Miss America: RENO AIR RACES 2022 - Exciting Things Happening

[Race5]

Re: Miss America: RENO AIR RACES 2022 - Exciting Things Happening

The silence is deafening...

[Mark K]

Re: Miss America: RENO AIR RACES 2022 - Exciting Things Happening

All engine runs complete with no metal in the screens. Brent's about to do a test flight. After that, another screen check (making 6 checks total). More soon !

[Mark K]

Re: Miss America: RENO AIR RACES 2022 - Exciting Things Happening

Taxiing out now... motor sounds healthy . Well, Miss A took to the sky - and let me be the 1st to say - doesn't sound anything like Miss A... sounded more like Dago, but throatier. DAMN!!!!



Brent just landed, everything went well with the flight with Brent commenting "seems like she has a lot of power", with a big smile on his face. More soon!

[GeeBeeZ1931]

Re: Miss America: RENO AIR RACES 2022 - Exciting Things Happening

How many folks use their BIG Race motor for their ferry motor? Or is this more of a break in thing? Hope all goes well in every way.

[Mark K]

Re: Miss America: RENO AIR RACES 2022 - Exciting Things Happening

The news I know everyone was NOT hoping to hear.... Miss A is out for 2022. I want to give you guys all the details, but typing on my phone is too cumbersome. I'll be home soon - can type better there.

Sorry guys, but as Brent said.. they now have a big jumpstart on next year.

[PowerByPackard]

Re: Miss America: RENO AIR RACES 2022 - Exciting Things Happening

Will definitely miss seeing them there but much rather have them safe and able to be there next year.

Thanks for creating such an exciting thread. It was awesome to read about and see their progress.

[Bigger Al]

Re: Miss America: RENO AIR RACES 2022 - Exciting Things Happening

Wow. Gutted is all I can say. I was really looking forward to a battle on Sunday, but 2022 has other plans.

Thanks for all the effort to keep us up to date and informed!

[GRNDP51]

Re: Miss America: RENO AIR RACES 2022 - Exciting Things Happening

Man this hurts a lot

Thanks for keeping us in the loop Mark, Reno always has been a "next year" game after all.

[Reever]

Re: Miss America: RENO AIR RACES 2022 - Exciting Things Happening

Disappointment. That being said it has been great to have the insider access that we usually do not get. Thank you Doc, Mark and all the crew of Miss A.

[BellCobraIV]

Re: Miss America: RENO AIR RACES 2022 - Exciting Things Happening

The news I know everyone was NOT hoping to hear.... Miss A is out for 2022. I want to give you guys all the details, but typing on my phone is too cumbersome. I'll be home soon - can type better there.

Sorry guys, but as Brent said.. they now have a big jumpstart on next year.

With all of the nice preparation it is kind of sad to see the not making it out of the gate ending to this year for Miss A. These kind of occurrences we're what led to the Bear moving to Stead for it's home. While I am not suggesting that for Miss A perhaps if she had her own hangar in Reno some of the crew could plan to arrive two weeks early and go into the daily routine of operations for a smooth transition into race week. I'm not blowing off my mouth, but I am speaking from the standpoint of someone who was part of that operation. As you tweek the racer more, she will be more "spirited".

Good luck to all of Miss A's crew.


John

[greaseice]

Re: Miss America: RENO AIR RACES 2022 - Exciting Things Happening

Well very sad not to see her this year. A valient effort none the less. Kept looking at updates every few hours past couple days and thought for sure things were going to work out. Sure looked very promising yesterday. Got that hollow and sick feeling a week ago and have not gotten over that yet. The good news we will see MissA next year for sure and that will be a wonderful thing. We are packed and ready for our trip Wednesday. See you all next week.

Cheers,
Brian

[Mark K]

Re: Miss America: RENO AIR RACES 2022 - Exciting Things Happening

I know everyone is anxious for the details and sorry for the delay. I'm about an hour from publishing... the story will be worth the wait. Text parts done... finishing up the photo processing in a few. I only get to tell it once - best get it right with ALL the details.

Done soon. and sorry for it taking so long. I'll explain later.

