Nellis Updates

[wolfee]

Gordon,

Thanks for the recap of the two days worth of events. Very well done too I might add.

[ecvsteve]

Mr. Gordon Bowman-Jones

Oh Boy howdy,
as I was reading your post I could actually hear you announcing with that destinct voice of yours.

You are one exciting announcer dude.

Matt, I was looking at the Rare Bear site and that panel shot is a little old but if John has a double GPS in that thing it must be mounted at his knees.
Is she friendly to ferry around the country?

[hattend]

Gordon,

Thanks for the play by play. I know it was a demo race but what kind of lap speeds were they pulling?

Don

[robster]

OK, with the "Race" now complete and the maydays logged in as real, did anyone get any speeds on the planes? What size was the course? Did the teams win anything? What has local press said about the racing, and have we heard about the future in Vegas yet??

[ecvsteve]

I dont think they cared.

From everything I heard the race was a beautifull commercial and I hope it worked.
Lets just say they go faster at Reno than Vegas, I mean we wouldn't want to show everything we have up our sleeves.

Come on down to Stead in Sept. and be amazed.

[matt]

steve, see the bottom right hand corner of the bear panel, those dials have been replaced by the gps gear...

i talked to mj last night and he said they just hanging around 400 mph...

[Unregistered]

nellis

Where did the unlimiteds go Saturday while the Starfighters did their act??

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: nellis

Originally posted by Unregistered
Where did the unlimiteds go Saturday while the Starfighters did their act??

On Saturday, Eric Hildebrandt had a photo shoot setup with the Unlimiteds in the B-25 photoship "Lady Luck"

This session took place during the formup and while the Jets were active.. at least that is the way I remember the timing... It was hard to tell what was going on back at the field from our holding pattern up north.

We were invited aboard and managed a few "decent" shots out of the plexi side window.. unfortunately, the plexi, turbulance, aircraft positioning and cramped quarters within "Lady Luck" conspired to not let us get a lot of quality shots but here's one..

[gobojo]

Hi all:

I'll try to answer as many as possible at once...

Race course was about 8 miles, average lap times were about 1:12 - 1:20 speeds approx 380 - 400 mph.

There were no erected pylons but the race was run on high observability landmarks. There was no prize money, all of the racers were paid an appearance fee... BUT YOU CAN"T SUPPRESS THE URGE TO WIN!

There was no predetermined winner and no strategy discussed for racing (that I knew about) except that on Saturday Riff Raff was to demonstrate a Mayday (without ever using THE word) He never made it to the last lap, fuel starvation and engine surging in the fourth lap prompted a REAL Mayday which had everyone on the stand looking at each other in dismay!! What do we do now? The real object lesson came as Curt Brown realized immediately that this was a real problem, latched himself to Mike's wing and shepherded him to a perfect landing. Then of course Skip Holm had a total electrical failure...

The whole intent was to demonstrate to sponsors, investors, politicians and local government officials the power and excitement of the world's fastest motor sport. The World of Wings crew and the Aviation Nation staff pulled it together beatifully with a tremendous culmination of the Sunday race which was as I wrote earlier, one of the most ecxiting races I have ever called.

Were they at full power? No... but they were somewhere between Friday and Sunday at Reno. The fervor was on in the pits as four dedicated crews labored into the night over their charges and the gloves came off in the last two laps of the race on Sunday. John Penney had only about 17 hours total time on the 3350 but the crew said it wouldn't let him down, he could smell the win and went for it.

After the group took off on Suaturday and Sunday, the F-104 Starfighter act ran while they warmed up and formed up to come down the chute. Rich Perkins had never paced unlimited's before but he did a calm and professional job of lining them up and leading them down the chute at race power.

Many, many happy faces on Sunday after the final race, sponsors, politicians, investors and racers discussing solid plans and committing to numbers. A venue has been named, but no dates as yet... I am sworn to secrecy on both counts - but I can guarantee one of the most exciting events in the world with REAL worldwide media coverage.

It's all in the red!!!

