Interview with Nick Macy
By: Naomi West
Part
II
Back to pilot
stuff! We were curious about what it’s like
in the cockpit; are there any air-cooling or
ventilation systems? Macy told us, "We
don’t want any air moving in there, because
if air leaks in, you get parasitic drag and so
you should caulk it up; there shouldn’t be
any air moving. When you close that glass and the
sun beats down and it’s 90 degrees outside,
it gets pretty hot!" He continued with,
"..by the end of the race, you can really
feel the heat coming through the firewall,
because you’re sitting right behind
it."
We commented that
with all that heat in the cockpit, we notice that
Nick is one of the pilots in the T-6 Class who
always wears a helmet.
Macy responded:
"Even in the air, when we hit severe
turbulence, and you bang your head on the
glass…I think the safety end is well worth
what you get out of it."
We noted earlier
that the AT-6 class provides some of the closest
competition at Reno. This year, the
"T-6’ers" had extremely close
qualifying times, less than one second apart for
the top 4 contenders at R2K.
Author’s
Note:
Race 47,
"Frostbite" Jack Frost Qual Time =
76.20
Race 6,
"Six-Cat" Nick Macy Qual Time = 77.36
Race 21,
"Mystical Power" Tom Campau Qual Time =
77.80
We asked Macy
about the competition this year and immediately,
he mentioned Tom Campau, pilot of Race #21,
Mystical Power.
"That
airplane has always been fast…and he was
right there, not that far away from us and
actually, Jack (Jack Frost, pilot of Race 47,
"Frostbite") was faster then we are but
he was not that far away either. That’s one
thing about down there that makes it so exciting,
we are all so close. Because qualifying is very
important for our class, we are always trying get
the best day the best [qualifying] period.. and
sometimes it works out and sometimes it
doesn’t. "
Interestingly
enough, when we talked about how perfect the AT-6
starts are, and how close they race – almost
like formation racing – the topic of
camaraderie comes up again.
According to Macy,
"That’s the one thing that’s so
nice... I mean, everybody does a good job, and
the camaraderie that you get –
everybody’s a good pilot and it makes it a
bit more comfortable, because you know you can
trust the people that you are flying with. They
wouldn’t be out there if they weren’t
good pilots in the first place. They all do a
good job."
It’s no
surprise that Macy is so highly respected and is
known as "genuinely" one of the nicest
guys you’ll ever meet in air racing!
We talked about
Steve Dilda, president of the AT-6 class, and
possibly the hardest working man for the class.
Macy gave us the big smile and said " Yeah,
he does a really great job, and I think that you
get in to it – and guys, you get into a
certain amount of politics that goes on because
of the competitiveness between people – and
Steve does a such a good job of overhearing that
and picking through that...plus the fact
he’s interfacing with Reno and all that that
goes on...I don’t think those guys get
enough credit for what they put out for…they
don’t get enough thanks for letting us go
out and be the glory hogs, is what it comes down
to."
Macy added that,
"He (Dilda) doesn’t get any recognition
out if it, but he’s really the guy that we
rely on. If we don’t get good starts, then
everything is screwed up. He’s also the guy
there, that if you have a problem, then all you
have to do is call him and he’s there to
help you out and he’s a good pilot. So that
takes a lot of pressure off you."
(Author's Note:
Steve is also the voice on the radio that lines
up the AT-6 starts. If you haven’t ever
listened to the pilot chatter of an AT-6 start,
you are really missing out. One has to wonder if
Steve Dilda wasn’t an auctioneer in a
previous lifetime. Steve has also been one of the
key players in gaining more attention for the
AT-6 class by enlisting Mark Johnston [Official
website of the Reno Air Race Association
webmaster] to update and retool the AT-6 website
for the Internet at http://www.racingt-6.org)
We talked more
about the AT-6 Class and the changes throughout
the years. Macy told us, "The most exciting
thing about that is, Reno is growing and when I
first started – we didn’t know exactly
when our slot was in a race and I know one time
when we launched, we launched for the next start
and Bob Hoover had the number one and number two
acts – we launched before the number one and
he thought he was supposed to do all his acts, so
we had to fly around till he finished all his
acts before we could come down.
We were out there
flying around trying to waste time and we
didn’t have a minimum fuel requirement then
– and I was like the number four guy in the
pack – and I was even sweatin’ it! I
had my hand on it, because I had minimum fuel
– like Bingo fuel in one tank and my race
fuel in the other tank and – and I was
watching the bingo tank and wondering: 'Gosh, if
I run out of fuel in this tank, am I’m gonna
have enough fuel to finish the race and
everything ?' And that’s when we came up
with the 50 gal minimum fuel. Now, it’s so
nice when we take off and join up, go out and
turn around, and come back in – we all know
it’s only a couple of minutes and we could
probably get away with less fuel."
After a week of
flying one of the fastest T-6 racers in the
world, in competition at Reno, we wondered what
is the ride back home like?
