jump in on the internet behind a screen name and just presume that people take your words with the value and weight that your immediate peers do.
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I’m not intending to come off as some know it all, just laying myself out there so you guys know where expertise lies.

The name’s Benito, they call me Benny for short. Been flying since a young teen. Was a star athlete in high school and college, lettered in football. Could have went all the way but got hurt a little too much to make it to the pros. Graduated at the top of my class.

Proudly flew pointy nosed jets after achieving extraordinary grades and flight tests. Call sign was (and still is) “VIPER”. They still call me that some 30 years later.

Flown all types of GA, including formation and high-level aerobatics. Not a gentleman’s course but all full on aerobatic program designed to take someone from a pilot to an aviator.

Not saying I know everything, but I sure do know a lot. Here to talk planes, from small pistons to the jets that only a select few were selected to fly, like I did.

I try not to share too much about myself, but I’m flying overseas as well. Let’s have a good time.
 
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Dave Theisen said:
Left out, “women love me, and men want to be me”. :)
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If that’s how I come across, I apologize. I’m not like that in the least.

This crash is a touchy subject for many and I’m simply putting my experience level out there. Hoping we learn something from this crash.

-Viper
 
Benito_P said:
If that’s how I come across, I apologize. I’m not like that in the least.

This crash is a touchy subject for many and I’m simply putting my experience level out there. Hoping we learn something from this crash.

-Viper
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I’m not doubting your credentials, but your presentation of them was a little over the top. Hope you stick around and contribute to the board.
 
Benito_P said:
Well my experience speaks for itself! I’ve flown pointy nosed jets in the upper flight levels at supersonic speeds.

Been on missions that will make the layman’s head spin so fast they’d think they’re a figure skater.

I’m highly respected and revered, as well as highly recommend for business opportunities even outside of my wheelhouse. Nowadays, I use that experience to transport thousands of people in sophisticated transport category jets.

Ive flown fast and high in lands thousands of miles wide. So racing these prop planes is most definitely in my wheelhouse and expertise. That’s the experience level I’m trying to offer to you fine folks on here. The least I I could get is a “thanks”
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It sounds like your true expertise is in the arena of being an arrogant alpha hotel.

Its been my experience that those who have to brag about how amazing they are, aren’t.
 
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