Reno 2011

[fly_tornado]

So after some procrastinating I finally decided to go to the Reno Air races in September. Though I might run this past the brains trust and see if you can help my trip.

 

Reno looks fantastic, 4 days of air racing action, packs of Merlins running full tilt @ 450mph, the Thunderbirds do their thing on the Thursday and 4 day pass is a paltry $75.

 

My itinerary so far looks like flying into Las Vegas to do a ride around the Grand Canyon, then heading over to Lincoln, Nebraska to see the Navy Blue Angels F18s and the Air Force A-10s perform at the Guardians of Freedom Air Show. That's on the 10th and 11th. There is the Strategic Air Command museum about 25 miles down the road which looks absolutely massive, they have a B29, B17 and a B52 under cover along with a bunch of cold war oddities. So close I can't not go.

 

Reno is from the 12th - 18th with qualifying on Monday, Tuesday, on Wednesday the racing starts and the Thunderbirds and the F22 arrives, Thursday is the Thunderbird's show,

 

F22 show is on Thursday through Sunday, along with racing and some sort of aerobatics performance.

 

So lots of planes to see, I will probably need a new neck after all that action!

 

I was hoping to take the train from Nebraska to Reno to get a look @ the Rockies.

 

So has anyone got any tips? I need to look @ booking airfares and accommodation soon. I am thinking that Reno shouldn't be a problem getting a room as its a gambling town and has been hit by the GFC so rooms will be cheapish. Not too sure about Lincoln, they reckon they get 300,000 visitors over the 2 days but I think the majority are locals: free entry.

 

Suggestions? Ideas?

 

Links:

 

http://www.airrace.org/race_experience/schedule.php

 

http://www.lincolnairshow.com/

 

 

[Peter Brady]

So after some procrastinating I finally decided to go to the Reno Air races in September. Though I might run this past the brains trust and see if you can help my trip.Reno looks fantastic, 4 days of air racing action, packs of Merlins running full tilt @ 450mph, the Thunderbirds do their thing on the Thursday and 4 day pass is a paltry $75.

My itinerary so far looks like flying into Las Vegas to do a ride around the Grand Canyon, then heading over to Lincoln, Nebraska to see the Navy Blue Angels F18s and the Air Force A-10s perform at the Guardians of Freedom Air Show. That's on the 10th and 11th. There is the Strategic Air Command museum about 25 miles down the road which looks absolutely massive, they have a B29, B17 and a B52 under cover along with a bunch of cold war oddities. So close I can't not go.

 

Reno is from the 12th - 18th with qualifying on Monday, Tuesday, on Wednesday the racing starts and the Thunderbirds and the F22 arrives, Thursday is the Thunderbird's show,

 

F22 show is on Thursday through Sunday, along with racing and some sort of aerobatics performance.

 

So lots of planes to see, I will probably need a new neck after all that action!

 

I was hoping to take the train from Nebraska to Reno to get a look @ the Rockies.

 

So has anyone got any tips? I need to look @ booking airfares and accommodation soon. I am thinking that Reno shouldn't be a problem getting a room as its a gambling town and has been hit by the GFC so rooms will be cheapish. Not too sure about Lincoln, they reckon they get 300,000 visitors over the 2 days but I think the majority are locals: free entry.

 

Fly you can stay in Circus Circus

 

Suggestions? Ideas?

 

Links:

 

http://www.airrace.org/race_experience/schedule.php

 

http://www.lincolnairshow.com/

[Peter Brady]

Fly you can stay in Circus Circus in Reno nice and cheap and also catch the shuttle to the race, and by the way we may have 3 Aussies in the Jet Class race this year ,,John Kokshoorn, locky Onslow and Mark Pracy

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

We did 12 Renos in the 90s and have the programs to prove it ! We always went up on the Friday and sometimes on the Thursday if we could swing it. These were the years when Rare Bear (77), Strega, and lefty gardiners' P-38 'White Lightning' ruled, and Bob Hoover started the races in his old Yella mustang.

 

The whole thing starts the week before with lots of tuning and practising going on all week. The main show starts officially on Friday, with the Silver races on Saturday and the Gold races on Sunday. The admission fee into the stands increases each day. We would attend and camp on site Friday and Saturday, and go over to 'the fence' on the Sunday. This is an area off site to the North, which is quite popular under the final approach to the main runway, and close to the final turn pylon, so can be a pretty exciting spot to be if you can be early and get in there.

 

Being at the end of Summer over there, the weather can vary. Last years' gold races were cancelled due to high winds for the first time ever. Generally it is lovely and warm in the mile-high Nevada desert, but we have also seen snow on sourrounding mountain tops and frozen our butts off !.

 

There is a bar with live music at night on site, and you can wander past open hangers at three in the morning and watch crews frantically changing race engines, to get ready for the mornings racing.

 

Often you are awaken around 6am (or earlier!) by the beautifull sound of those same race- merlin equipped Mustangs, high overhead in the still air, putting their newly fitted engines to the test. It doesn't get any better than that !............there is nothing like the sound of a race modified Merlin overhead pulling way more manifold pressure than it was ever intended to do, at 490+ mph !!.

 

The Reno Air Races is one of the best aviation events in the world, and is the continuation of the original National championship Air Races originally started in the 20s at Cleveland. The races are now situated at ex-Stead Air Force base, situated North of Reno in a beautifull natural desert valley. All the top airshow and military acts attend, and fill in the gaps between the race heats themselves. Once the action starts it's full on until the last race heat of the day around 3pm, so settle in, hang on, and don't forget your program and cold beer !..................................................................Maj...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

More !!!........................................

