Slowing down matters as much as accelerating in most auto racing, and the same is true of STOL Drag racing. Unlike traditional Reno-style pylon racing, which involves no slowing down whatsoever, STOL Drag requires starting and stopping twice while flying less than a mile.

I have never been to a STOL Drag race, and so I will probably be pummeled for whatever I say, but here goes anyway.

Two pylons and corresponding start/stop lines are set 2,000 feet apart. A third pylon is placed at the 1,000-foot mark, just for reference. The idea is to take off from the first line, fly to the far line, land, come to a full stop, turn around, and repeat the process without touching the ground between the lines. Two airplanes compete side by side, and the winner is the one that first comes to a full stop at the end of the race. Best times are just over 50 seconds, so, for a pleasurable activity, it’s brief.

In principle anyone can participate, but the really serious competitors use highly modified airplanes that can accelerate like mad and stop very short after touching down. However, competitors are paired off according to aircraft performance, so it wouldn’t be unusual to see a Skylane compete against a Beech Bonanza.

• READ MORE: Valdez Fly-In STOL Competition Celebrates 20th Anniversary

Since it’s a time trial, the race rewards acceleration, speed on the airborne segment, and deceleration after each landing. But the equation is complicated by the need to begin to slow down long before reaching the far pylon. Pilots accomplish this by chopping power, kicking in full rudder, and slipping toward the line. But even this phase isn’t as simple as it sounds. Airplanes decelerate quicker with wheel braking than aerodynamic braking, so while it may seem as if it’s best to touch down at minimum speed to reduce the rollout distance, it may actually be better to get the wheels on the ground as quickly as possible, even a few knots above the stall speed.

Initial acceleration is a function of the airplane’s mass and the engine-propeller combination’s thrust. Big thrust requires lots of power and a big prop. Two of the dominant competitors in the sport, Toby Ashley and Steve Henry, fly a Carbon Cub and Just Aircraft Highlander, respectively.

(Henry’s Nampa, Idaho, company, Wild West Aircraft, sells the Highlander as a light sport kit.) Neither racing airplane has much in common with its ordinary Lycoming- or Rotax-powered brethren. Both use liquid-cooled, geared, turbocharged, intercooled engines with very big props. They say the engines put out around 400 hp. The airplanes are stripped down, competing at weights less than 1,000 pounds. Since they are generating more than 2,000 pounds of static thrust, and therefore achieve an initial acceleration of 2Gs or more, it’s not surprising that both get airborne in a couple of seconds and a few dozen feet.

• READ MORE: The Ryan YO-51 Wowed with STOL Performance

The powerful initial acceleration does not last long, however, because thrust diminishes as speed increases, and drag grows in proportion to the square of speed. At 90 knots, which an airplane accelerating at an average 1G would reach in five seconds and 400 feet, drag has increased to more than 200 pounds and thrust is cut in half. Since the drag can be subtracted from the thrust to get the net force accelerating the mass of the airplane, it follows that the forward acceleration may already be well under 1G.

The actual segment times, based on videos of Henry racing at Reno last year, are, as you would guess, asymmetrical, reflecting the fact that it is easier to speed up than slow down. From brake release to throttle down at midcourse, about 10 seconds elapse. From there to wheels on, another 10, but at that point the airplane is still moving at around its stall speed of 35 knots. The rollout takes four seconds and another four to get turned around. The times going back are similar for a total of 52 seconds.

If the average acceleration up to the middle of the course were two-thirds of a G, the maximum speed attained would be about 125 knots. If the touchdown speed at the far end were 35 knots, the average deceleration in the slip would be a bit under under one-half G—more at the start and less at the end. By the time the wheels touch the ground, the rate of deceleration is pretty low. Wheel braking brings it back up to the half-G level.

• READ MORE: Valdez STOL Competition & Fly-In Air Show Marks 20 Years of Excellence

The Carbon Cub and Highlander regularly finish within a fraction of a second of each other, and successive heats also differ by small amounts. That consistency is a testament to the pilots’ skills, since, as you find when you watch any of Henry’s cockpit videos, quite a lot goes on during the brief race. Everything hinges on the deceleration timing, staying as low as possible, and amount of wheel braking that can be applied without nosing over.

Henry claims to use his airplane as a daily driver—probably at about 20 percent of power. But I suppose that if STOL Drag racing continues to be popular, it may eventually engender purpose-built airplanes. Very likely the slip-to-slow-down approach would be supplemented or replaced by large air brakes that would add several square feet to the airplane’s equivalent flat plate area. Maybe a slight edge in acceleration could be gained by cleaning up the front end, replacing the big intercooler radiator with a small tank of ice water, and getting engine cooling air to the main radiator with a scoop and duct. But aerodynamic refinement may be pointless, since so little time is spent at high speed.

High wings and a tailwheel are taken for granted on STOL airplanes for a lot of practical reasons. But I wonder whether a low wing with some extra span—taking better advantage of ground effect—and tricycle gear with brakes on all three wheels might bring some advantages. Add lots of horsepower and an airfoil with a maximum lift coefficient of two, and then…off to the races!

This column first appeared in the April 2024/Issue 947 of FLYING’s print edition.

The post Looking at the Physics of STOL Drag appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

For the estimated 140,000 fans who attended the weeklong celebration of aircraft performance (September 13-17), I suspect the overall experience was still one to treasure, in part because the races are more than the sum of the event. When you walk through the gates and head for the grandstands, you are stepping into a complex timeline that stretches back to the competition’s conception in 1964 and beyond to aviation’s Golden Age, with the Cleveland air races, and the Thompson, Bendix, and Greve trophies.

I know I will feel a tinge of joy every time I look back on my days spent with the Yak-3 racer Miss Trinidad, its owner Sam Davis, crew chief John Dowd, pilot John Maloney, and the gang of volunteers that kept the complex vintage machine ready to race. This group generously made room for me in its pit stall so I could report on the effort required to get a bunch of 80-year-old warbirds to the starting line and the elements that, when blended correctly, turn a race plane into a winner.

• READ MORE: The Intricacies of Getting Ready for Reno

The performances seen at Reno are often the culmination of years of work spent modifying, testing, and refining these former fighting aircraft into racers capable of lapping the 8-mile course at 400 mph or more. Favorites change from year to year with certain airplanes enjoying runs of back-to-back victories and record-setting lap speeds. Sometimes an airplane will languish at the back of the pack until a new owner or change of sponsorship brings the resources needed to make it a front-runner. In other cases, finding the right pilot can put an airplane in the winner’s circle. These combinations often become part of air racing lore.

That tradition piqued my interest as a kid leafing through aviation magazines. Photos of P-51 Mustangs, F8F Bearcats, Hawker Sea Furies, and other models of the World War II era rounding pylons, flying wingtip to wingtip, seemed completely thrilling. Even more storied than the aircraft were the pilots. From Chuck Lyford and the Bardahl Special P-51 and Mira Slovak and the Smirnoff Bearcat in the 1960s to Steven Hinton in the recently restored Bardahl Special in this year’s races, the aviators who compete at this level tend to lead interesting lives.

