Will Whiteside

[Bob]

On lap 3 or 4 going into pylon 1 you banked to turn, then kept banking till you were about 120 degrees or so, I thought you were in trouble, but you flew out of it and kept charging. What happened and how big was the pucker cone on the seat? It sure scared the hell out of me.
You did an AWSOME job Will, your quite the pilot.
Bob

[JET1]

when he may dayed...

he had the presence of mind to get the plane clear of the runway before he stopped. we went out to retrieve him and it was a case of professionalism at its best !!!

[hattend]

Re: Will Whiteside

I think Bob was commenting on Voodoo's coming up off the course a couple of laps before the actual mayday. She pulled up at the pylon and overbanked a lot as she sailed upstairs.

I assume a bit of wake turbulence?

Don

[Jason S.]

Re: Will Whiteside

I think Bob was commenting on Voodoo's coming up off the course a couple of laps before the actual mayday. She pulled up at the pylon and overbanked a lot as she sailed upstairs.

I assume a bit of wake turbulence?

Don

Yes he hit some bad wake turbulence from Strega a couple of times. The one you’re talking about got him pretty good and the cockpit video shows it well. It happened to him again on the next lap or so coming around 8. There were a couple of other planes that hit some bad wake Czech Mate being one of them, with almost no wind on the course that day the bad air was just hanging around longer.
Jason

[BKB]

Re: Will Whiteside

Jason-

Will you be able to post some of that in the cockpit video? With permission from Mr Button and Team Voodoo of I'm sure.I sure like the in plane stuff.If you post on youtube I'm sure you'll add a link to this thread.

Thanks,

Brian

[Jason S.]

Re: Will Whiteside

Jason-

Will you be able to post some of that in the cockpit video? With permission from Mr Button and Team Voodoo of I'm sure.I sure like the in plane stuff.If you post on youtube I'm sure you'll add a link to this thread.

Thanks,

Brian

I have some of the footage but I'm also trying to get all of it (4 cameras) and when I do I'll be putting together some videos for online.

Jason

[Whiteside]

Re: Will Whiteside

Wake Turbulence on the Unlimited Racecourse
Reno, Nv. Sunday Gold 2009

Although it's certainly fun to discuss, you guys may be making a bigger deal than it really was out there around pylon 2 when I encountered the propeller wash and wingtip vortices off another raceplane on Sundays lap 2 of the main event.
I appreciate the nice words although it's just part of the deal when flying on a windless day behind a small winged, big propped airplane that is pulling "G" a 1/4 mile up ahead. As we have seen in a previous racecourse crash, it's pretty tenacious behind other aircraft. I found this the first time I flew a light aircraft behind another while practicing formation. As you cross the wake of most aircraft while they are flying straight and level I am always reminded that it is similar to crossing a ski boats' wake on double skis. As you cross, you feel each wingtip vorticie and some propwash in between. The more Angle of Attack the aircraft ahead is flying, the worse the wingtip Vortices. When flying on the optimum race line behind a lead aircraft doing the same, it's pretty easy to run into the leads wake. When there is no wind on the course, wingtip vortices sink at the approximate rate of 600' per minute. If you look at how little sink that is when behind Strega in this case. Voodoo was about 4 seconds behind and thats not much room to get above or underneath that wake. In SteadFast, I found that the wake is pretty violent. Because we are usually in 2nd or more place, we expect some pretty rough air. That little yak really takes a beating back there. Flying behind Michael Brown F7F was the main reason we put on 17 miles an hour in speed mods from 2006 to 2007. I didn't want to fly behind him. We also used to run it quite tail heavy for faster speeds and it gets very pitchy in turbulence. Remember Both Yaks pitching up and out in 2007 due to wake? It was pretty violent 8+ G ride for me.
When I encountered Stregas wake on Sunday, It rolled pretty quickly to the right and I was concerned that I may cut the East Deadline. As quickly as I could, I rolled back left and down to get the nose pointed down to get back into the hunt. I wanted him bad! Being nose-low and inverted that low to the ground is something you would like to avoid for long periods so I layed on enough G to get the airplane pointed back at the pylons, rolled out and unloaded to accelerate back to race speed which occurred quickly. On the way to pylon 4, I crested the ridge at min altitude and hadn't lost much ground. All in all, not a hair raising event. Realize that the airplane rolled out, away from the ground not in. I frequently hear the story of an event that happened to Skip Holm where he pushed out of an inverted position somewhere back by pylon 5. There are plenty of those stories. When we teach at PRS (Pylon Racing Seminar) we spend bit of time trying to build a motor skill in our new race pilots. We try to condition there minds and hands to "push out" of an inverted position, low on the course, very near the dirt. As I am flying around the pylons in Voodoo or SteadFast, I remind myself of the upset recovery procedure, "PUSH!"
So all in all it really wasn't a big deal in recovery. The biggest recovery has been my back that I've been nursing for most of the year due to getting my tail kicked by C.J. Stephens on the racquetball court. Now he's Tenacious!
Thanks for being air racing fans!
Will Whiteside
Voodoo
SteadFast

[WASP-kid]

Re: Will Whiteside

Will, I think it's great of you to drop in and fill in the blanks. But you don't stop there, you take us railbirds through the whole situation and the experience & training behind it. Absolutely outstanding! Thank you.

[Airpirate]

Re: Will Whiteside

Will,

thank you for your clarification on the vorticies, bottom line, one helluva job flying and a great run by you and VooDoo. Too bad about the Mayday, look forward to seeing you out there next year (in front)

Fly fast, Fly Safe

[Whiteside]

Re: Will Whiteside

Thanks you guys
You can count on us being there!
Will

[Mluvara]

Re: Will Whiteside

BTW, here's a short clip of the wake encounters during the gold race. I'm sure there will be more videos compiled by Jason and others on the crew as time goes on.

Michael

[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFoPzy5RMhs[/YT]

[Rampman]

Re: Will Whiteside

Wow! Great Stuff! Please give us more!