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[fly_tornado]

super corsair #74 will be racing

 

I think its the first time since '49, man that's a big engine!

 

 

 

[winsor68]

WoW!

 

Nice photos guys! Looks like a great trip Tornado.

 

Ross... who is the hairy dude in the photo?

 

 

[fly_tornado]

sheik maj millhada

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

Reno will probably be my next trip to the US. Defiantly on the bucket list.

 

My favorite Reno Racer would be 'Race 57'. A Super Corsair from the Cleveland days. I found an old magazine that had an interesting story how it had been found neglected on a farm in Kansas where it finished up as a wind machine. The story was about it's meticulous rebuild and first race flight. It sure looked good when i saw it at my last air venture visit. No. 74 will be at this years air venture.

 

Ozzie

 

 

 

[fly_tornado]

Grandstand seating and Pit pass paid for and accommodation booked.

 

 

[fly_tornado]

http://www.eaavideo.org/video.aspx?v=1127367449001

[fly_tornado]

well just arrived in Reno before lunch and taking it easy after lunch and I can hear the unmistakable sound of an F16

 

 

[fly_tornado]

man what a show! that super corsair is a weapon. so fast and very loud. grinding my way through 700 odd photos now.

 

Thunderbirds where ok, F16 seems like a better plane for an airshow routine but the Blue Angels where better choreographed. The jets and unlimited class racing is very fast.

 

1 guy crashed after a power outage on take off, he's ok but his plane isn't so lucky.

 

 

[Guest JRMobile]

Thanks for keeping us up-to date FT and really looking forward to the Pics......:thumb_up:

 

 

[fly_tornado]

I have started the pic dump It might take a while. Only got about a 1/2 the planes

 

http://s880.photobucket.com/albums/ac7/flynow2010/reno/

 

 

[fly_tornado]

well that was fcuked up, i think rare bear just crashed and killed some ppl

 

 

[djpacro]

Good to hear that you are OK. One of my friends was 100 ft from the impact point and fortunately he and his family survived.

 

75 people injured per http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44556695/ns/us_news-life/

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

What ???....................P-51 Mustang flown by Jimmy Leewood who has been racing for years, sad event, hope the casualities are not too bad. It looks like it impacted just out front of the pit area on the hardstand. certainly could have been much worse if he had gone into the stands proper.....................................................Maj...

 

 

[fly_tornado]

It just went up did a couple of snap rolls and nose dived into the ground. The plane just disintegrated and this plume of debris just rose up.

 

Had he tried to pull out he would have killed me. I saw a bunch of bodies lying on the ground.

 

I am so wired right now

 

 

[Vev]

Hi FT,

 

Glad you are ok ...

 

Don't try and cope with what has happened on your own go and see someone and get some support.

 

Take care

 

Vev

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Any crash at an event like this is tragic, especially when it involves so many casualities. Glad our friends on the ground are well, seeing this so close would be tramatising. Jimmy Leewood had over 120 races under his belt, and has been in the race game a long time. It appears from news reports that he called a mayday, so it looks like maybe an aircraft control problem. Does anyone know if this was the aircraft (galloping Ghost) modified with the internal cooling set-up ?.......................................Maj...

 

 

[Bandit12]

A sad day indeed for aviation, and for the pilot and bystanders.

 

 

[fly_tornado]

I went to dinner with a guy I met on the bus, who also was right next to the crash and the whole town seems affected by it in some way. There are a bunch of guys in my motel that all looked shocked. It's the most dumbfounding thing I have ever seen.

 

Judging by the way he was flying I suspect he lost aileron control as he was headed away from the crowd by the time he impacted.

 

His plane was flying level where as usually the planes are steeply turning left went up and then did a 90 degree roll clockwise, then another 9o degree roll, then pitched down and then another roll before impacting. he was going really fast and it all happened so quickly.

 

I watched most of the people who got killed and injured come and go all day, its so freaky, for a while I thought he was going into the grand stands where I was sitting.

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

I would imagine they would be doing at least 400 +mph around that turn, not a good time to loose any flight control as these races often see around 490 mph or more, when things are going hard. I'm amazed it happened where it did as the circut is something like 15 miles around, and covers a whole valley in area. So far reporting three fatalities including the pilot, hope that's it..to attend those air races is a unique aviation experience indeed..........................................................................Maj...

 

 

[FlyingVizsla]

I picked this up almost as it happened, then picked up YouTube (some of the more graphic ones have been removed with severed limbs), listened to some of the on-line streaming news which reported 3 dead (including pilot) and then as many as 8 more since deceased at various hospitals. You can see people in the crowd wanting to do something, but unable, women crying. Witnesses said the emergency services sprang into action so quickly there was no need for them.

 

I am now heartily sick of anchor persons gabbing on about things they know nothing about, calling for air races to be banned, old pilots, old planes to be grounded, interviewing anyone provided they know nothing and gabbing on and on making up a story when they had a real expert who, if left to explain, could give them a more considered answer, but instead was left, with a few seconds, to struggle in the mire. Talk about banning Reno due to "a long history of serious accidents."

 

One discussion with another air racer - he suggested the trim tab may have failed and this would make the plane, at that speed, hard to handle. There's also talk that the pilot managed to swing away from the crowd so the major debris trail was toward the runway. A very sad day for US airshows and Reno, and the flying public. My thoughts are with you.

 

 

Sue