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: Miss America: RENO AIR RACES 2022 - Exciting Things Happening

I know everyone is anxious for the details and sorry for the delay. I'm about an hour from publishing... the story will be worth the wait. Text parts done... finishing up the photo processing in a few. I only get to tell it once - best get it right with ALL the details.

Done soon. and sorry for it taking so long. I'll explain later.

No worries Mark, we're all just very lucky to have you there with your finger on the pulse of this effort! Too bad things worked out like they did but, wait'll next year!!!

[Mark K]

Re: Miss America: RENO AIR RACES 2022 - Exciting Things Happening

A little background: Team Miss America was working last night until 2AM buttoning up Miss A for the test flight today after all the engine testing showed she was good to go. I myself was also up until 2AM packing for the trip to Reno (with all the visits to the hangar and all, couldn't get to it until then). When I arrived at the hangar at 6:03AM this morning - about the only person there that did possibly get any quality sleep was Brent. But I'm sure that is questionable as this was the day for the first flight with the new race motor - that had to cause a few restless minutes/hours that night. Following today's activities & after arriving home today, exhaustion set in and I woke up about 4 hours later. I can only imagine how tired Brent, Rick, Greg, Johnny & Scotty must be at this point too. Regardless ? I apologize for the delayed story... now that the Red Bull is kicking in... on with it shall we!


Miss America as she sits outside the hangar, ready for her test flight following a very long day of work by Team Miss A. It was only through a herculean effort by the crew that the aircraft had made it to this point.

Now I know everyone is curious about the details, so let's start at the beginning of the engine testing yesterday (Friday 9/9/22). The engine tests involved 6 runs... the first 4 were like you see in the video above - low power settings were used on the first 4 runs accounting for 3 1/2 to 4 hours of total run time on the motor (Greg said 4, Rick said 3 1/2, maybe a little more). Following those runs, no metal was found in the screens (except the first run - normal amount for a new motor). Forth power run was done at 50 inches/2400 rpms with a run time of approx. 22 to 23 minutes. Jerry Day was recording video so he knew the length of the runs within a minute or two, and the last power run was the same duration BUT at 60 inches/3000 rpms. Again, no metal in the screens so the team decided to take Miss America up for what they hoped for, and all testing up to this point indicated would be, a routine test flight before heading out to the races.


Brent taxis out Miss America... her new race motor's maiden flight.

Brent was very pleased with the flight and how the race motor performed - taking off at 50 inches/2400 rpms and cruising at 40 inches/2400rpms - very smooth, plenty of power on tap. I asked Brent how it compared to the old Miss A to which he responded, "the plane had a totally different feel, tremendous power". As I stated in a post above this one, the sound on takeoff was incredible and the engine never missed a beat from takeoff to landing some 15 minutes or so later. Brent was obviously happy with what just happened - and you could tell he was more-than-ready to go racing! So was the crew for about 10 minutes after the flight everyone was beginning to prepare to go. Then it happened... Rick came back with the oil from the screens in a blue bucket and after about 20 seconds started looking a bit concerned and called Greg over. Greg took out is flashlight, tilting the bucket back and forth. That in itself was bad enough... after about 5 minutes of looking as well as Greg shouting "just exactly how long was that run Johnny?"... it came; the bad omen - "Hey Boss, we need to talk" (as Greg was asking Brent to follow him inside the hangar, head down - looking defeated). Brent came out a little later and gave me the bad news. This last run made metal, nothing much to do other than call it... Miss A is out for Reno 2022. Gut punch, and a hard one at that. But both Brent and I were prepared - we've seen what usually happens after such a visual inspection, and it never ends well.


The crew watching & listening intently as Brent and Miss America take-off from Wiley Post Airport early Saturday morning (the photo is deceptive; it was just before sunrise when Brent departed so lighting wasn't as bright as indicated in the photos at the beginning of the shoot).

So after that news, curiosity got the better of me so I had to look for myself. I'm far from an expert on this, but I can describe what I saw - about a dozen or so visible flakes of metal about 1/32" to 1/16" square, mostly flat. There was also a slight sheen to the oil in areas (it was a very, very thin layer covering and/or imbedded in about 50% of the visible area) indicating fine metal particulates. Not a lot of metal by any means, but enough to indicate that there was no denying it - something was beginning to let loose. I just stood there shaking my head in disbelief.


