Midair at Reno Air races

form810 said:
Without reading any of this very carefully, or much at all... I'd just request that we all be honest about, er, humanity.
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People watch "sports" like football, and car racing, and airplane racing, and downhill ski racing, and NASA (or even Musk) rocket launches... precisely because they want to see THE CRASH... vicariously. Otherwise, all that stuff is kinda like watching paint dry, eh?

In the words of Pepsi, and Coke, and Hollywood, and Cancer Treatment Centers of 'Murica, and Fox News, and Donald Trump... we've GOT to give the people what they WANT!!!
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That's crap. Maybe you do, but I never want to see a crash and I've seen several. I was there in 2011 and haven't been back, last year I finally felt the desire to go again but I couldn't make it work last year or this year.

I'm hoping wherever they end up is reasonable and I'll go.
 
knot4u said:
Back in Reno I heard an estimate (that I’m not sure I believe) that the races generated $100 million a year for the local economy. And now it’s gone. Reno is close to Lake Tahoe and some spectacular ski resorts but the only other events they can claim as their own are a rodeo, a balloon race and a car show (Hot August Nights). Oddly enough these events have always been looked at as a lead up to the races. If you like Vegas and think Laughlin is janky you probably shouldn’t go to Reno. I’ve never had a bad time there, but I’ve also never paid to visit. I have stories about hotel sponsors, this post is already too long.
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You gotta get off the strip. It's, in my opinion of course, a really cool town. I spent a lot of time there when I was stationed in Fallon. We lived halfway in between, and spent probably most of our weekends when I was around in either Reno or South Lake. I don't really know how to articulate my thoughts other than to say that it is a small city that has pretty much everything you might want in terms of activities, restaurants, attractions nearby. If it wouldn't be such an inconvenient commute to my job(s), id live there in a heartbeat. Sparks is maybe a little weird, and a lot more cookie cutter suburban sprawl in the middle of nowhere, at this point. That being said, I am sure that crime is a major issue everywhere in the Reno area. Which would be not so cool. But I probably wouldn't live anywhere near downtown. Lots of cool neighborhoods on the outskirts that are like 10 mins from anything you'd want to do.
 
trafficinsight said:
Personally I think one of the mistakes that RARA has made is that the era of the unlimiteds has been over since the mid 00's. The guy who knew how to build the really hot Merlins had a stroke and then passed away, IIRC, and much like my great grandma he never told anybody the whole recipe. It took years for others to learn how to keep them from letting the insides go free, and those engines are rare. For a while I thought they might actually grenade all of them. In the meantime a couple of the really fast airplanes were sold and fell into financial difficulty and by the time everything was mostly healthy again some of the big players could no longer afford it and it had just become a parade. There were a couple good years and then came the crash.

Meanwhile... in sport class they've increased speeds to the point where they're almost keeping up with the unlimiteds!

The focus should have changed years ago... keep the unlimiteds, sure, but promote the hell out of the class that's actually making progress and setting lap records!

I'll miss hearing a spicy merlin or a beef -3350 going by at full chat but at the end of the day I want to see racing, and sport class has it in spades.

As for red bull.... boooooooring.
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sport class was fast this year. a lot of sandbagging going on for trophies in the final year but a ton of passing and the Golds make a really impressive noise for a 550-580ci motor, let alone be fast enough to place in the gold unlimiteds

hoping the class has success taking the show on the road and tagging in with the airshow circuit, it’s not cheap but for practicality sake it’s the only class where you can bring a daily driver airplane and race it.
 
///AMG said:
You gotta get off the strip. It's, in my opinion of course, a really cool town. I spent a lot of time there when I was stationed in Fallon. We lived halfway in between, and spent probably most of our weekends when I was around in either Reno or South Lake. I don't really know how to articulate my thoughts other than to say that it is a small city that has pretty much everything you might want in terms of activities, restaurants, attractions nearby. If it wouldn't be such an inconvenient commute to my job(s), id live there in a heartbeat. Sparks is maybe a little weird, and a lot more cookie cutter suburban sprawl in the middle of nowhere, at this point. That being said, I am sure that crime is a major issue everywhere in the Reno area. Which would be not so cool. But I probably wouldn't live anywhere near downtown. Lots of cool neighborhoods on the outskirts that are like 10 mins from anything you'd want to do.
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Reno's cool. Methy, but so is every other town with Casinos.
 
I always enjoyed playing Reno in my former life. Cool food/beer/music scene. Just stay far from the strip.
 
The point of my post was not to crap on Reno as a nice place to live, I remember one of my childhood buddies (we were young enough that we were strangers but local and eventually we found ourselves in a heated battle with dirt clods and rocks and someone found a naked lady magazine and all hostility immediately ended so all of us could wrap our little brains around it.) and his parents, both teachers (his dad was also the HS auto shop teacher and head football coach as well at a strong school in Pasadena) retired and moved to Reno. I remember us taking a road trip up there and being very impressed after his parents retired, sold their 4 bedroom 3 bath house with a huge pool and their new place seemed perfect, didn't have a pool but that's no deal breaker. Neither of them gambled so the casinos weren't an issue. I remember thinking to myself in 1992 this might be the perfect place. Fast forward a few years and I saw the dirty side of Reno, and it's not pretty, it's dark. Don't take what I'm saying the wrong way, but the only reason (just like Vegas, Laughlin or Atlantic City) it exists is built on peoples worst desires. Anytime I go to those towns I feel a heaviness in the air despite the apparent happiness miles from the strip. And then I started working on the Bearcat and actually ended up staying in downtown Reno. If you don't know you don't know. I have stories.
 
