"THE" Dago Fly By

[o4asf260]

Surprised that I have not seen any discussion / comments about Dago's Saturday morning flyby. If I recall it was pretty early Saturday after a maintenace / flight check.
From the camping area, the flight looked and sounded good. From what I thought was and extended downwind leg, the base leg showed me that we were in for something fun.
From that point on, I can only describe it as a religious experience. Angling down as a silhouette through the morming light, and the remarkable sound in the morning quiet, led up to a "runway inspection", the likes of which I have never experienced in a lifetime of airport, airshow and air race addiction. While I lost him behind the stands, I did get to see the western end portion and the pull up. But the SOUND...!
I am hoping that someone may have gotten this on tape or film and perhaps inspire any other comments from some of you experienced folks who may have been "at church" that morning to confirm that I was a witness to something special.
I count myself as most fortunate to be able to witness these fine pilots, mechanics and aircraft once a year and to have this forum in which to veiw and learn more with wonderful photography and experienced discussion.

Thanks All!

[Bill@Interstell]

Re: "THE" Dago Fly By

Surprised that I have not seen any discussion / comments about Dago's Saturday morning flyby. If I recall it was pretty early Saturday after a maintenace / flight check.
... But the SOUND...!

I know exactly what you mean about the sound. Early in the morning everything else is still so that sounds just caries forever, echoing off the mountains. It makes a wonderful wake-up call. Sorry no tape on that pass, you'll just have to keep it in memory.

I may have some of Strega from the old days when Kerch was crew chief. He was pretty fond of that early morning test flight.

[Smee Again]

Re: "THE" Dago Fly By

You shoulda seen it from atop the Dago trailer! Way cool! As we were watching telemetry, Dan came up on the power pretty good to check all the unexpected modifications we had done the previous evening. Once he got up to XXX" of MP and XXX RPM, he dropped the nose at the east end of the field and headed straight down the runway. Ah yes, the song of the Merlin at high tune! Awesome... simply awesome.

[Stevo]

Re: "THE" Dago Fly By

This is how the start of the pass looked from somewhere near the bottom of the Dago trailer

[Big_Jim]

Re: \"THE\" Dago Fly By

Surprised that I have not seen any discussion / comments about Dago\'s Saturday morning flyby. If I recall it was pretty early Saturday after a maintenace / flight check.
From the camping area, the flight looked and sounded good. From what I thought was and extended downwind leg, the base leg showed me that we were in for something fun.
From that point on, I can only describe it as a religious experience. Angling down as a silhouette through the morming light, and the remarkable sound in the morning quiet, led up to a \"runway inspection\", the likes of which I have never experienced in a lifetime of airport, airshow and air race addiction. While I lost him behind the stands, I did get to see the western end portion and the pull up. But the SOUND...!
I am hoping that someone may have gotten this on tape or film and perhaps inspire any other comments from some of you experienced folks who may have been \"at church\" that morning to confirm that I was a witness to something special.
I count myself as most fortunate to be able to witness these fine pilots, mechanics and aircraft once a year and to have this forum in which to veiw and learn more with wonderful photography and experienced discussion.

Thanks All!

Just out of curiosity, was there anything special about it that would set it apart from any of the other morning test flight buzz-jobs that the racers have done every morning over the last 20 years or so? I mean, it has very much become a regular treat to see Dago, Strega, Bear, Miss Ashley II, Risky Business, and any number of Sea Furies, Bearcats, and Mustangs beat up the field with a \'beauty pass\' down the runway to wake everyone up after an early morning test flight.

But to read your first sentence makes me think that either you had never seen/experienced it before, or maybe this one was a lot more special than the rest.

Did I sleep through the event of the century?

Jim

[o4asf260]

Re: "THE" Dago Fly By

Been going for a lot of years. Been on site early and ALWAYS stay late. Only been camping on site for last 5+ years. Also been at a lot of what you might call "remote" locations where a pilot might feel a little safer about (read - "need to") doing the runway inspection.
This just seemed to be a significant step up from what I have ever seen / heard before. Dago's crew's post might seem to confirm that it was pushed up. Perhaps a speed check / estimate?
I don't want to make anyone feel bad about missing it. I just wanted a "check" from some experienced folk as well as to bring up the point as appreciation for a great pilot, crew and plane. After all, one must keep some things in one's head as we wait out the next eight months.
It is the High Water Mark in my fly-by experience as well as the others in my group who are similarly addicted...

BTW, thanks for the photo to help imprint the memory!

[Race4gold]

Re: "THE" Dago Fly By

The Pass that Dan did in Dago that morning was the fastest & lowest I've seen since Lockwoods in 1998.

[WASP-kid]

Re: "THE" Dago Fly By

I do love camping near the field. You just can't beat that morning music.

Great Pic Stevo

[Smee Again]

Re: "THE" Dago Fly By

This just seemed to be a significant step up from what I have ever seen / heard before. Dago's crew's post might seem to confirm that it was pushed up. Perhaps a speed check / estimate?

No, not a speed check or anything, just checking the "modifications" we had done to the airframe the previous night. In any case, it was a real treat for us as well and I'm glad you enjoyed it.