Brent taxis in Miss America following what was supposed to be, and all testing up to this point indicated would be, a routine test flight before heading out to the races.

But disbelief soon turned into curiosity when I hear the crew talking in the background - now here's where the story also gets unexpectedly interesting. One would assume the motor was letting go with metal in the screens but when the crew began turning the prop over by hand, they noticed there was a clunking sound coming from the nosecase. Since this is far from normal, further investigation was certainly warranted and the crew was doing everything they could to inspect the nosecase. Unfortunately the prop removal tool, as well as most everything needed to work on Miss America is at Stead.


Engine builder Rick Shanholtzer alog with Miss America crew member Greg Butler inspecting the screen residue following the test flight today. I took this photo after they had been looking at it for about 1 minute. After that - I knew things were probably only going to get worse from here... had to capture the moment sadly.

The inability of the crew to remove the prop or to even begin the process of diagnosing the cause is frustrating to put it mildly... just no way to even get to the nosecase even though they desperately wanted to - talk about taking the wind out of your sails. The look on Johnny's face said it all.... after all that work, it was going so well too, what a damn shame! Still, the tests had zero metal at much higher power settings for much longer than today's flight, and add to that the motor appeared fine & screens remained clean - until an actual load was placed on the prop... then it started making metal. Seems to me the cause has announced itself, but we'll wait for the verdict from the experts before drawing conclusions.


Team Miss America doing what they can with what they got. Just about every tool used on Miss A is in the trailer, including the prop removal tool... putting the team in a situation there sadly is no fix for. Still, they kept working through it, says a lot about their characer doesn't it.

Even though this had to be a devastating blow to me, many of the fans, and members of the crew - Brent was obviously very disappointed but took it in stride, saying that "at least the team will now have a big head start on next year". Not going to Reno to become a spectator, Brent will be taking a vacation to visit a Civil War era recreation or maybe visit the Pima Air and Space Museum, he's pretty undecided on the destination but it's obvious he's wanting to file this chapter away for just a little while and enjoy life... do something fun! This showed up a little while later when he called team member Scotty Butler (who was already at Denver waiting a connecting flight to Reno). Brent said he should tell him "I just cancelled your return flight, sorry buddy - really needing the money for a new motor now; take care." but then Scotty answered and he gave 'em the bad news over the phone. I feel really bad for Scotty - this had to hit him hard but knowing him, it'll never show. The guy is a real rock, steady & reliable as they come - but I know inside he was crushed.

Even though we're ending on a somewhat sad note, it still has a happy ending when you think about it. Brent is still with us, Miss America is still in one piece, and there's always next year. Stay tuned over the next few weeks and longer while we follow Team Miss America & Brent Hisey's journey towards their ultimate goal of winning at Reno... that goal and the drive to achieve it hasn't changed for Brent because what happened earlier today, it's only made him more determined than ever to continue. I'd say that's a happy ending, wouldn't you? Already making my plans to attend next year's event - it's going to be epic!!!

[RAD2LTR]

Re: Miss America: RENO AIR RACES 2022 - Exciting Things Happening

Mark,
Thanks for the detailed download. Yep its a bitter pill to swallow, but at least no real harm was done. This is racing, and had things gone to plan, this would have been something found in time to fix it, or find another solution (Another nose case if indeed that is the issue.) Things happen and sometimes you are just out of luck.

Now, the team can take a step back, get some sleep and pick up later.

In hind sight, didn't they have a nose case issue a few years ago at Reno after qualifying? I know they found metal in the screens, started taking things apart, then I thought they focused on the nose case and found the issue and were able to remedy the issue. Hopefully something along the same lines will be found now, and everything can be sorted, more time put on the engine to really get things seated and broken in well, and come next year, they can be out early and be all set to go. Fingers crossed.

2023 on paper is looking even more exciting than this year was as of yesterday.

When you next see everyone from the team, please thank them for the effort they put in for me. I do appreciate the hard work and dedication they have put into the plane this year.

Will