I agree with Ryan. I won't miss them at all. And I don't get the innovation argument. What does it matter if someone can gain 5 knots by tweaking the airframes and power plants of aircraft designed and built decades earlier?
I think both of you need to read, or possibly re-read, the Galloping Ghost final. To say that the spectators knew about the potential danger and that the trim tab wasn't sufficiently strong completely misses the point of the maintenance and test practices that lead to that accident. Did people understand the probable outcomes if an accident were to occur? Certainly, I would hope, but I bet few had any idea of the probability of occurrence. There is the perception that these airplanes are impeccably maintained; however, this was far from the case in this accident, according to the NTSB at least; and I doubt many spectators were aware of that.
And frankly, that’s what it should be focused on.
Nope. I confirmed you're wrong. Air Racing has recently killed many more spectators than pilots, while car racing recently kills many more drivers than spectators. Unless you have some contrary data.
The market has clearly spoken with the success of the Vans line of aircraft. Most people would give up all out speed for better manors and lower operating cost. Airplanes like the Legacy, Glasair III, SX300, and Venture are all but extinct now when it comes to new builds.
thanks for the warm welcome. I’m happy to help you guys take off your blinders and accept what a trivial discussion this really is.
FWIW, it was never a free country. The only question is who was being oppressed at a given time in history.
news3lv.com
So the races are going to take place next year at an airport that doesn't exist. But the owner has been working on it for almost a year.... I wish him luck.Meanwhile, there's this:
New Las Vegas Air Races announced for 2024 at Spaceport development
The Las Vegas Air Races, a new aviation experience, has been announced for fall next year.The Las Vegas Spaceport announced that the motorsport event is planned
www.reviewjournal.com
I see they're planning a space hotel too, with transportation costing $125,000 per passenger. Now THERE'S an activity for the rich!So the races are going to take place next year at an airport that doesn't exist. But the owner has been working on it for almost a year.... I wish him luck.
The next frontier of tourism: Las Vegas Spaceport proposed west of city
Rob Lauer, a commercial real estate investor, looks to raise $310 million to build a spaceport between Las Vegas and Pahrump within the next decade.
.
The STOL races are another place where innovation is 100% happening.It's pretty comical we are talking about "innovation" in speed to get every last MPH yet the current aviation trend is to spend 300k on a carbon cub slap 30+" tires on an already slow airplane and take it to grass strips where Cessna 150's and RV's beat you to burning less gas.
My buddy told me I watch too much football the other day... then he went home to watch his soap opera called Yellowstone!
Sure but wouldn't a Robinson R22 or Safari kick all their butts? At what point do we admit there are better tools for the job? lol
How much innovation happens in the stock T6 class, like this was? I've got no idea what the rules are; how close must they be to stock?
I don't know about the T-6s, and honestly, I doubt that they are as "useful" but you could say the same thing about High School football, College Football vs Pro. Sometimes something is just a stepping stone, say to the Unlimiteds.
That would be a fun show. Steve Henry vs an R44.
How much of this technology and innovation benefits any part of any industry outside of air racing? To follow your football example, it's fairly easy to find an example of 'technology transfer' from sports medicine by looking at orthopedics. What's an example of technology in today's GA, commercial, or military airplane that can be traced directly to contemporary air racing?
Well, I posted the Lancair link. Keep in mind that there's always been a bit of trade secrecy involved in innovation. You don't just tell your competitors everything right up front. I mean... that's common sense, which I'm beginning to remember is scarce in aviation message board circles. Also, you asked for "traced directly to contemporary" - well, I guess we'd have to go talk to some people racing in the 1990-2010 era most likely to see what all that might be. Anything being used right now is probably not showing up in mass-produced stuff until it's more mature.
I'm not sure what posting a link to the Lancair website has to do with anything. The Glasair, SX, and Venture all predate the legacy and perform as good or better. The air races just aren't a big enough event to realize any major breakthroughs. Most of what you see on the race planes came from the GA industry, NASA, or other forms of motorsports. They don't have the backing for big corporations like Ferrari, Ford, GM, Toyota, McLaren.. It's still a valid and entertaining sport that I hope continues on.
The owner is a warbirds guy (rebuilt some Wildcats) and raced one of the Lancairs at Reno. Lancairs and Glassairs are some of the most common aircraft being used in the Sport class with a few RVs, Thunder Mustangs, and Rockets also in the races.
I'd be very surprised if the races don't bring a great deal more money into the area than is spent on 'public resources' to support the races.
That's because those are the most abundant examples. A Questair Venture has won in the past as well as one off racers. They were GA designs that are being used in competition, not competition airplanes put into GA use. The only one to try that was Nemesis NXT and well it's painfully obvious the opposite translation doesn't work out.
Maybe they do (discounting the dead people,of course), but that still gives the public an interest. And Reno has already said they're not worth it and it's not interested anymore.
True. The decision that this year's races would be the last at Reno was apparently made in March.
This is the wrong forum for that.
Well, if climbers hadn't been pushing the limit of what's possible for so many years, there wouldn't have been much of a need to develop the nylon kernmantle rope, in all of its' specialized permutations. We'd still be climbing with manila or hemp ropes. Which suck for that application.
A lot of modern mainstream camping gear was originally developed for mountaineering.
Right. Just like football, or NASCAR, people raced at Reno because they wanted to, and either they were rich enough to afford it or enough people (spectators and sponsors) were willing to pay to watch them do it. That's enough justification.
The glasair guy was tuning dual turbos in flight and making each pass faster and faster.
