10/2 Sunday Reno Gazette Front Page

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: 10/2 Sunday Reno Gazette Front Page

First year I went, 1979, the CAF did their TORA TORA TORA demo... They had 50 gal drums filled with diesel and sawdust or something of that sort.... *someone* in the crowd, reportedly, got hit with some shrapnal.....

Nothing big, mind you, but it was many years before we saw that demo again....

But the show went on!

[sandramore]

Re: 10/2 Sunday Reno Gazette Front Page

They had 50 gal drums filled with diesel and sawdust or something of that sort....

When making smoke oil, sawdust provides a bit of fiber and diesel a little extra kick. As though the stuff needed it....

[V1670]

Re: 10/2 Sunday Reno Gazette Front Page

Good thing, I'm not good at ping-pong when I've been drinking.

Cool....have a toast to the GG for me,will ya?

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: 10/2 Sunday Reno Gazette Front Page

Cool....have a toast to the GG for me,will ya?

Strange thing.., today, I found myself wearing the Ghost T that Jimmy gave me last year (he also gave t's to members of my local Reno family, who were with me on Monday for the A2A).. so today I had to help a friend on the river and I grabbed my favorite jacket..

It dawned on me at some point that I had a Galloping Ghost T-shirt on and was wearing my red and blue MAII windbreaker...

And I was standing on the deck of my neighbor's boat in the middle of the Columbia River...

I'm plexed between the feeling of ... well.. "creepy".. to having a warm, wrapped hugged feeling! Not sure Gary would have ever hugged me!

But damn sure Jimmy would have....

[Leo]

Re: 10/2 Sunday Reno Gazette Front Page

I have yet to hear a call to end Street Vibrations, even after a gunfight that could have gone terribly bad, and a brawl downtown in another casino the same night.
Sparks closed it all down for Saturday. i worked security in downtown Reno Saturday night, where those that stuck around went to get their biker fix. I felt in more danger those few hours than in 35 years of going to the races. There were hundreds of police in the area, gang teams, vests.
The fear of the gang wars spilling into the event has been real for awhile now and we get briefed on it year after year. No call to end it though.

I remember after the MAII crash there were huge lawsuits and a call to end them due to safety. Eventually it just went away. Hopefully THAT portion of this will fade.

As for the ambulance chaser. I hope he and others like him one day find themselves on the OTHER side of a liability suit. Been there, it changes your life and attitude.

[madman]

Re: 10/2 Sunday Reno Gazette Front Page

I have yet to hear a call to end Street Vibrations, even after a gunfight that could have gone terribly bad, and a brawl downtown in another casino the same night.

Oh, infact quite the opposite from the Gazoo Urinal:

http://www.rgj.com/article/20110927/...|text|Voices|s

[Acorn]

Re: 10/2 Sunday Reno Gazette Front Page

I like how, according to the article, RARA keeps the spectators further away from the show line than is required. Sounds to me like they've been trying to make sure everyone stays safe. Sometimes things just happen.

[Ebehne]

Re: 10/2 Sunday Reno Gazette Front Page

I like how, according to the article, RARA keeps the spectators further away from the show line than is required. Sounds to me like they've been trying to make sure everyone stays safe. Sometimes things just happen.

Yes, and they made it abundantly clear that 800ft is at least 300ft more than the 500ft minimum. Seriously I realize people are stupid these days but come on, I could have figured that out by myself when I was 5 years old...

As for the street vibrations thing, you have all made valid points that on a personal level I agree with (as a motorcyclist myself). Violence associated with it, etc. however I don't think that it's any more fair to say that it should be stopped than the air races. Its a few people that have taken the opportunity to ruin something for the rest of the bikers that don't get violent. The attitude that "oh those guys are dangerous, our gathering is safer" is something that we should all take a second thought about before it becomes public. It's exactly what all the people who have never attended the air races and never will are saying about stopping them and why I constantly have high blood pressure every time I read the comments section of anything related to the crash. Not criticizing anyone, I'm just saying that's how I believe it should be.

[madman]

Re: 10/2 Sunday Reno Gazette Front Page

The attitude that "oh those guys are dangerous, our gathering is safer" is something that we should all take a second thought about before it becomes public.

I agree with this, but my issue is the hypocritical nature of the rag they call a newspaper. They were VERY quick to say "maybe we should cancel the air races", and even quicker to say "cities should not condemn street vibrations".

It's not a newspaper any more. It's more like a propaganda sheet.

Their bias is not limited to the air races.... they are not a "Reno" newspaper. They are a corporate owned company, and the editor clearly has his financial interests at heart. This has nothing to do with "Journalism".



Sorry.... I'll step off the soapbox now.



--md

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: 10/2 Sunday Reno Gazette Front Page

As for the street vibrations thing, you have all made valid points that on a personal level I agree with (as a motorcyclist myself). Violence associated with it, etc. however I don't think that it's any more fair to say that it should be stopped than the air races. Its a few people that have taken the opportunity to ruin something for the rest of the bikers that don't get violent.

Don't think you're going to find too many who would support that sort of mind set!

Since this happened, I've been keeping an eye on current headlines, and doing some digging for older ones.. it's just amazing, if you remove the "air racing" glitz from this story, the toll is less, in many cases, than events that have taken place in seemingly harmless venues..

I think just the math of our current situation can not be argued with. 48 years, countless races, air show demos and only now, so far into it, we have an accident which, tragically, injured and killed spectators. The odds against something like this happening again are so far out there to be incalculable...

[Ebehne]

Re: 10/2 Sunday Reno Gazette Front Page

I don't want to be mistaken, I would do whatever it takes to save air racing. However, if don't like doing that by comparing ourselves to other motorsports. It seems that is all ignorant people respond to though, so next time someone says something about the number of pilots/spectators killed air racing, point out that NASCAR has had 45 drivers (that I know of) die in the same amount of time the races have been in Reno. Or simply cite the number of people killed in car accidents each year. Like you said Wayne the numbers dont lie and they are in our favor. And yes, remove the fact that flying is this scary, unknown, mystical thing that people see as angerous and you really don't have much of a story.

[Leo]

Re: 10/2 Sunday Reno Gazette Front Page

Like Madman, it was for illustration. The perception of the reporter is that "some of this is to be expected" with bikers. In reality it is the opposite, where just a few members of two gangs turn an otherwise safe and peaceful event and crowd into a problem.
Most of the coverage you see about civil aviation is, by the nature of news, bad. There is no story in a safe flight or thousands of them. The story is in the spectacular. The problem is they usually show a burned out airframe or spectacular, burning crash. The public perception is based on that. Add to it that the minority are pilots or involved enough to know the truth and you have the recipe for a huge group of people that see it as dangerous to even look at a small plane. I have a large number of friends that simply see a Cessna as a death trap. Heck, even my wife nags me to never fly again after a particularly gruesome news story.
I don't think there is any way to overcome the press and public view, except to try and temper any knee jerk reactions to this all. Like Wayne said the chances are as rare that this will ever happen again as they were that it would happen in the first place. The public has to understand that to let it go on.