For decades, I was determined to make my way to Reno to see the action firsthand. But life and all of its schedules kept me away. As a result, I missed watershed developments, including the arrival of original non-warbird designs Tsunami during the mid-1980s and the twin-engine Pond Racer, a Burt Rutan composite design of the early 1990s. My father went to the races with a group of friends in 1992 and brought back photos of the Pond Racer. I was jealous.

Still, I followed the races for many years through print, television, and video, catching memorable events like Hinton flying the P-51 Red Baron to a new speed record in 1979 to the classic 1989 showdown between Bill “Tiger” Destefani and his P-51 Strega and longtime rival Lyle Shelton in the Bearcat Rare Bear.

Seeing the event in person this year might have been the ultimate case of “better late than never,” but it gave me a sense of what the races truly represent and why the tightly knit racing community returns each year despite the expense and obvious risks.

“Community” really is the right word to describe Reno’s cast of characters that includes pilots, aircraft builders, mechanics, owners, officials, sponsors, and families. As expected, people serving as crewmembers work tirelessly for their teams, repairing, tuning, and tweaking aircraft before and between qualifying flights and heat races. What might surprise outsiders is how hard the same folks will work to get a competitor’s airplane into a race, especially if they are sidelined by a mishap.

If someone needs a spare part, a special tool, or someone with particular expertise, help is sure to emerge from a neighboring section of the pits, which sprawls like a small town across the vast ramp at Reno-Stead Airport (KRTS). It is the kind of town where some of your neighbors might be celebrities.

Pete Law, the renowned former Lockheed engineer and fluid dynamicist who for decades designed exotic systems for cooling racers’ engines and keeping them running properly, stopped by Trinidad’s pit stall for a friendly visit. Across the ramp were the legendary P-51s Miss America and Thunderbird. Take a shortcut through Miss Trinidad’s backyard, and you would enter the Hinton headquarters where the Bardahl Special was undergoing constant preparation. The airplane, restored and heavily modified over the past year, reportedly at great expense, was favored to win the Unlimited Gold race.

The stakes were high, and the atmosphere in the pits was intense, though still friendly, with visitors stopping by to chat and bag the occasional autograph. In the background, generators hummed and power tools whirred as workers opened hatches and removed exterior panels to perform a range of surgeries on aircraft before sending them to the line to start the next race. Occasionally, someone shouts for a tool or bandage to dress bloody knuckles. Sometimes you hear the echo of a nut, bolt, screw, or other small part dropped deep inside a fuselage or engine cowling, followed by an expletive. That is about as harsh as it gets.

Proof of the air racing community’s openness came when my wife, who did not grow up around airplanes, flew out to join me for the final day of competition. The entire crew welcomed her, and she wound up having such a great time chatting with them and pitching in to help when she could that the racing almost became secondary. She wondered how you get so many accomplished people to work free of charge.

As a physician, she happily answered medical questions with owner Davis and crew chief Dowd while learning about the vagaries of twin-row radial engines like the Yak’s Pratt & Whitney R2000. She cannot wait for the races to resume at a new venue, which is planned for 2025.

The ultimate show of friend-for-life status came just before we departed on Sunday afternoon. Members of the Davis team wore white T-shirts with an image of the airplane and the inscriptions “Miss Trinidad” and “Race 27.” As we said our farewells, Davis approached and handed us our own crew shirts.

We will wear them with pride.

This column first appeared in the November 2023/Issue 943 of FLYING’s print edition.

The post Taking in the Reno Air Races’ Final Lap appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Vicky Benzing hails from Northern California, growing up in San Jose. After graduating from high school, she pursued a career in physical chemistry, eventually obtaining a Ph.D in the discipline from the University of California-Berkeley. But a lucrative position in the Silicon Valley tech industry failed to hold onto her heart. Recognizing we have only so much time on the planet, she switched gears about 20 years ago, turned toward aviation, and practiced full time the aerosports she loves. Today she is based at Monterey Airport (KMRY).

She’s a skydiver, holds an airline transport pilot certificate, and flies her 450 hp 1940 Stearman in air shows around the country. In 2008, she placed in the top 10 in the Advanced category at the U.S. National Aerobatic Championships in an Extra 300S. But it’s her past 13 years at the National Championship Air Races in Reno that spark her forward the most. Benzing first raced at the Reno-Stead Airport (KRTS) in 2010, winning her first heat flying a Glasair SH-3R. She went on to become the “fastest woman at Reno” in 2015 in an L-139. And recently she’s topped the Sport Class Silver division with her custom Lancair Legacy, Lucky Girl.

• READ MORE: 6 Cities Competing to Host Next National Championship Air Races

FLYING caught up with Benzing as she was preparing for Reno 2023—hopeful to mark one more milestone at the storied event in the Unlimited Class at the controls of a P-51 Mustang.

FLYING Magazine (FM): How did you transition from aerobatics and get your start at Reno? What was the first airplane you brought to the races?

Vicky Benzing (VB): At the behest of Lee Behel, I went to PRS [Pylon Racing Seminar] in my Extra and, of course, the Extra is too slow to race. The Sport Class was not yet oversubscribed…we hadn’t opened the class up to [Van’s] RVs yet…so he asked me if I would race if he could find an airplane for me. Vicki Cruse [an aerobatic champion who died flying her Edge 540 at an airshow in England in 2009] was a close friend. Lee purchased her Glasair from her estate, and I raced it in her honor. She had previously raced at Reno—it was Race 13— the Cruse Missile. That airplane…had gremlins, and we always attributed that to Vicki’s sense of humor. I won that first race against Scott Nelson—I had to pass him to win the race. I got the fire truck ride, and the second race, I was on the pole, and when you’re a rookie, trying to find the pylons is tough. In the chute, when I put the throttle forward, I had a prop overspeed and very nearly lost the prop. I managed to get the airplane on the runway. We rebuilt the engine on that airplane, and I raced it the following year, the race that the Galloping Ghost went in, so we didn’t get to finish the race. So it wasn’t till the third year that I actually got to race all the heat races.

FM: From there, you went on to progress into the Jet Class, as well as getting the right airplane to advance in the Sport Class. Tell us about those experiences.