Macy smiled again
and said, "It’s amazing! All week long
you’re listening to that tune of 2500 (rpm)
and when you hate pullin' the power back, because
as soon as you pull the power back, you start
wondering if the thing is still running –
because you’re always trying to run-up on
that other guy. And the worst possible trip is on
the way home, because you're running at half-full
power settings, and you’re cruising along,
and I swear you can almost count the blades going
around. That’s how it feels...
...you’re
just loping along."
This brings us to
the other part of our story, "Macy’s
Flying Service." Living in an agricultural
community, you quickly become familiar with the
sight and sound of the ever busy crop dusting
airplanes but what is it like being a "crop
duster?"
Even though they
are a familiar sight, we were still curious as to
what a day in the life of an Ag pilot would be
like?
Macy quickly told
us, "We’ll fly all day as long as the
conditions let us go. We’ll go until 2 or 3
in the afternoon, if we can go that long. Most of
the time, we’re going to 12, or 1, or 2
o’clock – that’s about it here
– because, we’re like at Reno. When it
gets warm, the vortices pick up and the winds
start picking up, and we have to worry about
drift off. So we get here– the guys and
planes get here around 4:30 in the morning –
and they pre-flight and get everything ready.
Then we move into the office and work on
(deciding) which fields we’re going to, and
brief everybody on what we're going to do that
day. And then they’re sitting in the
airplane and we’re working from that point
on until we shut off. They are showing on their
air hours that they are in the airplane for 6 or
7 hours."
We wondered if the
skills developed in Ag flying transfer over,
besides just flying close to the ground and the
control aspects?
Macy responded,
"Yeah, I think that that’s been a big
help to me. I’m running the same engine and
I think it’s worked both ways. Air racing
has helped me with Ag flying because we have 2250
rpm [limit] and don’t go over that. When we
get to the Air Races, we do almost exactly
opposite; we go past the old redline. We usually
run from 2000 to 2100 (manifold pressure at 28-30
inches) in Ag airplanes and redline at 2250. When
we are running at Reno we run at 2500 to 2600rpms
and we’re trying to boost up as much
manifold pressure as we possibly can. You can see
the pounding it can take down there so you know
– ‘geesh’ – after I’ve
raced for 13 years, and when I come back to Ag, I
know the airplane/engine is very reliable and you
could run it that hard – and if I ever
needed a little more rpm – that we could get
it out of it, for extra, so it works both
ways."
The hot topic in
Ag flying lately is with the Turbo props, so we
had to ask if Macy’s Flying Service had
converted to turbo props as well? Nick answered,
"We have one turbo prop (a Thrush, powered by an Allied
Signal Garrett w/980 shaft HP). And we’d
like to get another one in the near future. But
we still have 3 airplanes here that
aren’t." He added that, "it’s
more consistent, when we get into heavier loads,
we have a 500 gal airplane and the other one is a
400, and it’s got almost 500 horsepower
more…it’s more consistent to go out in
the field and maintain airspeed…because
you're really heavy in the morning, and later in
the morning it starts to get really hot and your
starting out slower…but the turbines stay
real consistent all the way through. And when you
ferry, you can bump it right on up and push it
hard."
Nick’s
obvious enthusiasm for the Turbo engine prompted
our next question: Would you enjoy seeing a
turbo-prop class at Reno? Macy quickly and firmly
answered, "No, it’s like the Unlimited
Boat races – when they went to turbines
– and you hear this whispering thing flying
on the water, and you’re just watching
speed."
Macy took over the
family business in 1985, but as he says, "My
mother is still the boss."
When we asked if
he still does a lot of Ag flying, he told us,
"My Ag flying days – since this last
year – are starting to wind down because
I’m running the operations now...and we
hired on another pilot two years ago...so now
I’m kind of phasing out of Ag flying, and
hanging on to the Air Racing as best I can."
So Nick Macy
– in your future – you don’t see
yourself quitting air racing anytime soon?
Macy responded,
"Well, I’d hope not. I'd like to keep
going on…I take it for what it is. I enjoy
it. I’m lucky to be able to do it and have
the chance to do it. I’d miss it a whole lot
if something happened and I couldn’t do
it."
We wondered if he
would miss all the Ag flying, and Macy said,
"Yeah, you know it’s funny – all
the years I got to do a lot of Ag flying –
you get into that routine and now that my hours
are dwindling away, I’m really starting to
miss it, you know. You take it for granted –
how you hone yourself out. It’s like Reno.
You get into that groove, and it’s sad thing
at the end when you have to come home, because
you just really start getting to your best."
That prompted us
to ask about whether the lack of Ag flying will
affect his racing? Macy assured us that it would
just allow him more time in "Six-Cat."
So, watch out
residents of Tule – you are about to get
buzzed!
Special
Thanks To:
Neal and Birgitta Nurmi for their help in
preparing this article and Nick Macy for taking
the time to share with us his experiences in Air
Racing.
Interesting
AT-6 Links
More information about this exciting
Air Race Division
Information about The Reno
Air Race Association
Amazing up-close
video/sound clips of this class in action!
Photo essay of this year's
Championship AT-6 Race
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