Gold Cancelled to winds

[planecrazy2]

Re: Gold Cancelled to winds

Oh. Well said Leo.

it's gonna be a long off-season. I may have to take a three week cruise with my hot wife to get my mind off of air racing...

[Cindy]

Re: Gold Cancelled to winds

As someone who has extended family and many friends racing in the unlimiteds and the T6s, I fully support the cancellation. To give you an idea of how classy the pilots are, Steven apologized for not racing. I was tempted to smack him upside the head for even thinking that! Instead, I gave a good friend a big hug and thanked him and the others for keeping it safe.
Do I care about the money spent by me? NO
Do I care that my friends are around to fly another day? Hell ya!

[Warbird5]

Re: Gold Cancelled to winds

Hi,

I was there as were many of the posters to this thread. I supported the decision as the conditions were just not safe to run the Gold Unlimited race on Sunday.

The winds were changing direction rapidly with one wind sock was blowing one way and the other still in another direction. Conditions would have made any emergency more dicey. Would you like to have to land your clipped wing racer with a dead engine, oil on the windscreen under those conditions? If you would which runway would you choose? Only to have the wind suddenly change direction more than 45 degrees and greatly increase in velocity? Why add another factor to an already challenging flight.

Those who posted comments that they should have raced are not the ones who would have had to risk their lives and machines. They are ground bound spectators that either do not know the risks involved or simply don't care.

I for one have seen far too many loose their lives at Reno, and too many close calls of those who for fortunate enough to live another day to have flown the Sunday Gold.

As followers of this event I strongly suggest you educate yourself and read RARA's rules of competition, especially the section on race cancellation. You may be surprised.

Fly Low, Fly Fast, Turn Left....Fly Safe.

Willie
Crew Dog, Unlimited Race 2

[Ron Lewark]

Re: Gold Cancelled to winds

Hi gang, it was very disapointing to say the least. I feel they made the right decision. It would have been a miracle if they ran the gold and no one maydayed out. Remember Putman and Jennie getting out in the weeds on landing in a x-wind in 1985, hurt a great plane. Talked to the crew that evening in the MGM at the bar and they said he ran out of aileron. As someone talked about early in this thread was it 1978 when it snowed on Sunday? I think that was the year, know we froze our butts of that Sunday. Tail draggers and wind don't mix good. I've owned and flew my 1971 185 for 34 years now and hate high x-winds, and yes that 185 has been to the Reno races every year since 1976. It's now able to find it's way out while we all take a snooze.
Ron

[Race5]

Re: Gold Cancelled to winds

Something that I haven't seen mentioned yet...

The launch of the Bibes and Formula One's was moved all the way down to runway 32. I couldn't be precise, but that alone ate up a lot of time in the morning. I know that I've seen Mike H. trying to hurry things along. Something else that could be considered for the future...how long does it take to tow an aircraft from the pits to the grandstands? There comes a time when things might need to be shifted into hurry up mode. But by that time yesterday, the winds were already getting crazy.

Have a great day, week and year!!

LP

We towed the bipes and F1s down to 32 starting 7:15 AM in order to get them launched. We launched as scheduled at 8:00am. The landing recoveries took no longer than normal. Each day in pilot the pilot brief, both classes were applauded for actually giving back time due to flawless recoveries, and great flying in the pattern to get everyone down safe and recovered quickly. I can 100% guarantee that we were not part of the problem even though we were fighting the conditions just like everyone else.

[MMPerk]

Re: Gold Cancelled to winds

We towed the bipes and F1s down to 32 starting 7:15 AM in order to get them launched. We launched as scheduled at 8:00am. The landing recoveries took no longer than normal. Each day in pilot the pilot brief, both classes were applauded for actually giving back time due to flawless recoveries, and great flying in the pattern to get everyone down safe and recovered quickly. I can 100% guarantee that we were not part of the problem even though we were fighting the conditions just like everyone else.

Good point and thanks for the correction. I don't wear a watch so I couldn't really place the time. But after thinking about it, I was down on that end before 7, and I know it wasn't long before I started to see the aircraft being towed past me. Everyone did a great job!!

[TWD]

Re: Gold Cancelled to winds

Will someone who raced this year please read the waiver.
I have a hunch that it ends at 5pm on Sunday.
My point is no waiver = no fly.

TJ

[DWYER]

Re: Gold Cancelled to winds

Also, with those winds in mind. There have been times where there are multiple maydays and there are two or three aircraft that are trying to get down on the ground. And with the way everybody's motors have been staying together (except for Strega's) it could be really scary. I don't think anybody would like to risk that. We've seen it all during the gold race. You just never know.

[Big_Jim]

Re: Gold Cancelled to winds

Will someone who raced this year please read the waiver.
I have a hunch that it ends at 5pm on Sunday.
My point is no waiver = no fly.

TJ

We're from the FAA and we're here to help.....

[Leo]

Re: Gold Cancelled to winds

The announcement Houghton made at 4:30 mentioned that they were talking about extending it to the FAA.
I have to give him credit for giving us an explanation as events unfolded.

[JET1]

because this thread is so long...