VB: In 2013, I raced the jet, Kermit, the L-39, and the Cruse Missile. We tried to make the Cruse Missile go faster with modifications—and I had a number of Lancair “kills.” But it wasn’t as fast as all the Lancairs. I put a rearview mirror in my cockpit, and I put a label on it that said, “Lancairs belong here.” But I wanted to have an airplane that I could modify and work on my own, and so in 2014, I went out and bought Lucky Girl [a Lancair Legacy]. I think the Cruse Missile was jealous, because Lee took me to go look at Lucky Girl in Fresno, California, and on the way, the Cruse Missile threw a fit and had a prop overspeed, and we ended up landing at the former Castle Air Force Base—Merced Airport [KMCE] now. Lucky Girl’s a fast stock Lancair, and through the years I’ve just modified her bit by bit, with bigger pistons, and last year, nitrous [oxide, a performance booster], and we’ll probably run nitrous this year.

FM: In 2015, you became the fastest woman at Reno. How did you come by that milestone?

VB: I raced the jet again in 2014, and then Dianna Stanger called me up to race her jet, Darkstar, an L-139, in 2015, and that’s when I became the fastest woman ever at Reno, ’cause I was clocked on the course at 469.831 mph, which was the same speed as one of the other guys did. And he clocked it first before me, so I ended up behind him in the order. Last year I raced Robin, the yellow jet [L-39]. Jets [are] a different deal—it’s really high G loading, especially for the really fast ones. You kind of say, “400 mph, 4 Gs; 500 mph, 5 Gs,” but that’s continuous, so if you hit wake, or fly unevenly, you’re hitting even higher Gs.

FM: You moved up to the top of the Sport Class Silver rankings regularly over the past few years in Lucky Girl. But you’ve had other dramatic moments in the race that stand out.

VB: From 2014 to present, I’ve raced Lucky Girl. My engine quit in the cooldown [lap]. I came out on downwind in the cooldown and went to land, and the engine quit. I was like, “What? You’re kidding me.” And those airplanes come down so quickly. I was basically over [Runway] 8, and I made the left turn to land on 32, and I barely got on the runway, barely got out of the turn before I made the runway. They are not gliders.

FM: For this year, you plan to campaign a special airplane. How did you come to buy a classic warbird?

VB: So I bought Clay Lacy’s P-51 [Miss Van Nuys] in 2019, and Steve Hinton Jr. has been restoring it, and it became a much bigger project than it started out as. The idea of purchasing the aircraft was to put it on the racecourse at Reno because it’s an historic aircraft [see “In Depth,” Issue 938] but also to fly it at airshows, because I think airplanes like that deserve to be seen. I think, as a woman, there are not that many opportunities to fly warbirds. I would love to be the person who is at the [Commemorative Air Force] museum wrenching on airplanes, but I just don’t have time to do that with doing the shows. I had to make an opportunity for myself to fly a warbird. I went to Stallion 51 to get training—and I swore up and down to my husband I was not going to buy a P-51. He bought me a little model for my desk. But Clay is my neighbor at Pine Mountain Lake, and I heard that his Mustang was for sale. It took a little talking to my husband and asking Clay if he would sell it to me.

FM: But the care and feeding of a warbird takes time and investment. Share with us the story of bringing an historic P-51 to the Unlimited Class.

VB: [Miss Van Nuys] had never been restored since it was built in 1944—never been overhauled. The last time an engine had been put in it was 1976 [after Lacy’s last time racing it at Reno in 1972]. I would be surprised if there were 100 hours on that engine. We were just going to bring it back up to snuff, but then one thing led to another. And that led to paint, and can you paint the cockpit, can you change the instrument panel? And then going through the airplane, we found a crack in the tail, so it had to come off. Steve is in the process of painting it—we got delayed by paint because we had a custom color mix, [a purple that is an exact match to the original shade]. We ordered it in September [2022], and we got it in April. We put in a water bar system for racing; the wing was profiled to make it smooth for racing. We put all the antennas inside the airplane. One of the things that I really like about racing is the modifications that you do to your airplane are there forever. If you’re using it for commuting or flying here to there, you’re going a lot faster because of the investment you’ve made in the airplane. My Lancair Legacy Lucky Girl cruises all day long at 2,500 rpm and full throttle, 5,500 feet, at 250 knots.

This column first appeared in the September 2023/Issue 941 of FLYING’s print edition.

The post Expanding the Campaign at Reno appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

We start with the sad, as I wrote several stories about aircraft accidents this year. Often, my airport children (pilots I have trained or mentored) reach out to me when something happens, but we wait to publish anything on these until the NTSB releases its preliminary report. I often interview witnesses, but there will be no speculation. This is a rule.

I approach all of these stories wearing my flight instructor cap. I submit there has to be something to learn from the misfortune of others. This year, I wrote a lot about midair accidents. 

I had several friends at Reno this year, watching the last Reno Air Races. A few of them are lifers, going to the event every year since they were children. Some work in the pits. A few witnessed the collision of the T-6s Baron’s Revenge and Six Cat. Others witnessed the aftermath. One told me how he struggled to explain what had happened to his kids. I think we can all agree it was a horrible way to end the air races at Reno.

Florida Midair

At approximately 2 p.m. on March 7, 2023, there was the collision of a Piper Cherokee and a Piper J-3 Cub on floats at Winter Haven Regional Airport (KGIF) in Florida, that killed four people: two CFIs and two learners. Both were in their respective patterns—the pilot of the Cherokee was attempting a poweroff 180-degree landing to Runway 29, and the Cub was attempting to land at Jack Brown’s Seaplane Base (F57).

20-plus years of experience as a CFI has given me a very healthy respect for see-and-avoid, and expect the unexpected—especially in the pattern, that is so often crowded with pilots of varying abilities. This one was my worst nightmare, especially when I learned the pilot of the Cherokee was a commercial student attending the aviation program at Polk State College. I know people who teach there.

The pilot of the Piper J-3 Cub on floats was also on an instructional flight. As the preliminary NTSB report noted, the J-3 was not equipped with a radio, and radio communications were not required in that airspace, which is Class Echo. The NTSB noted the pilot of the Cherokee announced a left turn to the base leg of the traffic pattern; then the aircraft collided nearly head-on at an altitude of approximately 575 feet msl. The NTSB is still investigating.

Airshow Collision Lawsuit

The November 12, 2022 midair collision of the B-17 Texas Raiders and the P-63 Kingcobra that took the lives of six during the Wings Over Dallas Airshow came back in 2023 when a lawsuit was filed against the Commemorative Air Force, the organizers of the show, on behalf of the family of Len Root, the B-17 pilot. The lawsuit was filed on the grounds of alleged negligence because, according to the NTSB, no altitude deconfliction procedures were briefed before the flight or applied when the airplanes were in the air. 

The lawsuit also names air boss Russell Royce as a defendant for alleged failure to maintain control of the flight paths of the aircraft involved. Altitude deconfliction procedures are established in the event pilots find themselves at an improper altitude during the flight. Several photographs and videos of the event from multiple angles show the P-63 in a turn, coming up behind the B-17 turning with its belly facing the bomber, then colliding with it, slicing the bigger aircraft in half.

