Updates from Reno...

[Fence Sence]

Re: Updates from Reno...

Smoke clearing much slower today. Flags are moving a little bit so starting clear. STOL guys are firing up.

[shadow]

Re: Updates from Reno...

Smoky again this morning. Looks to follow the same pattern as yesterday and clear up later in the day.

Only STOL have raced today.

Sport 24 is headed out to flightline for an engine run.

Early Christmas in Sport 30's pits. Un boxed bigger turbos this morning. Plan is to fly with small turbos today and switch to new turbos for tomorrow's racing.

Sport 39 just has top cowl off, no-one working on it.

[Hotel Sierra]

Race 99

Surprised to not see Sport Class Race 99 this year. What's the story?
Thx

[RAD2LTR]

Re: Updates from Reno...

So, I gotta say, I'm both happy and miffed over the smoke this year. I've got 2 unlimiteds willing to tow out for a ramp shoot, and one IF1 team. The Quad Nickel guys are chomping at the bit for the ramp shoot, but with conditions the way they have been, there is no point in trying. It would be like shooting in strange colored fog. The upside, I'm in from the ramp before 9pm. I got some potentially interesting pics, but I need to sit down and edit them.

Dusty got qualified today as well as a couple other people. The plane was happy and everything was good. I think I heard Dusty mutter "this thing flies like a truck" I had to laugh at that.

Graeme and some of the Full Noise team arrived today. It was great to see them. They REALLY want to come back, but the shipping is killing them. (Anyone have an in with a shipping company that might be willing to sponsor them?) If so, let me know and I'll pass the info onto Graeme.

Will

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: Updates from Reno...

For sure thanks wadeh! Looks like aafo.com is about it for info this year, so far anyway.. Glad we kept 'er goin'!

Very happy that we're able to provide a useful service to the National Championship Air Races fans! Myself included!

[GRNDP51]

Re: Updates from Reno...

Thanks for the details wadeh.

Race 24 went up for a test hop about an hour ago so that?s good news. They?ll be back of gold tomorrow.

Curious to see what Andy decides for 30.

Supposedly the engine they put in Clas Thunder is a race engine. The other Thunder lost its race engine earlier in the week so we?ll see how Plan B works? not holding my breath however.

[wadeh]

Re: Updates from Reno...

Here is my update for today.

It was really busy today - much busier than I've seen on a Wednesday. We started the day cold, and with lots of smoke, so things got off to a late start. They delayed the morning heat racing to get the last qualifiers in. Off the top of my head, I think that everyone who needed to, qualified (except possibly sport race 24). That's great news.

The first planes in the air were the STOL Drag guys, since they can work with less visibility. Most of my flying time is in Piper Cubs, so these guys are doing my kind of flying. I noted a few days ago, that there are two 182 tricycle gear planes this year. When they were announcing the pilots today, I thought that I heard that one of the pilots was from Ellensburg, WA, which is my home town. When I checked out the program, it turns out that both of the 182's are from Ellensburg.

In F1, we had an excellent race in Heat 1B. Our grandstand seats are about 30 feet west of the start/finish line, right behind the announcers, and the finish was too close for us to call. Race 48 trailed high and wide, behind race 52 for most of the heat. On the final lap, 48 closed on 52 and caught them right at the finish line. We had to wait a while for the results. The separation was 6/1000 of a second.

There was a small incident as they were recovering the jets from heat 1C. One of the L-39's, race 73, blew the right main gear on landing. I was looking elsewhere at the time, but it looked to me, like he landed behind an L-29 and was closing pretty quickly. I wonder if he locked up the brakes (wild speculation on my part). In any case, that kept runway 08 closed for a while, until they brought out a dolly for the right main gear and towed it off.

I did hear a funny radio call on the T-6 heat 1C. When the pace plane was calling in the race numbers on the flight, he mentioned the raffle plane as the last in the lineup. The tower responded "What is a raffle plane?", followed by a brief description of the T-6 raffle rides. I was surprised that the controller in the tower was unfamiliar with this. I wonder if it's her first year at Reno...

