I shouldn't be here today. Not like I should be dead or something like that, but I shouldn't be here. I should be in Reno. This is the week of the National Air Races. I've been there the last two years. I'm not depressed (much) about this. The Air Races are like the perfect storm of enjoyment for me. Aviation people, good friends, adopted family and aviation. Four days of no politics, no local news, just aviation. Yet, here I am. Working for the paying job. Not complaining, just wondering how the alternative universe with no Covid, Kurt is enjoying the show?
So how did I spend the past few days? The paying job for sure, but I was able to get a few hours for myself on Saturday. So I went to a new location to get that aviation feeling going.
Last weekend I met people from different R/C aircraft clubs, one of them from the Pontiac Miniature Air Club. They held an event yesterday that included all their Covid/weather cancelled events into the last big bash. Perfect weather. Has my name written all over it.
To be sure, the big hook for me was the warbirds aircraft angle. Anything in memorial to the Races.
There were 30-40 aircraft at the R/C event. Maybe slightly over half were warbirds. Fun to watch.
Some of the pilots were very good a air show flight patterns. Very smooth transitions. Most of the powerplants were electric. Yea, I'm a bigger fan of the gas engine but I understand the benefits of the electric. If they could just put the noise and exhaust in an aerosol can - I'd buy a case at a time.
Back to Saturday. And thoughts of Reno. And races, not military birds.
One of the race classes this year is the STOL (Short Take Off and Landing). In 2019, the races had a demo of this class, and for as slow as it was there was some excitement. But with the introduction of that class, the statement that event the slowest class at Reno is faster than anything at Daytona died. I was looking forward to watching this year. I have a previous post on STOL racing here.
One of the more interesting R/C aircraft was a STOL design. Gas powered. And Smoke. I'm in!
This aircraft put on quite a flight. Not very STOL like in that these are functional aircraft, not show craft. Anyway was a lot of fun to watch. That approach and landing were very STOL like, in that is was steep and short.
And the short landing.
With any luck, I'll see the real thing next year.
Believe it or not, I recognized the location of your second pic just from the background. When we do training hikes, we frequently stop at that field for a break...sometimes it's the only place not swarming with mosquitoes.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like that park is very nice.
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