McSpadden Accident

When I write about accidents, it involves studying the airport diagrams and the NTSB preliminary report, often recreating the environment that led to the event in an Redbird FMX AATD. It is my attempt to understand what happened, as written in the preliminary report.

When I wrote about one in Florida that was attributed to spatial disorientation caused by a blackhole departure, I duct-taped a black curtain over the entry to the cab of the FMX. I needed a zero-light situation to see what the pilot saw.

I shared this with Richard McSpadden Jr., who was AOPA’s vice president of safety, and often studied and commented on accidents for AOPA’s Air Safety Institute. I often reached out to him for his insights, as we shared the same philosophy about learning from accidents. I had tremendous respect for him, not only for his work with ASI, but also for his experience as a member of the USAF Thunderbirds. We often discussed how instructors could better prepare their learners to avoid these events.

That ended on October 1 when McSpadden and former NFL tight end turned FBO owner Russ Francis were killed attempting to return to Lake Placid Airport (KLKP) in New York. The Cessna Cardinal RG they were flying developed an engine issue shortly after takeoff. Witnesses told the NTSB that the engine sounded as if it was surging. Someone onboard the Cardinal radioed they were returning because of a problem.

The purpose of the flight was to do a photo mission for AOPA. The photo aircraft, a Beechcraft A36, took off first. Per company procedure for photo flights, the pilot/owner of the subject aircraft (Francis) was to fly the airplane during the takeoff, climb-out and landing, and after joining up in formation, the pilot-rated passenger (McSpadden) would take over the controls and fly the airplane, as photo shoots require formation flying.

The airport is on a plateau. There is a single runway, 14/22, measuring 4,196 feet long and 60 feet wide. There are several obstructions, including trees, which according to the NTSB preliminary report measure 77-feet-high located 884 feet from the runway, and 334 feet left of centerline, which required an 8:1 slope to clear. Additionally, there is a 13-foot-high berm with a road 145 feet from the threshold and more trees some 93 feet from the runway. The Cardinal came down short of the runway, nose first into a ravine. There was no fire, but fuel spilled when the wing tanks were compromised. According to witnesses, both men survived the crash but expired a short time later. The NTSB is still investigating the accident.

Like so many, I was stunned and rattled by the accident—so much so that I spent the better part of two hours recreating the event in the Redbird configured like the Cardinal, practicing the improbable turn. If it could happen to Spad, it could happen to me, I thought. A few times, I ended up in the ravine.  Later I spent two hours flying a Cessna 172 with the most experienced instructor I know in the Seattle area. It felt good to get some dual again.

Death by Time Builder

In October, I wrote Death By Time Builder in response to a crash in Kentucky involving an instructor, Timothy McKellar Jr., 22, who did a night cross-country flight in convective weather with l8-year-old private pilot candidate Connor Quisenberry. They were killed when thunderstorms tore the Piper Warrior apart. It is a sad story, made infuriating because McKellar, who had a pronounced social media presence, documented his frustration with the learner–and the approaching thunderstorms via Snapchat during the flight when, as an instructor, he should have been focused on teaching.

According to social media posts, McKellar soloed at Eagle Flight Academy in Owensboro, Kentucky, in 2020 but did the bulk of his training at ATP. He earned his private pilot certificate in spring of 2022, followed by instrument rating and commercial certificates, and in April 2023, his CFI rating. On his social media accounts, he listed ATP as his employer, but the fatal flight originated from Eagle Flight Academy. 

Based on the track recorded by FlightAware, which shows multiple laps in the pattern at Bowling Green, it appears the flight was done to satisfy the three hours of night flying and ten takeoffs and landings required for private pilot certification.

McKellar’s snaps included disparaging observations about Quisenberry’s intellect made during the flight. That is never okay. The CFI needs to be focused on teaching in the cockpit. Put the damn phone down.

The final Snapchat was made on the return leg and shows a preview of the flight path from Bowling Green to Owensboro overlying a radar image showing severe storms heading toward them. McKellar compares them to ‘pissed off hornets,’ noting that they are heading toward them, yet the flight continues with thunderstorms on either side of the proposed track. 

Flying into thunderstorms or trying to outrun them or duck between them screams ‘get there itis,’ and hazardous attitudes invulnerability, macho, anti-authority, impulsivity, and you might say resignation as when working with primary students the instructor is the pilot in command and responsible for the safety of the flight. The fact McKellar allowed the flight to happen at all with convective activity in the forecast is perplexing. 

In the last contact with ATC, McKellar asks for an IFR clearance, reporting the aircraft was being blown around like crazy. ATC gives a heading to turn to. The radar track from FlightAware shows the aircraft passing through the assigned heading, and there was no further communication. The wreckage was found spread over a 25 acre area.

Aeronautical decision making is a big part of learning to fly, and the ability to make good decisions can be compromised when the CFI is more focused on ‘getting it done’ and or social media presence. One wonders if McKellar had good risk management modeled for him as a learner. 

A few weeks after the event I attended the National Association of Flight Instructors (NAFI) summit and this event was a topic of discussion. A great many professional CFIs and Designated Pilot Examiners (DPEs) are concerned about the time builders who rush through training and don’t have the time to mature as educators. Should we trust them to train the next generation of pilots?

When training  centers on passing the check rides and becoming an instructor to build hours, the focus often isn’t on becoming a good teacher, as it is seen as a stepping stone. It’s the learners who pay for this when their CFI demonstrates poor risk management, such as flying into a thunderstorm at night. I submit Quisenberry would have learned much more about decision making had McKellar canceled the flight. And both families would likely still have their sons.

Business Stories

On the business side of aviation, the announcement this month that Alaska Airlines was buying struggling rival Hawaiian Airlines for $1.9 billion got mixed reviews from my airport sons and daughters who fly for both carriers. The acquisition was several months in the making and included Alaska Airlines taking $900 million in Hawaiian Airlines debt. While it may keep the island-based carrier afloat, it is not clear what impact this will have on seniority numbers. It’s just nice to know Hawaiian Airlines won’t disappear.

The Fun Stories

In early July, we asked our readers to help track down the legacy of Captain Jack L. Martin, a World War II-era aviator who went on to help establish the Flying Tiger Line, one of the first cargo airlines in the United States. Captain Martin went west in 1970, so he never met Anne Palmer Martin, who married his son Bob decades later. Palmer Martin was a college classmate of mine, and I was positively over the moon when she offered me the A-2 flight jacket that belonged to Captain Martin after Bob, who had inherited his father’s jacket, went west. It had been in the closet for years, and she hoped I could help her learn more about the jacket and the man who wore it, as I am a collector. Challenge accepted.

The jacket, dry and brittle with age, was carefully restored and photographed, and I reached out to my warbird and vintage jacket aficionados. There was one photograph of a 20-something Captain Martin wearing the jacket and what appears to be a USAAF uniform standing next to another man in uniform at what appears to be an air base. There are T-6s in the background and one of our readers told us the airplane they are leaning on appears to be a Beechcraft AT-11, which was a bombardier trainer during WWII.

