Search Results for: sport pylon air races air

A pilot who calls himself altitude-oriented checks out the Reno Air Races, has a ball, and starts to question things.

The six-cylinder, 310-hp Continental growls and pops as I line up on Runway 7L then builds to a throaty roar as I open the throttle. I feed it in slowly, just like Joe told me to, in order to keep this Lancair with its castoring nosewheel, tiny tail and monstrous torque pointed straight down the […]

If you’ve ever attended the Stihl National Championship Air Races at the Reno-Stead Airport west of Reno, Nevada, you know the event brands itself as “the fastest motorsport on earth,” with the slogan “fly low, fly fast, turn left.” Low and slow has never factored into the equation since the races began decades ago. But […]

It’s the final Gold race for the Sport Class at the Stihl National Championship Air Races outside Reno, Nevada. I’m in an Aero Vodochody L-39 Albatros, making circles at 8,500 feet above the Reno-Stead Airport, watching as a group of eight Lancair Legacies, Super Glasairs and Thunder Mustangs battles it out at high speeds around […]

Pilots at the National Championship Air Races at the Reno-Stead Airport are getting deeper into the game of pylon racing as the weekend approaches. The excitement is building as the racers attempt to get faster and faster laps times to move up to the next group or get into a better position to reach the […]

(function(d, s, id) { if (d.getElementById(id)) return; var js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = ‘//cdn4.wibbitz.com/static.js’; d.getElementsByTagName(‘body’)[0].appendChild(js); }(document, ‘script’, ‘wibbitz-static-embed’)); The 53rd National Championship Air Races came to a dramatic close in Reno after four days of intense race action in the desert last September. Race pilots competed in Sport, Jet, T-6 and Unlimited […]

Last month one of the most popular Unlimited National Championship Air Races airplanes, Precious Metal, caught fire as pilot Thom Richard was on his way to the annual pilgrimage to the Nevada desert outside Reno for a week of hardcore pylon racing. While Richard escaped unharmed, Precious Metal suffered major damage as a result of […]

Will Steven Hinton win his seventh straight Unlimited Class Gold? That was the big question at the 52nd National Championship Air Races held September 16-20 at Reno Stead Airport in Reno, Nevada. Hinton, flying Voodoo, a P-51 Mustang, screamed around the pylons with Robert “Hoot” Gibson racing Strega, also a P-51D. The suspense was building […]

“This whole thing of ‘The sky is the limit’ — it’s not,” says professional aerobatic pilot Rob Holland. “The sky is just a playground.” Nothing could be closer to the truth when it comes to people who engage in extreme flying adventures. Whether they fly powered or nonpowered aircraft, these individuals are pushing the boundaries […]

I’ve always been intrigued by accelerated flight training courses that promise to add on the next rating or certificate in a fixed number of days for a set price. Maybe it’s because the concept is so far removed from how I learned to fly back in the 1980s. At the local grass strip where I […]