Dispatch from KGYI, North Texas Regional Airport: Am I still gaining on them? The Cessna 152 is 200 feet above me, about half a mile ahead, and slightly off to the left. I’m low over the lake, climbing slowly, a pillowy soft grey overcast above. My ground speed, frankly, sucks. I’m bucking a 22-knot headwind on the […]
A new nemesis
Dispatch from 2,500 feet above Georgia: I’m so bored I could puke. This is an air race, but watching paint dry would be more exciting. I’m about 150 miles into the Sunshine Express 400, a cross country “race” across South Carolina, Georgia, and down the Florida peninsula. I hate cross country races. It’s all about precision […]
Triathlon
Dispatch from KSPA, Spartanburg, South Carolina: I pull the wicked-looking black helmet over my head and cinch the chinstrap down tight. Next comes the neck guard, a thick foam collar that encircles my neck below the helmet. I step down into the cockpit and settle in, pulling the dual shoulder straps across my chest and snapping […]
Lots of sun, lots more fun
We’re lined up two abreast on Lakeland-Linder Regional Airport’s big Runway 27, slightly staggered like fighters on an aircraft carrier’s deck. Ahead of us a flight of two massive T-28 Trojans in Navy colors thunder down the runway. The T-28s lift into pale morning sky and the tower radios that it’s our turn to takeoff. […]
A new season and a ‘new’ airplane
Dispatch from above the numbers, Runway 20m KSAF, Santa Fe, New Mexico: There’s a strong crosswind from my left. Race 53’s nose is crabbed into the wind like an antique weather vane, but I’m lined up dead center on the runway. Approach speed nailed at 80 miles per hour, I’m dropping down out of the […]
Air Racing from the Cockpit: Get ready to rumble
Dispatch from SXU, the Santa Rosa Route 66 Airport, Santa Rosa, New Mexico: A 6-foot-long white shelf in my hangar displays last season’s trophies. Wood, brass, shining gold, marble and crystal. Each one unique and different, just like the air races where I won them. Sure, it’s a bragging wall, but it’s more than that. It’s […]
Cockpit Gear: Testing the Lightspeed Tango
Lightspeed Aviation loaned our Air Racer in Residence, William E. Dubois, two pairs of its new wireless Tango headsets for a two-month, multi-race no-strings-attached field trial. Here’s his report on what it’s really like to use this first-of-its-kind wireless headset system in the cockpit: Something’s wrong with my engine. The tach is strong. Oil pressure good. […]
Air Racing from the Cockpit: Looking back on the season
Dispatch from my kitchen table: It’s a bright clear day. I could be flying. But I’m tired. It’s been a long season. Instead, I’m sipping French roast coffee with my feet propped up on a chair, staring out my back door at the distant mesas. My flight journal lies open in my lap and I’m treating […]
Air Racing from the Cockpit: A new national champion
Dispatch from T74, Taylor, Texas: I’m sitting in the cockpit, not ready to get out. The engine makes little pinging sounds as it cools. The canopy is open and the lightest of breezes ruffles my hair. Off to my right a growing line of planes is queuing up to refuel before the awards ceremony. I hear […]