We heard from several readers who knew Captain Martin from his civilian flying career. He flew supply missions to the Defense Early Warning line as it was being built during the Cold War and flew over both poles. He was well-liked and a good teacher, they said, and shared a few images of Captain Martin in uniform—including one that also showed Bob as a little boy with his father and sister.

Stuffy the Kitten Makes it Home

The most fun story came out of AirVenture 2023, and really didn’t have much to do with aviation, but rather the way the aviation community pulls together to help each other—that is the story of Stuffy the toy kitty that was accidentally left behind at KidVenture on July 24. Stuffy belongs to 6-year-old Brayden Eveleth of Grandview, Iowa. Eveleth celebrated his birthday at AirVenture, and one of his gifts was the plush toy cat that when microwaved, gives off a lavender scent. According to his mother, Ashley Eveleth, the whole family was distraught when Stuffy went missing while Brayden was distracted by the activities at KidVenture. The family retraced their steps and contacted EAA lost and found looking for the misplaced toy. As luck would have it, EAA volunteer Gary Sternberg posted a photograph of the found plushy cat on Facebook on July 28, urging readers to help the toy get back to its owner. Sternberg told FLYING he understands how important childhood attachment objects are to their owners, so he takes a vested interest in their return.

Real talk: having had a similar experience as a child when Reckless, the orange plush cat that was my copilot on my B-25/fort in the backyard was stolen, I was all over this one. The FLYING story went up on social media, and both it and Sternberg’s post were copied and shared several times over. We were able to track down the Eveleth family, who were overjoyed to hear the toy had been found.

The kind folks at EAA shipped Stuffy home, and Ashley Eveleth shared a video with FLYING of Brayden opening the box in the back of his mother’s car and weeping with joy to see his kitty again.

The post Stories That Struck a Chord This Year appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

In 1964, Lacy was a demonstration pilot for Pacific Learjet, and he flew one of the first Learjet 24s into Van Nuys, California (KVNY), an airport that would become identified with him over the years—from the Air National Guard, to the charter company that he founded there in 1968, to the movie One Six Right, released in 2005, which capped his career as an actor and photo pilot. Lacy helped develop the Astrovision camera system mounted on Learjets and others. With it, he filmed for Bombardier, Boeing, and Lear, as well as other manufacturers, not only for marketing efforts but also flight test segments. Film credits for the Astrovision system include Flight of the Intruder, The Great Santini, Armageddon, and Top Gun.

Lacy raced airplanes as a passion, and served as president of the Air Racing Association from 1966 to 1970. He won the Unlimited category at the National Air Races at Reno in the stunning purple P-51 Mustang, Miss Van Nuys, he owned for many years. In 2010, he received the FAA Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award and was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame.

Now, Lacy continues to give back, just as he always has over his career. Today, he’s working with the Aviation Youth Mentoring Program (AYMP, www.aymp.world), a women-owned and child-centered nonprofit committed to involving and inspiring underserved communities through aviation. AYMP students had the privilege to meet Lacy in person at the Van Nuys airport and learn what it takes to be an aviator. Through the Clay Lacy AYMP Flight Scholarship, Lacy has funded 12 students in 2023 for their private pilot certificates, and aviation management and/or aerospace education.

FLYING Magazine (FM): You started flying early in life in Wichita. Can you share a story from those teen years when you first took flight?

Clay Lacy (CL): I remember seeing my first airplanes when I was five years old. There was Continental Airlines flying into Wichita from Denver [Colorado], same time every day, in a Lockheed 12—smaller than a DC-3—and I’d watch it every day. When I was eight years old, my mother took me for a ride in a Staggerwing Beechcraft at the airport—I was into model airplanes by then. When I could see my house from the air, I just thought this was great. From that time until I was 12, occasionally, I would get a few dollars and buy a ride. My grandmother had a farm outside of Wichita…and across the road was a golf course, and in 1944 a guy named Orville Sanders started bringing airplanes in there. I started going over there and helping him. [My grandmother agreed to rent land to Sanders] and three weeks later there were airplanes landing there. So from the time I was 12, I got to fly almost every day.

FM: In flying for United Airlines, you saw the breadth of some of the greatest transport category airplanes ever built. Does one stand out as your favorite?

CL: I had a great career at United—a good company—I had the opportunity to be copilot on a DC-3 for my first year with United. The Convair came in new in 1952, so a year later—they had a contract with the union so the company just assigned people to be copilots—I was assigned it and what a lucky thing that was. It was a modern airplane, with a lot of new systems and good things—and just a great opportunity.

FM: You flew the Learjet early on, and worked with the company and Bill Lear. Any stories to share from that time?

CL: I was really immersed in corporate aircraft sales at an early age, and then I became manager of sales for Learjet in [11] western states in 1964, and with Al Paulsen and his company. I introduced Bill Lear—and his company got the distributorship for those states. I flew the Learjet and I met so many people, like half of Hollywood, giving them demonstrations on Lears. It was a great period in my life. And I started my own charter company in 1969.

FM: For the first flight of the “Pregnant Guppy,” how did that come about?

CL: There was a fellow in the Guard named Jack Conroy. He was always into something new. He had set a record in F-86s from LA to New York and back in one day. He ended up in 1961 building the Pregnant Guppy airplane, which is a big airplane—it would carry the [Saturn rocket] engines that would take man [up to] the Moon, in the Apollo program. Jack would build a lot of airplanes in those days, and I was test-flying most of them. So we flew the Guppy in September 1962—at the time it was considered the world’s largest airplane. It lost some speed—about 18 percent at a given altitude. But Boeing was interested in the project because they were in the process of building the 747. They were interested in how much performance it was going to lose [with the wider cross section]. They were very happy when the numbers came in.

FM: Any good memories of flying the F-86? What was it like balancing the flying with United and keeping your commitment to the Air National Guard?

CL: In January 1954, I went into the air force pilot training for 20 months and was in Georgia, Greenville, Mississippi; Del Rio, Texas; and Las Vegas, Nellis Air Force Base. I came back to United Airlines and the [Air National Guard] in September 1955. I got to fly F-86s on my days off [from the airline]—it was a great life. [The F-86] was a great airplane—I loved it. It was new to the USAF, then the Guard got it during the Korean War. I became head of instrument training for the Guard, and it gave me the opportunity to fly with the general, wing commander, and group commander. We had problems in the Guard, they had had several accidents—like seven accidents in one year—the year before I came in. They were primarily people on cross-countries, with problems in instrument flying. They had a big inspection—and our Air Force advisor chose me to do the instrument flying. I really knew a lot about it because of my job with United. When the inspection was over, he gave me a ’10,’ the highest score he could give me.

FM: What drew you to the P-51, and to race it in the Unlimited Class at the first Reno Air Races?