Hah I mean to be fair, I was nearly shot just trying to run around the corner to the store from a place that might be called our crew hotel. 2 drunk/methheads in a fight across the street, one pulls out a gun and fires it in no particular intentional direction
 
///AMG said:
Hah I mean to be fair, I was nearly shot just trying to run around the corner to the store from a place that might be called our crew hotel. 2 drunk/methheads in a fight across the street, one pulls out a gun and fires it in no particular intentional direction
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Did he yell Tinkerbell first?

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Misheard Lyrics, performed by Paul Revere

Misheard Lyrics, performed by Paul Revere. Misheard lyrics (also known as mondegreens) are instances of when a song lyric can't be understood, and the mind substitues a new word for you.
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Pulled out the jammy, I aimed it at the sky)
He yelled ("Stick 'em up!") and let two fly
 

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trafficinsight said:
#14's pattern is wide of #6's and he turns base, crossing on front of #6. The T-6 doesn't have great visibility ahead and low. #6 doesn't see #14 and.... this.
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I understand the scenario that you are suggesting, but it sure doesn't seem to comport with that picture.

The aft portion of 14's wing is missing, while it's underside is fine. The canopy of 6 looks completely intact (I could be wrong, it's partially blocked). If 14 was coming down from above, the angle of that shot makes it look like the leading edge of the 14's wing should be gone, and 6's canopy should be missing.

Based on that picture, it looks like 6 is completely intact.

Maybe it was a miracle of timing/positioning and the prop of 6 tore the trailing edge off 14's wing. Then, as 14's tail came through 6's prop, 14's tail got cut off. Still, it's weird how intact 6 looks.

Also, hard to tell with the telescope lens, but it's weird how much lower 14 seems to be relative to 6 if they were close enough that all of this stuff was still taking place (flying parts). Especially given how intact 14's underbody looks.
 
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form810 said:
I understand the scenario that you are suggesting, but it sure doesn't seem to comport with that picture.

The aft portion of 14's wing is missing, while it's underside is fine. The canopy of 6 looks completely intact (I could be wrong, it's partially blocked). If 14 was coming down from above, the angle of that shot makes it look like the leading edge of the 14's wing should be gone, and 6's canopy should be missing.

Based on that picture, it looks like 6 is completely intact.

Maybe it was a miracle of timing/positioning and the prop of 6 tore the trailing edge off 14's wing. Then, as 14's tail came through 6's prop, 14's tail got cut off. Still, it's weird how intact 6 looks.

Also, hard to tell with the telescope lens, but it's weird how much lower 14 seems to be relative to 6 if they were close enough that all of this stuff was still taking place (flying parts). Especially given how intact 14's underbody looks.
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Having seen many varieties of odd impact dynamics in various midair collisions in both civil as well as military, none really surprise me anymore. The possibilities are many in terms of not only pre-impact orientations of aircraft, but immediate post-impact dynamic changes and resultant damage to each aircraft.
 
MikeD said:
Having seen many varieties of odd impact dynamics in various midair collisions in both civil as well as military, none really surprise me anymore. The possibilities are many in terms of not only pre-impact orientations of aircraft, but immediate post-impact dynamic changes and resultant damage to each aircraft.
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I appreciate your insight. I really do get your point. Still, that picture looks hinky to me. Yet, telephoto, angle, etc., so ... ???
 
form810 said:
The aft portion of 14's wing is missing, while it's underside is fine. The canopy of 6 looks completely intact (I could be wrong, it's partially blocked). If 14 was coming down from above, the angle of that shot makes it look like the leading edge of the 14's wing should be gone, and 6's canopy should be missing.
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It’s possible it’s the other way around, that 6 (second place finisher) descended into 14 (first place finisher). That scenario would match with the snapshot orientation here, but that’s unconfirmed and not any kind of factual
Information. Insofar as who was where altitude and pattern-wise, who had a wide pattern or didn’t, what kind of pattern position calls were being made, etc, will be discovered in the investigation. However I would assume that the second place finisher would be higher in a traffic pattern than the first place finisher, IF they were landing in that sequence and if they were in the process of maneuvering to land in that sequence. Again, I do not have that information.
 
MikeD said:
It’s possible it’s the other way around, that 6 (second place finisher) descended into 14 (first place finisher). That scenario would match with the snapshot orientation here, but that’s unconfirmed and not any kind of factual
Information. Insofar as who was where altitude and pattern-wise, who had a wide pattern or didn’t, what kind of pattern position calls were being made, etc, will be discovered in the investigation. However I would assume that the second place finisher would be higher in a traffic pattern than the first place finisher, IF they were landing in that sequence and if they were in the process of maneuvering to land in that sequence. Again, I do not have that information.
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Indeed, the investigation will tell. And this particular investigation should be massively assisted by lots of witnesses, video, and pics. Should be easy. ;)
 
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