STOL

“This is absolutely exciting!” “This is what Reno needed!” “I love how they are so close to us!” “I love it! I don’t completely understand it yet, but I love it!” Those are just some of the comments I heard from race fans at the first official STOL Drag race event to be held at […]

Reno has returned to flight status—and in fine shape as the shadows of the pandemic have retreated. The 2021 National Championship Air Races wrapped up Sunday with the final races in most classes at the Reno-Stead International Airport in Nevada. The ghosts of the past have informed the racers of today. While protocols and attention […]

The Reno Air Racing Association (RARA) has released the competitor lineups for the 2021 Stihl National Championship Air Races planned for September 15 to 19 in Reno, Nevada. Qualifying heats begin ahead of the action on September 13. A total of 155 pilots plan to test their mettle, each flying one of the 145 aircraft […]

Based in Kenai, Alaska, a coastal city southwest of Anchorage on the mouth of the Kenai River, Robert Taylor, owner/operator/builder of a four-place kit-built Bearhawk has access to shorelines, waterways, and often-frozen tundra throughout the year. To make full use of his “triphibious” Bearhawk, Taylor has demonstrated his airplane’s performance operating from turf, water, and snow in […]

In May 2020, Bearhawk Aircraft launched the latest addition to its line of kit-built backcountry-ready airplanes with the Model 5—a six-place tailwheel aircraft “designed to fly fast and land slow,” according to a company release on March 1. That news shared that the first four of the Model 5 kits had gone out to customers, […]

If you’re planning to be in central Florida later this week, you have the opportunity to test out one of the industry’s first live events, specially designed to follow current pandemic restrictions. The Sun ‘n Fun Holiday Flying Festival and Car Show takes place on December 4 and 5 in Lakeland, Florida, and pilots can […]

The 2020 STIHL National Championship Air Races near Reno, Nevada, was set to officially open its doors to spectators on September 16. However, as with all major air-show events planned after March of this year, the coronavirus pandemic put a lid on the excitement for this week. The annual event, in which racers of various […]

Austin, Texas-based Bearhawk Aircraft, a company known for creating STOL kit airplanes, earlier this week announced two company milestones. In one, a Bearhawk Patrol became the first of the company’s airplanes completed in Brazil to take flight, launching from Lontras, Santa Catarina, Brazil. In another, a New Zealand man for the second time took top […]

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 […]

The tens of thousands of fans of the turbine-powered super STOL Draco can breathe a big sigh of relief. Mike Patey, who crashed the bright red taildragger on departure after the Stihl National Championship Air Races in Reno this fall, has announced that he is working on a major restoration of the airplane. Patey initially […]