Posted on 08/30/2008 9:59:10 AM PDT by Feiny
Marilyn Dash of Hayward, who took her first flying lesson nine years ago on her 37th birthday, is now tearing around pylons at 180 miles per hour, 50 feet off the ground in her souped-up biplane, surrounded by a swarm of other planes all dashing to a finish line in the air. Dash will be one of more than 150 pilots competing in six classes of aircraft - from biplanes to jets - when the National Championship Air Races and Air Show take off Sept. 10 to 14 in Reno. In addition to dozens of wingtip-to-wingtip races at as much as 500 mph, the event will include displays of military aircraft, restored antique planes, the U.S. Air Force's Thunderbirds aerobatic team and flying demonstrations of the F-22 Raptor, the country's newest fighter, which incorporates stealth technology. More than 200 aircraft will take part.
Dash's plane is a compact Pitt's Special, a modern biplane designed for speed and maneuverability.
"This is not something you buy to take the kids out flying," she says. "It's not easy to fly and not easy to maintain. If you buy one of these, you must know what you're doing."
Even for seasoned fliers, the races have to be regarded as hazardous. Last year, three pilots were killed in crashes. Does she consider what she does dangerous?
"Yes," she says, pausing, "and no. The National Championship Air Races operational people, the air bosses, the pilots and crews, we do everything we can to maintain safety. We know what we're doing. We fly the airplanes a lot. My crew knows the airplane backward. I think we're doing the best we can, and the only thing I can say is that things happen outside of our control, and that's when accidents happen."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
AND a camera... you will DEFINITELY want a camera!
At the Chino Air show I was the sunblock queen
much to Dashers chagrin
she mocks my ivory pallor *snickering*
Listening to the Australian tower controller is a gas!
Watch this Russian transport plane use ALL of the runway on takeoff:
http://www.alexisparkinn.com/photogallery/Videos/2008-2-9-Il76-in-Australia.wmv
I have watched our water tankers taking off from Medford, Oregon on hot, calm days where they would reach lift off speed, raise the landing gear (to remove the drag) and the plane would sink back down two or three feet closer to the runway while they built more airspeed.
Frightening to observe from taxiway, I can only believe it was terrifying in the cockpit. (I do recall one captain having a heart attack and dying during takeoff. The copilot flew the remainder of the flight.)
They wouldn’t gain 20 feet of height in the next mile. When they got down to the cool air over the Russian River, that’s when their butts would come unglued from the seats and they could breathe normally again.
Why would they load the planes with so much weight? I have no idea.
That was very funny. Thank God for a headwind.
LOL!!
BTTT
Was that you that gave a lap dance under the big tent
Fly fast, turn left! Go, Dasher, Go!!
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