SA

[Bigger Al]

Re: "THE" Dago Fly By

I do love camping near the field. You just can't beat that morning music.

Great Pic Stevo

That's the truth!! I just love having either a Merlin or a P&W as my alarm clock!!!!

[bruce lockwood]

Re: "THE" Dago Fly By

Thought I'd add a little insight as to why we do the so called Dawn Patrol flight. For Dago Red anyway, they were used for a number of reasons, all of which merited equal importance.

The first that comes to mind is practice, both for the crew and pilot. I view the crews ability to preform complex tasks under extreme condition of weather, continual distraction and fatigue as preeminent in finishing the race week safely let alone winning. An experienced teams under the guise of a top notch crew chief inevitably brings the best out of both the pilot and his airplane.

With a crew that's based far and wide (Alaska, Utah, Idaho, Nevada and all over the state of California) Dago's AM flights were used as a way to get everyone back up to speed and functioning on all cylinders. It was Kerch's, or in the old days Chris Wood's/my job to asses the crew and see were each worked best and with whom. As goes the old saying "Practice Makes Perfect".

The same saying holds true for the pilot. Each year brought new modifications to the airplane and its telemetry system, some of which were further refined during the course of the race week. Also, the normally congenial nature of the Merlin was drastically altered as "cold" racing spark plugs, altered ignition timing and possibly new cams or cam timing did its best to upset the smooth combustion cycles of the now high strung Merlin. To say that the "Mouse Motor" showed sign of PMS when feed a steady diet of VP's best spiked with C2I and 3 1/2 gal per min of ADI was a gross understatement. So this meant I had to adjust my attitude and engine handling style accordingly.

The typical Dawn patrol flight had the crew arriving around 5:15 AM and depending on weather and light conditions I was generally on the "Roll" before the sun broke the horizon. Using 60-65' for T/O and 3100-3200RPM, the lightly loaded P51 made quick work of the climb to 9000ft. Orbit pattern, left or right, was usually dictated by departure direction. You always turned into the race course for the climb-out (for safety reasons).

On the climb, telemetry numbers from ground crew communications are crossed checked with my cockpit gauges. Now the fun part begins as the power is pushed to 3400/110" and let stabilize. The engine general protest a few times for being asked to work this hard early in the morning and lets me know by stumbling a few times just to get my attention. The "De-rich" is switched ON to clean the plugs and she now purrs like a kitten??? Maybe roars like a lion is more like it! A full throttle check shows 123"-128" which is about right for this altitude and lack of induction ram pressure. Reducing to 100", I push the prop lever to check Max RPM of 3575, then bring everything back to T/O power or a little less and set up for the low approach to land.

Now to the morning flights that you have been referencing above. I believe it was Reno 99 and they took place on the mornings post qualifying for the rest of the week. As you may recall, Dago's engine during the qualifying run had generated a sever crack in the nose case that required a complete change out. After a horrendous all night thrash by our exhausted crew, Dago was ready to test fly early the next morning. As a reward for the crew's effort (they also loved the low passes) and to test and G load the nose-case, I modified our test profile some what by changing the let down/low approach phase of our flights. Instead of running T/O power, I'd run her up to 3400/85-90" on the base leg and let Dago crowd the ramp edge of the runway on the passes. Indicate speed were generally between 410-415kts or close to 540 MPH true airspeed. At 50 feet above the runway, I'm sure it was pretty impressive. My good friend Bob Hannah was also dealing with some engine issues and was also making spectacular low passes with VooDoo on the same mornings. We still laugh and talk together about the Dawn Patrol Flybys......... Oh! those were the days, hope you enjoyed them. Bruce

[Peashooter]

Re: "THE" Dago Fly By

Thanks Bruce for the story and the passes! Here's a vid of the Bear in 2007. I love the sound up high too with the power on! Tailwinds, Peas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2mOwI-aC2A

[MMPerk]

Re: "THE" Dago Fly By

Thanks so much for the commentary. It's great to get a little more insight into what's going on.

LP

[WASP-kid]

Re: "THE" Dago Fly By

Thought I'd add a little insight as to why we do the so called Dawn Patrol flight. For Dago Red anyway, they were used for a number of reasons, all of which merited equal importance.

My good friend Bob Hannah was also dealing with some engine issues and was also making spectacular low passes with VooDoo on the same mornings. We still laugh and talk together about the Dawn Patrol Flybys......... Oh! those were the days, hope you enjoyed them. Bruce

'99 was my first year, and brother Pat & I were camping @ St. Michael's. That was a great morning for sure! The "Hurricane" was an old idol from my motocross days and it was cool to see him again. You guys are the epitome of cool. Can't thank you enough for adding more insight.

[WARPT]

Re: "THE" Dago Fly By

I would like to ad my "THANKS" to you Mr. Lockwood. Getting more information on what is going on with the teams and the planes is great.
Especially from someone that truly knows what is going on. It has been a great pleasure to watch you race Dago in the years past. And thanks for always taking some time to chat with us air race fans!