Reno Air Races

[HuggyU2]

An awesome year to be at Reno.  

Steve-O is a class act, and is immensely talented and humble... but after 6 wins, it's great to see Hoot Gibson finally go home with the Unlimited Gold Championship.  

https://www.rgj.com/story/news/2015/09/21/new-pilot-wins-gold-reno-air-races/72547532/

If you've never been to the Reno races, you're missing out.  

[herkbum]

He flew with us a few years ago. Super nice dude!

[HuggyU2]

Reno Races 2016. Once again, epic times. Steve Hinton Jr. took the Unlimited Championship back. 

Five destroyed airplanes, but no injuries.  Pete Zaccagnino crashed in his beautiful DeHavilland Vampire Friday. Today, it seems two bi-planes got tangled up on the runway and both were totalled.  See pic I took below late today.  

Near pefect WX all week. Was there for the two-ship F-4 arrival... Probably the last time I'll see them fly since Nellis Airshow in November closes the U.S. military's Phantom history. 

Blue Angel pilots were spot on with the timing maneuvers... but the actual routine seems to have a lot more dead time than we had ever seen.  

For all you current or former U-2 guys, join us next year. We have the best party at our location in the Box Seats.  And we had a U-2 flyover Thurday. One of our newer U-2 pilots ran his RV-4 to 2nd place in the Medallion Sport Class.  He hit around 230 mph... yes, in an RV-4.  Lots of racers wanted to see it up close, to see what he had done to make it that fast.  

p.s. An RQ-4 and an MQ-9 pilot came by and hung out with us.  They endured a lot of ribbing, but the large quantities of beer eased the blows.  Good guys!

Edited September 19, 2016 by HuggyU2

[Marco]

Sounds like a good time had by all. Work, as usual, kept me from making it out this year. Buddy of mine made his  Reno debut in Formula One this year.

[Hacker]

The biplane collision on landing roll-out happened right in front of me, but based on the low sun angle, I couldn't tell you what actually happened.

[HuggyU2]

Our Box shirt for this year. 

 

[amishflyer01d]

Great event, after being stationed in the Las Vegas area the last 6 years I finally made it! I'll be back next year for sure. Huggy I was in box 105, what a great party.

[JarheadBoom]

Cockpit video from Race 1 "Hot Stuff" (Thom Richard, of "Precious Metal" fame) of the Formula 1 race takeoff incident.

*Edit*  Read the video description for Thom's own words about the incident.  Incredible.

 

0:27...  Holy. Shit.

 

Edited September 20, 2016 by JarheadBoom
Extra info

[RTB]

Wow.  That was a serious Holy Shit moment.

 

Edited September 21, 2016 by RTB

[guineapigfury]

I think that's the closest I've ever seen someone come to death and walk away.

[HuggyU2]

After last year, Thom cannot get a break!  He must have nine lives too. That wing clobbered his hand.

Not sure what he can do for an encore after 2015 and 2016. 

Holy shit.

Edited September 21, 2016 by HuggyU2

[Hacker]

He's going to become the most emergency-experienced pilot in the program, unfortunately....

[Marco]

On September 21, 2016 at 0:02 AM, HuggyU2 said:

After last year, Thom cannot get a break!  He must have nine lives too. That wing clobbered his hand.

Not sure what he can do for an encore after 2015 and 2016. 

Holy shit.

Win? That would be a nice encore...

[Danger41]

Dang, that was insane.

I think that is the best pilot reaction ever.  Literally 1 minute hack after almost getting decapitated, he figures it out "it wasn't my fault".  Lol, I love that.

[JarheadBoom]

Video from "Endeavor" (Steve Senegal), the plane that hit "Hot Stuff".  Again, the video description has Steve's description of what happened in his own words.

** Edit **  I posted this the same way I posted the other video.  Odd that this one comes out as a link, and the previous one is the embedded video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVnRkSSN-T8

Edited September 24, 2016 by JarheadBoom

[HuggyU2]

Another incredible year in Box 102. 

Tons of U-2 guys past and present showed up. Plus the usual suspects

Strega looked fast.  But I believe Voodoo & Steve-o are saving up for the world record attempt... again. 

If you haven't been, you don't know what you're missing. 

[Hopefulflyer389]

Anybody out at the races?!?!? 

[HuggyU2]

1 hour ago, Hopefulflyer389 said:

Anybody out at the races?!?!? 

I arrive tomorrow, landing Stead at 1720.  Departing Sunday afternoon.   

https://airrace.org/patriots-jet-team/

Edited September 12, 2018 by HuggyU2

[HuggyU2]

I met Stuck Barbour back in 2006 at Reno, in Box 102 when he was in college, and we were friends since then.  He relished coming out there every year, and was well loved by everyone.  

The Box owner decided to do up a theme for Stuck on this year's T-shirt.  Check it out.  

 

Edited September 12, 2018 by HuggyU2

[Marco]

Huggy did you witness this? Great job bringing it down safely. Speed up to 7:40 if you don’t want to watch the race and straight to the incident.  Really bummed I didn’t get to go this year. 

[HuggyU2]

I heard it. Looked up and saw the camo jet getting chased. 

The blue jet had a lot of damage. Word is he flew 180 knots on final to land. 

I looked over the damage, and am somewhat surprised he was able to land.

Great weather but the turbulence inflight was pretty rough in the afternoon. Our morning demo on Sunday wasn’t such a punishing ride.  

Edited September 18, 2018 by HuggyU2

[Hopefulflyer389]

Here’s another angle: 

 

 

[Guardian]

Who’s at fault? I don’t know racing rules?

[Hacker]

54 minutes ago, Guardian said:

Who’s at fault? I don’t know racing rules?

The aircraft doing the passing has to keep the aircraft in front of him in sight, and pass to the outside and no lower than the lead airplane's altitude.

[HuggyU2]

Hacker, 

Knowing you, you had a camera lined up on the mid-air, and have magazine-ready photos to prove it.  

Great to see you!!  But 3 minutes in passing on the ramp isn't enough to catch up, Amigo.  

ICAS is only 76 days... hope to see you at our "event".