CL: I always thought it would be fun to do the air racing—I had never done it. I was flying for United, early January 1964, into Reno [Nevada], and I got snowed in one day and I was walking around downtown, and I went by the Chamber of Commerce’s office. They had a sign in the window that the air race was coming in September, and I went in and got the information on it. The next day I was back in Al Paulsen’s office, and I said, ‘They’re gonna have races in Reno, and I’d like to get an airplane and fly it, a P-51.’ He looked shocked, and he said, ‘I just talked to a guy on the phone, and he wants to trade me a P-51 on a Cessna 310 he had for sale.’ The guy was in Lewiston, Idaho. In those days, the P-51s weren’t worth near as much as they are today. So Al wanted $17,500 for the Cessna 310, and…Al told him [he’d give him] $7,500 on the P-51. It was low time, one of the very last ones built— and it flew very nicely.

FM: You’ve made the move from pilot to philanthropist full-time—but you’ve been involved with charitable work all of your career. Tell us about the Clay Lacy Foundation, and the Aviation Youth Mentoring Program you’re involved in now—and what drives you to support kids?

CL: It’s something that I got into some time ago, just overall supporting kids. It’s been a good experience. I’ve had so much fun in aviation—I’m told I might be the highest-time pilot; I have over 55,000 flight hours. I love people in aviation—they’re good, honest people, I think. You tend to be honest in aviation, because if you’re not, you get in trouble if you’re a pilot. So they make good role models for young people. If [a young person] is really interested, they need to meet people who are in aviation who can sponsor them and help get them going.

Quick 6

Is there anyone living or dead who you would most like to fly with?

So many good friends…one being Bill Lear

If you could fly any aircraft that you haven’t flown yet, what would it be?

Several aircraft that I’ve filmed but not flown—like the SR-71

What’s your favorite airport that you’ve flown into?

When I was flying the line for United, Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Airport

What do you believe has been the biggest innovation breakthrough or event in aviation?

With the advances we’ve made in supersonic flight by the 1950s, I’m surprised we’re not flying faster now. But the increase in safety—it’s remarkable.

What is one important life lesson you’ve learned from being a pilot?

Learn all that you can—always be on the lookout to learn something new.

When not flying or promoting your charitable foundation, what would you rather be doing?

I have a place in Idaho, in the mountains. But, the main thing has always been airplanes and the people in aviation.

The post A Life in Pursuit with Clay Lacy appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The pilots, both from California, were identified as Chris Rushing of Thousand Oaks, flying Baron’s Revenge, and Nick Macy of Tulelake, flying Six-Cat. Both Rushing and Macy were arguably two of the most skilled and experienced air race pilots in the world for the class.

• READ MORE: Reno Air Races Canceled Following Fatal Collision

The collision occurred after the race. Minutes before the accident, the pair had been competing in the last race of the Gold category. The races are run at 50 to 250 feet agl with engines consistently at full power and the aircraft flying nearly wing tip to wing tip. 

The intensity of the competition takes a toll on both the pilots and aircraft, necessitating a cooldown period following the final flag. There is no set rule for how long the cooldown is or how many laps the aircraft must take, or the order in which they will return for landing. It is left to the discretion of the pilots since it is not a “follow-the-leader” situation.

As noted in the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association’s Air Safety Institute (ASI) preliminary assessment of the accident, the collision happened when the aircraft were attempting to land on Runway 8 at Reno-Stead Airport (KRTS). 

Richard McSpadden, senior vice president of ASI, noted that the collision occurred at approximately the base to final turn for the runway. 

“It appears there are three potential factors that may have contributed to this accident: decreased vigilance departing the cooldown area, procedural errors in traffic deconfliction, and diminished visibility below the higher flying aircraft,” McSpadden said. “We’ll look for the [National Transportation Safety Board report] to determine the cause.”

Because the race was over, the attention of the crowd was not so much on the T-6s, and a great many attendees reported seeing the aftermath of the collision as wreckage falling from the sky or clouds of dust rising from the desert floor. Others described hearing a collective gasp from the crowd followed by confusion and a stunned silence. 

Both the FAA and NTSB are investigating the accident. The NTSB preliminary report is expected to be released in a few weeks.

The Takeaway

If anything can be drawn from this accident, it is that the pattern is no place to let down your guard. The combination of crowded airspace, inherent blind spots due to aircraft design, low altitude, and relatively slow speeds during a task-saturated phase of flight makes for a challenging environment.

This accident proves that experience and skill can only go so far—if it can happen to professionals, it can happen to us.

The post Early Analysis of Fatal Reno Accident Offers Lessons appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

These words appear on the web page of Cassutt Aircraft, owned by Creighton King. King, an aircraft builder and race pilot who was killed Wednesday in West Jordan, Utah, during a test flight of his Cassutt 111M race airplane, Race No. 15, Last Lap Player.

According to the West Jordan Police Department, the accident happened shortly after 12:30 p.m. PDT on Wednesday. King had just taken off from Runway 16 at South Valley Regional Airport (U42) approximately 13 miles south of Salt Lake City. The runway measures 5,862 by 100 feet.

• READ MORE: Cassutt 111M

According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), “the plane went through a fence, crossed the street, and came to rest on the northern edge of the street. An NTSB investigator was on scene within hours of the crash.”

One witness told the local media the airplane was at low altitude when it veered to the right and plunged to the ground. The images of the aircraft wreckage in the street show an aircraft that landed hard and disintegrated.

Two passersby attempted to provide CPR to King, but it was too late. 

King grew up in Salt Lake City. On his website, he describes riding his bicycle to the airport and washing airplanes in exchange for rides. He built and rebuilt several aircraft during his life and had been a pilot for more than 30 years, having earned his certificate as a teenager.

King’s friends and family describe him as an experienced and skilled pilot and aviation mechanic who knew the airplane well, as he had built, rebuilt, and tinkered with it getting it ready for the upcoming National Championship Air Races at Reno. The airplane had been flown in other Formula 1 races around the world. 

According to posts on social media, the purpose of the flight was to test the engine, which he had overhauled in preparation for the Reno Air Races. The aircraft raced in the Formula 1 category where the airplanes can reach speeds in excess of 250 mph. 

The accident airplane, according to the website, was “a traditional Cassutt 111M with a 17-foot wing and an 0-200 [engine].” King rebuilt it, resulting in what he described as “a whole new design now known as the CassuTT. My CassuTT has been a blast, and I describe flying it like a first kiss in grade school. It is a big improvement over older designs.”

In addition to the aircraft company, King also owned GripLockTies, the rubber-lined zip ties that are used by so many in the aviation industry and other places.