Gordon Bowman-Jones

[AAFO_WSagar]

Message For Gordon

Gordon,

Shoot me an email as soon as possible, I've managed to lose your new email as well as your phone contact.. wsagar@aafo.com

Wayne

[Unregistered]

"Rare Bear" Crew

Alright you guys...Knock it off...

It pains me to see disparaging comments being made about our "Rare Bear" crew, be they new crew, old crew, or somewhere in between crew. As cited above, some of our valued members made principled decisions not to go forward with work on the "Bear" this year, out of concern that we may have been pushing too hard, compromising operational integrity and the best interests of the plane, the owner, and the pilot (I appreciate that consideration!). With some members of the "old" crew taking a hiatus, some new faces showed up on our dooestep, all of whom are skilled, professional, knowledgeable, full-time certified airline mechanics. Not to mention, they are enthusiastic beyond belief!

The new members of our crew know their own limitations, and when to seek out the storehouse of knowledge and guidance of our most experienced members. In doing so, they continue to build on their own knowledge database. They have tackled every curveball the "cranky" "Bear" has thrown them and handled them with flawless results. They function with operational disciplines that most other teams would envy.

Rationale for decisions made by some of our other crewmembers to step back has already been chronicled above. However, as the pilot, I would have to make the ultimate decision on whether it would be safe to start flight operations. Rest assured that decision was in the forefront of my thoughts all during race week. As it turned out the "Bear" made the decision for us as the grizzley beast fought back with landing gear and alternator problems that prevented us from getting airborne.

Since we started flight operations the week before the Las Vegas event, the engine has operated flawlessly, making less metal than I've seen during breakin of all our previous new engines. We still have a lot of flight testing to do, however, before we'll be turning up Reno race power. We will continue that process with what will be one of the best crews we've ever had. Just ask Bill Kerchenfaut (the best/most experienced crew chief in the history of unlimited air racing), what he thinks of our crew.

For any of you armchair experts out there who have anything bad to say about any of our crewmembers, be they new or old, be assured that every one of them are some of the most talented, dedicated and committed people I've ever known. And they are all my friends. So, anyone who wants to use this forum to make caustic comments about any of our team will never be welcome in or around the "Rare Bear" pit.

John Penney, Race Pilot
"Rare Bear" Air Racing Team

P.S. There are three flight instruments in the "Bear". The only one I care about airspeed.

[AAFO_WSagar]

Well Put!

John,

Absoulutely well put! I met your new crew at Nellis as well as watched them work, I also know many of the old crew. All I can say is you had a great crew and you have a great crew!

The airplane looked great on the course and beside us in the air during the somewhat painful (for you guys) photo sessions..

Thanks for a GREAT experience with you and the team at Nellis "Vegas Air Racing"!

Wayne Sagar

PS.. word of "warning" to the annonymous posters on this board.. we will delete any unsigned message from here on out if it deals with anything of the nature mentioned by John in his message. The next step will be to close the board to unregged members, something we do not want to do but will be forced to do if unsigned messages continue. Also, to the unsigned posters.. sometimes, your IP address is a pretty good clue as to who you are and frankly, after researching a few of these posts, I'm, truly disappointed by the identity of the poster, which will remain my secret but, please.. let's all be positive about this!

[matt]

thanks john...

[rwflyboy]

Thanks John/Wayne

I totally agree with you both....I know (from the Risky camp) that the pilot knows what's up and I apreciate that John came to bat and told it the way it is.....He is in "command", P.I.C. has always been the one that says "go" or "no-go"!!!

[Bear Resurrector]

Da Bear

Thanks John for clearing the air on your last post. Let me just say that the new crew of the Rare Bear is thankful to all crew members past and present who have helped get her back in the air.
Our first concern is and allways will be a safe and airworthy aircraft. Everyone on our team shares this philosophy. As we move toward Reno 2003, we will be working with this in mind.

Special thanks to Bill Hickle, Greg Shaw, and John Slack for they're advice and expertise. Your input is invaluable, and I look forward to working with all of you in the coming months.

GO BEAR!

Stacy Thomas
Crew Chief