...I just have to chime in. The RARA board had an emergency meeting with the pilots. The waiver ended at 5 on Sunday. The organization is largely volunteer including all CFR and pylon, timers, contest committee, ramp ops, security, well you get the picture. It was decided in the RARA meeting that we would all vote. the rest is history.
We couldn't have run on Monday. The pilots felt that if there were multiple maydays it would be a VERY dangerous situation for both pilots and participants. EVERYONE was disappointed, but safety comes very first. I talked with John Penny at the hotel and he was really apologetic to the fans but rightly said what I just posted.
Think about all the hype that will be built up by next years race! all the arm chair race jockies will have their 2 cents in and it will be pretty exciting and chock a block FULL of rumors! woo hoo!
and if you think safety is not a concern...here is a closeup of rapid travel. please note what is left of the cockpit.

http://i55.tinypic.com/fjzwwl.jpg

[Matt Jackson]

Re: Gold Cancelled to winds

I have been reading the post's regarding the cancellation of the Gold. I thought it would be appropriate to get the view of a Race pilot in here first hand. Let me start by saying the decision made by the pilots and I mean the pilots was the right decision. The FAA and RARA did not call the race. We have certainly flown in worse conditions. I have seen 60 knot gusts, dust devils on the course and rain and snow. The fact is anything over 25 knots and your dead if you have to use your parachute because it will drag you across the desert floor until your dead. Kevin Eldridge proved that we sometimes have to bail out as we have seen at the Phoenix races. So the decision of the pilots was a good one in my opinion. In 2002 we had winds so bad that non of us really wanted to go. The problem is someone asked Skip if we should go. His comment was this is combat fella's lets get to it. I'll never forget the look on all the Gold pilots faces as we stumbled out to our planes. NO one wanted to fly that day except Skip, but no one had the balls (including me to say no) so out we went. Fortunately that day we all made it. We ended up all landing on the Guard ramp that year because of the wind. I believe that the crash of the Sport racer this year served to cement everyone's concerns. The crash however cannot be directly attributed to the wind, as there are many other factors that come into play, and I wont get into that here. I was asked prior to start of the Gold what I thought they should do. As the Vice President and briefer of the Unlimited Division I said "ask the pilots as a group and no one else",but certainly not just one or two. Given the situation of being the first one to say indian, no one will say indian. In this case everyone agreed it was too risky. Would this have been the decision 10 or 15 years ago? Probably not. Maybe we are actually getting smarter with the "newer generation". That's my hopes, where we can actually say time out and lets have a look at this one more time. This race is just that a race. Its not combat in the true sense and certainly not worth risking someone else's life just to prove who's faster that day. The FAA was more then willing to extend the waiver for another day. The issue became having all the necessary staff, which are mostly volunteer and have jobs to go to on Monday to stay around one more day. RARA had no choice in the matter. It was not going to happen. RARA did the right thing, you can quote me just this one time. Who would have won? I can't say for sure the start of Saturdays race looked pretty good on the first three. They were tied together for a lap and a half and they all had power left on the handles. Rare Bear had hydraulic issues which allowed the gear to sag out during lap two. Voodoo had ignition issues that were resolved later that evening. It would have been a hell of a race on Sunday, wind or not. Ive been asked what its like with wind on the course. There's two trains of thought. 10 to 15 knots blows the turbulence off the course and makes a nice ride. Anything higher and its chopier then hell. Bottom line is you race!!!! Will this affect the turn out next year? Who cares, the racers will return with a crowd or not. I always said its a gathering of ego's not business men. We certainly are not doing it for the money, just ask the owners and pilots. As for me Ill be back next year going for the win in a new plane. Hopefully the wind will stay calm so I can have a shot at the trophy one more time.

[supercub]

Re: Gold Cancelled to winds

Thanks Matt for your comments.........the crowd will be there. I re-listened to the announcement online today by the RARA Pres, and as I remebered from being there the crowd actually cheered when they heard the race had been cancelled. I did not hear one person say they were mad that it was cancelled........disappointed, yes, as I'm sure the pilots were too.........but I think just about everyone was happy and relieved with the decision. I think most of the posts on here have been to the positive, concerning the decision to cancel. If I might suggest to all the pilots, owners, and crew members, don't worry, we aren't mad, we're thankful, that common sense proved stronger then the wind..........I think I speak for most of the fans when I say, we'll be back next year.
Brian

[dvddude]

Re: Gold Cancelled to winds

Thanks for your first hand perspective, Matt, it's really appreciated! Hopefully that will quell some of the detractors on this thread.

One question, though. Are there any established wind limits for the Unlimited course, or is it just up to the discretion of the pilots like the procedure you described above? You mentioned the 25 knot limit for being dragged by a parachute upon landing. Would the races go on with winds in excess of 25 knots or is that a judgment call made by the pilots?

[dvddude]

Re: Gold Cancelled to winds

Thanks Matt for your comments.........the crowd will be there. I re-listened to the announcement online today by the RARA Pres, and as I remebered from being there the crowd actually cheered when they heard the race had been cancelled. I did not hear one person say they were mad that it was cancelled........disappointed, yes, as I'm sure the pilots were too.........but I think just about everyone was happy and relieved with the decision. I think most of the posts on here have been to the positive, concerning the decision to cancel. If I might suggest to all the pilots, owners, and crew members, don't worry, we aren't mad, we're thankful, that common sense proved stronger then the wind..........I think I speak for most of the fans when I say, we'll be back next year.
Brian

I agree Brian, I was one of those relieved they didn't fly. Yes, I'll be back next year for sure. From my perspective in the grandstands, most people were fine with the races being cancelled, and I heard cheering as well. I didn't hear one single person moan or complain, FYI!