The post Pilot Killed During Reno Air Races Engine Test appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

In a cartoonlike drag race, the pilots pull their airplanes into a slip to slow down quickly, land beyond the line from which they had started—2,000 feet from the turn-around line—and hit the brakes to come to a complete stop. This is the World Championship Short Takeoff and Landing (STOL) Drag competition at the High Sierra Fly-In (HSF). Like cowboys racing their horses around barrels, the pilots push their airplanes through the course, intent on getting to the finish line and stopping their aircraft before their opponents can.

• READ MORE: The Draw of STOL Drag

The grinning faces and twinkles in the eyes of the pilots who race are indicative of the level of fun this competition provides. But this is not an exclusive club. While some skills are required, you don’t have to be a seasoned Valdez, Alaska, STOL competitor or own a bushplane to participate. As you’ll see from these pilot profiles, STOL Drag is open to those with a passion for maximizing their skills and fun with their airplanes.

Aaron Greear

Second Place, Bronze Class

The ink is barely dry on the pilot certificate belonging to Aaron Greear, who started flying in December 2020. The mechanical engineer knocked out his private pilot training in just a few weeks. He was inspired by videos of Trent Palmer and the Patey brothers (Mike and Mark) and planned to buy a Kitfox or a Cub for STOL. But his friends convinced him to build time in a Cessna 182, and he bought a 1959 Skylane right after completing his private pilot certificate in January 2021. The following month, Greear was ready to participate in his first conventional STOL event.

Greear planned his first STOL Drag event to be the 2021 MayDay STOL in Wayne, Nebraska. But he didn’t have the required 250 hours of pilot-in-command time and wasn’t able to compete. By the time HSF came around, Greear had accumulated 250.1 hours of PIC. He qualified in the bronze class and crushed his way through the elimination rounds. In the final round he met Jon Hakala, flying a Zenith CH 701. It was a tight race, but he disqualified and Hakala took home the trophy. Greear plans to continue to compete in STOL Drag—and to build a souped-up experimental airplane.

Austin Clemens

First Place, Silver Class

As the youngest STOL Drag pilot at HSF, Austin Clemens grew up at one of the coolest airports in the country—Lloyd Stearman Field (1K1) in Benton, Kansas—owned and operated by his parents, Julie and Dwayne, both exceptional pilots in their own right.

As soon as Clemens could reach the rudder pedals of an airplane—with blocks, mind you—he started flying the family’s Piper Cub around the age of 10. In fact, he would get up early and fly the Cub before school.

Clemens got his private certificate on his 17th birthday, in March 2020. His proven pilot skills earned him the blessing to fly the family’s Stearman, and he would spend long days during his first official year as a pilot taking people for rides in the open cockpit biplane. Clemens now holds single-engine and multiengine commercial certificates, with an instrument rating for each.

His enthusiasm and skills led him to start flying in STOL Drag competitions. The Husky he flies has a standard Lycoming O-360 engine with 180 hp, but it has a two-blade MT propeller that can be put in reverse, allowing him to land and stop in about 120 feet. Competitors say it’s his secret, but there’s more to him.

Cathy Page

Fifth Place, Bronze Class

The STOL competitions might at first appear to be an all-boys club. But, two out of the 30-plus contestants in the 2021 HSF STOL Drag contest were women. One was Cathy Page, who flew a Piper Clipper in the bronze class.

Page started flying in 1987. Her goal then was to spend more time with her dad. But Page—a pipefitter at the time—fell in love with the sport and bought a Cessna 170. A few years later, she decided to go all in: She sold her airplane and used her savings to help her survive the first few years of her new pilot career. Today, she’s an Airbus captain for Spirit Airlines. Page lives in Tucson, Arizona, but commutes to her airline’s base in Las Vegas, Nevada, flying her Van’s Aircraft RV-6, which she also uses for formation flying.

When Page first visited HSF around 2015, she didn’t plan to compete—but it didn’t take a lot of convincing for the former motorcycle- and ski-racer to give it a shot. She has returned every year since. Page is upping the game in 2022, dropping the Clipper for a Carbon Cub, and she plans on flying several STOL Drag and traditional STOL competitions.

Toby Ashley

First Place, Gold Class

A competitor to the core, Toby Ashley topped the podium in the gold class at the 2021 STOL Drag World Championships. Ashley’s success in STOL Drag stems from decades of motorsports racing. He started racing snowmobiles at age 5 and went on to dirt bikes at 10. His competitive spirit led him to state, regional, and national championships.

Ashley started flying in the mid-1990s. He quickly earned his pilot credentials, and from his home in Boise, Idaho, the backcountry beckoned. His passion for backcountry flying led him to build one of the best airplanes for the mission, a CubCrafters Carbon Cub, which he built with three friends in just 81 days in 2016. He brought the airplane to Valdez, Alaska, in 2017, where he came in second in the STOL competition and first in Flour Bombing.

Since then, Ashley has become nearly unbeatable in STOL. He won the National Championship STOL Drag at the STIHL National Championship Air Races at Reno-Stead Airport, and the World Championship STOL Drag at HSF in both 2019 and 2021.

Ashley’s Carbon Cub EX, named Sarge, is highly modified and optimized for STOL Drag. The airplane was stripped down to about 800 pounds and its 180 hp engine was replaced with a supercharged nitrous-boosted 400 hp engine [see Part Three: Mods].

Steve Henry

Second Place, Gold Class

You haven’t seen true competition until you’ve seen Toby Ashley and Steve Henry flying around the STOL
Drag course. For the past few events, the two have been neck and neck with only fractions of a second setting them apart in each heat in the top class, the gold.

Henry started flying in 2003 and built his first airplane—a Just Aircraft Highlander—in 2004. He became known for his extraordinary videos, taking off without power by rolling off steep mountain ridges and
soaring to dirt strips in narrow canyons.

The Highlander that Henry races is named Yee Haw 6, and it is a STOL-Drag beast. The taildragger weighs
in at right around 800 pounds and is powered by a 300-hp Edge Performance EPeX Yamaha engine. He
also modified his airplane with drag inducers that provide extra drag during a slip, but not in straight flight.

Henry has either won or placed in the top three in a long list of STOL and STOL Drag races. He won the World Championship STOL Drag at HSF in 2016. In the final gold races in 2021, Henry beat Ashley in the first heat. But Ashley inched ahead in the subsequent two heats, giving him the trophy in the end.

There is no doubt that Ashley and Henry are spending the winter months brainstorming mods that might ensure a win in 2022. The year is sure to feature another set of nail-biters during each race in which they compete.

This article originally appeared in the Q1 2022 edition of FLYING.

The post The Pilots of STOL Drag appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Some of those strips look just like that—spots on the chart. Many of them lie within the mountains, in wilderness areas. But others are carved out of corn fields in the Midwest, or lakeside meadows on the East Coast.

As a boy, Kevin Quinn spent a lot of time in the back seat of his father’s various airplanes. After getting a pilot certificate of his own—and retiring from the pro hockey scene—Quinn shifted his focus to heliskiing, combining his passion for the mountains and the skies.

