Off Topic? Well maybe. Your Happiest Moment.

[miker98038]

Re: Off Topic? Well maybe. Your Happiest Moment.

A couple of my happiest moments are on topic. The ride in "Gunfighter" when my best friend was involved with the 50th anniversary of the B-29 at Boeing field. The ride in a T-6 my late wife bought me for Christmas.

I saw my first Race in 1975, and was hooked. But the best one was the one I missed in 1985. My son was born September 17th.

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: Off Topic? Well maybe. Your Happiest Moment.

Maybe not happiest but definitely air race related.
During the Great Recession I had to take a second job as a security guard. I was at my post at Virginia Street and Second Street for the Wing festival downtown, trying not to melt in a rare over-100-degree day when this gorgeous couple, blond, fit and Scandinavian, walked up to me and in VERY broken English asked if I knew how to get to the Air Races. This was in late June so I told him they were not for several months. He told me that on their trip through the united states their number one bucket list item was to visit the site. Left my post (boy did I get yelled at later), got them a cab and directed him to take them to Stead, onto the airport and to the stands, show them around.
Thought Jeez, all the way from Norway (they said) just to visit what they considered a shrine!

Wow, Leo, you just nailed it on the head!

I see it when I go out early week and tend to drive in and out a lot between wherever I am at Stead, and wherever I am in Reno or nearby.

I see people walking from their cars and they are in an absolute trance!

Think about it, do you remember your first time?

I sure do, every second of it, Sunday Reno 1979, I thought I watched my hero die! Then he didn't... man, in my mind, this was freaking NASCAR on STEROIDS!!!!!

I think it still is. I appreciate the skill and art of the current NBC presentations, their interviews with pilots and crews are top notch, well shot and engaging!

They just need MORE TIME for each episode.

They do tend to cut away from the action to show "fluff" and I think that is a big mistake! Grab the fan, immerse them in the action, keep them there for... what, six eight minutes??? You don't need to cut to a second unit background piece in the middle of a race...

Other Than That (OTT) Nobody else is doing it and they're doing pretty damn good with what resources and air time they are given!

Probably need to do some thread editing, moving some posts here and there into more appropriate current threads...

I'm the biggest violator of keeping going

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: Off Topic? Well maybe. Your Happiest Moment.

My happiest moment???

Tough one.. I've been given some absolutely MAGIC opportunities at RENO over my years there...

First press pass pylon visit ranks high...

Having Dave DeVoss who was shooting for a movie my first or second year out there jump down from his jeep on Pylon 8, grab my hand and tell me I was his inspiration!

I think he might have meant more that I was an example that any dumb fool with enough hutzpa could create something that would get them involved with RENO more than any admiration of what my content was... LOL..

THAT was a happy moment...

Not there but at OSKHOSH first time.. Ran into Jimmy Leeward and first thing he said to me was "I want you in the back seat of the pace plane tomorrow"

http://www.aafo.com/gallery/week/0813-128.jpg

Yea.. that was a pretty happy moment!

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: Off Topic? Well maybe. Your Happiest Moment.

That was only the second time I'd ever shot air to air, it was magic.. hot and humid below, we were right at the very top of the visual ceiling so we'd get wisps of cool dry air and a bit of cool high humidity air into the open canopy.. hard to explain, I'd imagine many of the pilots here who've flown with open windows, or canopies know what I'm talking about..

Air was... unstable, string of airplanes was like a snake! I had to try anything I could to catch them all in a line buy I remember it was REALLY just like a really pissed snake, up, down, up, down... I think there's an article in the archives that has a sequence, but I could not find it...

Camera was the original Nikon D1, nobody, especially me, knew much about what was to become a staple in photography... the "affordable" digital SLR!

Still have it.. Still works, I think??