General Aviation News

The best way to watch the Reno Air Races

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Wow. What a package. Catered meals. Open bar. A private sound system. An exclusive hangar set up for dining and socializing with guests from around the world. Noteworthy lunchtime speakers daily. Reserved close-in parking with exclusive shuttle service to the front door.

A members-only sky view grandstand with individual bucket seats. Executive climate-controlled restrooms. Exclusive merchandise not available to the general public. Complementary coat and bag check. Air Race admission and Pit Pass included for all five days of the National Championship Air Races. [Read more…]

Air Racing from the Cockpit: The final chapter

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This is the second part of a two-part series. Read the first story here.

Dispatch from an oil-soaked tarmac at KSAF, Santa Fe, New Mexico: My chief mechanic, sitting in Race 53’s cockpit, slowly inches the throttle forward. The dull thrum of the engine changes in tempo, becoming an angry snarl. Then the snarl shifts into a throaty baritone.

Race 53 shakes and bucks, fighting her brakes. I can see the metal skin on the underside of her wings rippling in the prop wash blasting back from the propeller, now dissolved into a pale grey disc of motion.

My other mechanic, standing to my right on the tarmac, catches my eye. He points to the plane, points to his ear, then flexes his bicep: The engine sounds strong.

It does. [Read more…]

A dangerous flight

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Dispatch from KSAF, Santa Fe, New Mexico: By dawn’s early light I can see the silver fins of the stroker engine through the air intakes in the nose bowl, the front cylinders a pair of griffins in twin caves, ready to leap from their lairs and devour slower prey.

The new engine is ready to fly.

But Race 53 still isn’t ready to race. One important task remains: The engine break-in. [Read more…]

Air Racing from the Cockpit: Downtime

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Dispatch from my living room couch: I impatiently email my mechanic: “Is the engine back on the airplane yet or is it still on the crane?”

The reply doesn’t come until the next day: “It is still on the crane as we mount sensors and things on the firewall.”

Clearly, I won’t be flying — much less racing — any time soon. It’s now been 48 days, 11 hours, 27 minutes, and six seconds since I last flew Race 53. [Read more…]

Changing horses mid-stream

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Dispatch from KSAF, Santa Fe, New Mexico…three weeks ago: Faces solemn, my mechanics each rest a hand on one of my shoulders. One on my left and one on my right, they gently guide me across the crowded hangar floor, around Race 53, and to the north wall. There — SMACK — they smash my head violently into the wall.

Before I can gasp for breath, they do it again.

And then a third time.

OK. It wasn’t really that dramatic. But the effect was the same.

Yeah, my wrench-turners hosted an intervention over my refusal to accept the reality about the condition of my engine. [Read more…]

A clan gathering

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Dispatch from M02, Dickson Municipal Airport, Dickson Tennessee: What has 26 propellers and 52 tails? A fleet of Ercoupes!

This summer marked the 41st annual gathering of the twin-tailed birds of the Ercoupe Owners Club (EOC). Its fly-in convention, which is hosted in a different location each year, touched down this year in central Tennessee west of Nashville. [Read more…]

Air Racing from the Cockpit: Disputing the results

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Dispatch from KDMH, Carbondale, Illinois: The carefully arranged chairs in the giant hangar are in disarray, hurriedly pushed and pulled to either side, parted like the Red Sea to make room to bring Les Burrill’s wounded bird— Race 11 — in out of the baking sun.

A small cluster of racers gathers around the green and silver plane, pulling off the cowling a piece at a time.

At Turn Four over the Grand Tower Bridge on the Mighty Mississippi, the Midget Mustang’s alternator belt broke. Burrill saw smoke, aborted, and returned to race central. [Read more…]

Top of the Leader Board

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Dispatch from KTRL, Terrell, Texas: I want to win. There. I said it. Yes, I know we’re here for charity. And, yes, I know this is supposed to be just for fun. But, damn it, I really, really want to win.

I know that sounds shallow and selfish, but in my defense, I spent the entire season in 2016 either tied with long-time champs Team Ely or nipping at their heels. And now I’m a quarter of the way through the 2017 season and I’ve either been tied with the Race 35 crew or nipping at their heels.

It would be nice to be in the lead. At least once. [Read more…]

Smithereens

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Dispatch from the Texas/Oklahoma border: I’m jamming with Mick Jagger at 7,500 feet, “Gimme Shelter” streaming from my iPod into my Bluetooth headset. The sun is now high enough it’s out of my eyes, the ride is smooth, and a wicked tailwind is propelling me over the ground 50 miles per hour faster than I’m flying.

This day can’t get any better.

I’m off to Marion, Ohio, for the Midwest 150. I’m looking forward to the race. I’ve finally got a chance to get ahead of my nemesis because…

The yoke shudders in my hand.

A rhythmic pounding seizes Race 53. Thump. Thump. Thump. A drumbeat spinner to tail. Deep in her aluminum bones.

My buoyant mood vaporizes. [Read more…]

Air racing: An unexpected open house

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Dispatch from KABI, Abilene, Texas: I’m perched on the left wingwalk, leaning into the open cockpit. My shirttails keep coming untucked, and I’m praying that the waistline of my pants is high enough that I won’t be mistaken for a plumber, instead of an air racer.

I point to the instrument panel, “This one tells me how fast I’m going through the air, and this one tells me how fast I’m going up or down. This one here tells me what direction I’m going. This is the throttle, I use it to make the plane go faster or slower. Any questions?”

The 7-year-old boy looks up at me with big brown eyes and asks, “Where are the machine guns?”

No one’s ever asked that before. [Read more…]

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