Then, Quinn got into backcountry flying—finding a natural home at those strips in the deserts and mountains—and the seed of a movement was born. One year, he invited a handful of friends with their airplanes to celebrate his October birthday. “[We were] having fun, doing our thing out in the desert,” he says. The next year, he invited a few more friends. The seed that took root within him ultimately germinated into the High Sierra Fly-In (HSF) in 2010.

In a similar way, STOL flying laid the foundation for what came next to Quinn. “Traditional STOL is something we do every single day, every single landing,” he says, “but of course we’ve taken it [further] we’re part of the Oshkosh STOL Demo Team and we do some of the various…STOL contests. Well, seven or eight years ago, I was literally sitting in the morning on the ‘great think tank,’ where all of the ideas come, and I thought, ‘how can we create something that’s different than traditional STOL, and something a little more fun?'”

It Looks ‘Cray-Cray…’

That’s how High Sierra became the birthplace of STOL Drag. The competition pits two airplanes at a time against each other. They line up, drag race-style, as if poised to race off the line in a viaduct, rumbling and ready to drop each other in a cloud of dust. They take off and fly just a few feet off the ground, following a 2,000-foot straight line to a turnaround point.

The airplanes must come to a total stop at that point—with tailwheels on the ground, if so equipped—and they often kick up so much dirt in doing so that they temporarily go IFR. They then spin around to line up within 10 degrees of a 180 so that they are pointed in the right direction to lift off again and charge toward the finish line.

The final moments look very much like two fast cars or dirt bikes duking it out for the win, if the pair are close contenders [see Part Two: The Pilots]. That’s how it goes down during the STOL Drag event at the STIHL National Championship Air Races at Reno. But at High Sierra, at a northern Nevada lakebed that’s more than four miles wide, the boundaries are invisible, retaining a sense of wildness to the shooting match.

Safety Comes First

As the number of STOL Drag contests has expanded from the one at High Sierra to several spread across the U.S., the culture surrounding the event has blossomed into something decidedly less wild. As it turns out, families participate in the STOL Drag competitions, together—and that’s how Quinn wants it to stay. That’s why there’s much more focus on safety and procedure than you would expect from a collection of self-styled “Fat- Tire Cowboys” messing around in the dirt.

• READ MORE: Mods for STOL Drag

You don’t get that from watching the scores of clips on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram—or from the consternation the STOL events stir up, just in general (from backcountry traditionalists), or in the specific, when an incident or accident occurs.

But the two events at Reno and High Sierra that I witnessed in the fall didn’t offer up any obviously outsized risk—at least no more than pilots would normally accept when participating in air races, air shows, or any close-in aerial competition.

“When we started it was just us out there doing our thing,” Quinn says. “But now we’ve got our crash-fire-rescue [teams], and our paramedics, and our EMS, and our flight control tower, and FAA accreditation, and waivers—you name it—the list goes on and on for responsibility.” Pilots must go through a training program before competing—and the FAA has taken on the view that this skill development just makes good pilots even better.

The leaders strive to keep a high degree of safety—because of the kids, dogs, and festive atmosphere that no one takes for granted. That environment would change dramatically with a serious accident.

What’s Next?

The STOL Drag movement has traveled far beyond its origins in the desert. With the blessing of the FAA, roughly a dozen contests have popped onto the calendar—including the Reno Air Races and HSF—for 2022. “There’s a lot coming up in the spring,” says Quinn, and more throughout the season, which is only limited to a certain extent by weather and conditions at the various landing areas.

The competition has a low barrier to entry—almost any single-engine airplane can come to the party, and as long as the pilot passes the training course and skills test, they can fly. And pilots reap benefits from the effort that go beyond the potential for a trophy in the case. “It’s one thing to be proficient, and it’s one thing to go out and get your certification,” Quinn says. “STOL Drag [is] bringing in all of these skills—and I’m a broken record—power and energy management, the directional and altitude control, the spot landing, the psychological aspects…the training is taking you beyond currency and making yourself proficient.”

One restriction to the event’s propagation remains—Quinn is the only person or entity that the FAA has qualified to conduct a STOL Drag contest, so far. Therefore, the number of competitions that can be held each year will reach a natural limit unless that changes.

As the year ahead indicates, though, there will be lots of opportunities for pilots to join the fun.

This article originally appeared in the Q1 2022 edition of FLYING.

The post The Draw of STOL Drag appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Tickets are now on sale for the 2022 STIHL National Championship Air Races in Reno. The event is slated for September 14-18 at Stead Airport (KRTS).

“Reno” as the event is known in aviation circles, is known as “the world’s fastest motorsport”  and is also part airshow. This year, military performances will include F-22s and F-18s, flown by some of the most skilled pilots in the world.

About the Reno Air Races

The Reno Air Races attract aviation enthusiasts from all over the world.

There are seven racing classes: 

• Formula 1
• T-6
• Unlimited
• Jet Racing
• Biplane
• Sport
• STOL Drag 

Some of the racers can reach speeds of more than 500 mph.

Those who have been to the Reno Air Races stress that it is an immersive experience, especially if you have pit passes. There’s nothing like getting up close and personal with the racing machines and the people who support them, and then view the vintage aircraft on static display as part of the National Aviation Heritage Invitational (NAHI). 

The vintage aircraft  are selected for this public viewing because they are museum quality, says Ron Kaplan, deputy director of NAHI.

“Reno is the ideal venue for the Invitational because you can’t get much more historic than Stead Field,” he says. The airport was a training base for the Army Air Corps during World War II. 

“This is the 22nd year we have done the National Aviation Heritage Invitational,” Kaplan adds. “The aircraft must be at least 45 years old and be restored to airworthy condition. These are flying museum pieces, some are one-of-a-kind. The judges spend three days judging the aircraft for authenticity and craftsmanship. In general, the aircraft that looks like it did when it came off the assembly line can earn a trophy.”

• GALLERY: Reno Air Races 2021

The winner gets their name added to the Neil A. Armstrong Aviation Heritage Trophy. The coveted, 6-foot-tall trophy resides at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar Hazy Center in Virginia during the year.

The Reno races inspire many a young person to pursue aviation, and to assist with that, the Global Robot and Drone Deployment (GRADD)-Nevada Business Aviation Association (NVBAA) STEM Education Discovery Zone will be open for children to explore. The area features hands-on activities designed to inspire and empower kids to engage with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, while encouraging them to pursue careers within the aviation and aerospace industry. 

Among the planned activities are:

• Drone flying
• Flight simulators
• A 3D printing zone
• A hydraulic robotic arm
• STEM Arcade.

Tickets can be purchased online, by calling 912-470-5773, or, you can email support@eventsprout.zendesk.

The post Tickets Now Available for the 2022 Reno Air Races appeared first on FLYING Magazine.