[Mat_Helm]

Your post is uncalled for. We know what to expect when we go to these events. No spectator has died at Reno or the Bendix races when they were in the Midwest. 70 Years of air racing with no spectators injured. Compare that to Indy car, NASCAR, NHRA, off road racing, on and on etc... that have killed and injured hundreds if not thousands over their history with millions more spectators. It is more dangerous to be a Giants fan at Dodger stadium than in Reno.

[Mamzelle]

My post is called for. Instead of jutting out your collective chins and puffing up your Red Baron chests, consider that you're not swinging a baseball bat but riding a bullet-shaped bomb. Other sports can make an effort to protect spectators, but these air shows really cannot. Nor, I expect, are they well-insured. Racing stadiums have good insurance.

Once I was enjoying a fine day a few years back and heard a nasty scream from the air. An orange missile was diving straight for my home and it sounded exactly like a ICBM in the movies. Frozen, it got closer and I saw it was one of those new small private jets, either a Premier or a Citation, painted in colors of red and gold. I thought it was crashing. It got close enough that I could almost make out the numbers, but didn't have my driving glasses on and lacked the presence of mind, anyway. A private jet got closer to my home than 500 feet.

He pulled up, banked and climbed. Pilot wearing a smirk, I'm sure, for scaring the crap out of those bound to the earth. I got mad enough to call a few airports but couldn't ID the AH.

There's an attitude about a lot of hobby craft pilots that is most unpleasant and this might be a good time to address it.