The F1 and biplane racers were greatly helped by the weather. After the smoke cleared, it stayed calm until about 3:00. That allowed them to run the heats well into the afternoon. The last F1 heat of the day was about 2:15. I don't remember ever seeing them run that late in the day.

In non-racing activity, we got to see Jim Peitz do his routine with the Bonanza. We had a U2 fly-by, with three simulated landing passes with the chase car. Finally, the Honda Jet did it's demo.

After the racing was done, we went back through the pits. We had some great conversation with the crews for Sport 181 and 30.

In the pit for 181, they confirmed that the mechanical problem was a broken rod (and went into some detail as to both where it came from, and quite a bit about their engine program). In the 181 pits, he mentioned that they have a second engine in their shop. They considered a swap, but decided it wouldn't be feasible. They are done for the year.

In the pit for 30, they confirmed that they did run slow in this morning's qualifying run, just so that they'd be in. They had one of their new turbos fail (in an usual way), and switched over to their 2018 setup to get qualified. They have more parts coming in, and will decide later whether to go with what they have now, or whether to make some changes for the new parts. They have lots more speed than what they showed in qualifying this morning. We were actually there for quite a while, and we talked about the history of the airplane, some about the modifications, and some interesting stuff about how they get it back and forth to Reno. I'll try to summarize: The plane is based in Virginia. They ferry it to Reno via Witchita on a 3 blade prop. In Witchita, McCauley has their 4 blade race prop, and they install it there. The plane continues to Reno. On the trip home, they reverse the process. Also, it is interesting how they cool the engine. In race configuration, it is mostly cooled by water spray. They drain the fuel out of one of the wing tanks, change the connections, and fill it with water for cooling. They also reverse that process for the trip home. It was a really run and educational visit with them.

We stopped by the Clas Thunder hanger and they were just buttoning up the cowl on race 51 after an engine swap. As I started typing this, I heard the radio call for a clearance, so it seems like they are back in business.

So that's about it, off the top of my head.

[Sky Critter]

Re: Updates from Reno...

I'm very happy you guys are keeping is informed here at home! I'm pretty baffled by the lack of updates on FB.. Unless I'm looking wrong place, or they are getting their info here LOL!!!

I don't think you're looking in the wrong place... FB has been dismal so far for coverage.

I'm really missing being able to listen in on LiveATC.net as they don't have anyone hosting the race frequencies this year.

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: Updates from Reno...

I'm very happy you guys are keeping is informed here at home! I'm pretty baffled by the lack of updates on FB.. Unless I'm looking wrong place, or they are getting their info here LOL!!!

[Pylon1_Mark]

Re: Updates from Reno...

Great update guys, thanks

[Sky Critter]

Re: Updates from Reno...

39 on the pole @ 402
30 second @ 334.8
24 will start at the back of 1A
181 out with a hole in the case

[Matt58]

Re: Updates from Reno...

Thank you for all the updates! Very much appreciated!

[wadeh]

Re: Updates from Reno...

So they didn?t actually cancel bipe & F1 heats.

The schedule that they handed me from the announcer?s booth had them blacked out, but the bipes just ran a heat, and we?re expecting F1 next, followed by another bipe heat.

In the earlier sport qualifying session, both 30 and 38 got two laps on the clock. I?ve not seen the times, but to me, 39 looked fast. 30 looked like he wasn?t pushing it.

And in unlimited, race 6 (Shanty Irish) got two laps on the clock. So did 81 and 3.

[wadeh]

Re: Updates from Reno...

T-6?s are up qualifying now. There are a number of sports on the ramp, including both 30 and 39 (I don?t know which others are there). I presume that they will have the course next for more qualifying.

It looks like they cancelled all the bipe and F1 heats, probably so they could have the last qualifying window, since the smoke situation is much better now.

[shadow]

Re: Updates from Reno...

STOL qualifiers done, looks like a F1, biplane, and three T6s are going to do some qualifying now too.

Smoke has cleared ALOT. Can now make out the other end of the course and even the hills to the north.