What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Reno 2019 rookie...hopefully

FlyFastJP

Well Known Member
Wheels are turning and gears are in motion at Bear Dog Racing to make the Reno Air Races 2019 for the very first time in our RV-4. First comes Pylon Racing School in June..."Rookie School". When all goes well there, I'll have my Sport Class racing license in hand on Sunday the 9th, then....qualifying in September. Really excited!! Race prop finally being carved this weekend. Need to get going on the 10:1 pistons and intake mod. Feel free to come to the pits and turn a wrench 👍

See y'all in Reno!!!
SARL Race 51
 
Please, if you have not done so already, get formation training before you go out there. It will make life easier for you and safer for everyone else.

read the article on Kitplanes (March 2017). Should help you out. Good luck!!
 
Last edited:
You go!

Most excellent! Enjoy the journey, and if you do end up needing some pit crew I'd be glad to jump in; stay in touch.

Dan
 
I've got a couple of local guys going to school me in formation. One is a former F-16 pilot, and did the first test flight in my plane. He's written in the Vans av8tor. I'll be ready, Axel 👍

Y'all be sure and stop by the pits!
 
FAST

Hey Axel,

Are most guys FAST qualified at Reno?

What are the requirements to go to the racing school?

Cheers,


Don
 
A couple more things..

Make sure your brakes are at 100%, and your tires are good to go. Once you get there, you?ll see why this is important. Don?t forget your tie-downs too!

One point: PRS is not a ?formation teaching? venue. There are some differences that are Reno specific that you will learn, but you will need to know formation flying before you load up to go to Stead. Best you start formation training NOW; you have 6 months.

See you there!
 
Hey Axel,

Are most guys FAST qualified at Reno?

What are the requirements to go to the racing school?

Cheers,


Don

Don,
I don't understand your question. Are you asking what formation qualifications Reno racers need to have in order to race? or what formation qualification do pilots show up with before PRS?

Also,what requirements are you talking about? There are several; Aircraft, pilot, insurance, Reno paper work.

break

Want to make sure this is clear. PRS is not formation school. It is not where you become familiar with the borrowed aircraft that you will be using to race. it is not where you sharpen your flying skills.

PRS is where you learn appropriate race procedures, get a taste of the environtment and demonstrate that you can performed within the envelope required to earn the qualification.

If the pilot coming in is not prepared, it makes the progress difficult not only for themselves but also for the peer group. It increases the risk factor for everyone. Not to mention that it makes peers upset because they spent the money, time and effort to be prepared and the unprepared pilot is wasting someone elses resources.

This is serious stuff. Be prepared or don't show up until you are prepared. Win-win for everyone.
 
Preparation

Don,
I don't understand your question. Are you asking what formation qualifications Reno racers need to have in order to race? or what formation qualification do pilots show up with before PRS?

Also,what requirements are you talking about? There are several; Aircraft, pilot, insurance, Reno paper work.

break

Want to make sure this is clear. PRS is not formation school. It is not where you become familiar with the borrowed aircraft that you will be using to race. it is not where you sharpen your flying skills.

PRS is where you learn appropriate race procedures, get a taste of the environtment and demonstrate that you can performed within the envelope required to earn the qualification.

If the pilot coming in is not prepared, it makes the progress difficult not only for themselves but also for the peer group. It increases the risk factor for everyone. Not to mention that it makes peers upset because they spent the money, time and effort to be prepared and the unprepared pilot is wasting someone elses resources.

This is serious stuff. Be prepared or don't show up until you are prepared. Win-win for everyone.

I want to second Axel’s And Mark’s comments about preparation for PRS and add a few of my own.

Preparation goes far beyond having the flying experience to get the most out of it. You also need to come prepared with the required safety and aircraft equipment as well as documentation and know what the requirements are BEFORE arriving at Stead Field. This includes things like having operational passenger controls (stick) and intercom with passenger PTT, having a flight suit, helmet, gloves and a fire extinguisher safely mounted. Your aircraft needs to be in a safe and airworthy condition and you need to be comfortable flying with an instructor in the passenger seat. You need to arrive prepared to learn and willing to accept constructive feedback.

See you in June!

Skylor
 
Last edited:
Johnnie and Don,

Axel, Sky and Mark are giving good advice, and I'll try to clarify things a bit for ya. I feel it's important to give prospective Sport Class Race Pilots a clear picture of the class experience prerequisites, and to provide a frank picture of the current playing field.

Sport Class has grown dramatically over the past few years. This is in great measure to the growth of our RV pilot ranks, which is very exciting for our RV community. There has also been growth among the really fast movers in the class as well. We have over 100 members, and over 60 certified racers (those with racing licenses).

A bit more about numbers: Sport Class flies 4 heats of 8 racers (32 total) during the Reno National Championship Air Races (NCAR). We are limited to a field of 36 aircraft (the 32, plus 4 we can alternate in in early heats). Only 36 Sport Class planes are allowed to come to Reno in September, due to parking space limitations. For NCAR, 42 race applications are accepted by the Reno Air Racing Association from Sport Class Pilots. They are ranked 1-42 in speed order, by the class. 1-36 are in the field, and 37-42 are the waiting list, in case someone drops out before September. 43 and above are not processed for entry. We typically receive 45-50 Sport applications each year.

The speeds assigned are the best speeds earned in racing or qualifying. For Rookies with a previously not-raced airplane, we try to get a speed during PRS, either on the course, or in a side-by-side test. If that is not do-able, we can assign an average speed, by aircraft type.

For a playing field assessment, in 2018, #32 qualified at 233 mph. 33-35 were in the 220's. One of the 36 failed to qualify due to mechanical issues (prop separation). This year we expect 3-4 additional turbo-charged fast glass planes with veteran racers flying them. We do not have a Rookie list yet (too early). We anticipate a fast and competitive field. It's always hard to say where the cut-line will be, but hi 220s, low 230's is the ball-park estimate.

Next post, I'll cover formation experience requirements.

Cheers,
Bob
 
Sport Class and Reno Racing Formation Requirements:

Formation requirements for the Reno NCAR are established by each class. The governing FAA policy document that covers airshows and racing (FAA Order 8900.1 V3, C6, S1&2) does not require an Industry Formation Card (FAST/FFI card) to participate in air racing. Therefore, each class determines its requirements for safe operations.

But make no mistake...formation experience, including some form of formal formation training, is probably the most important experience prerequisite for pylon racing. Flying the pylons at 50', at full tilt, among other aircraft, may not require an airshow formation card, but it definitely requires a high degree of comfort in formation, and a complete commitment and ability to uphold formation and racing "contracts" with fellow pilots on the course. Safety utterly depends on this commitment and ability.

The T-6 class requires each of its members to hold a FAST card prior to membership and participation. There are ample resources within FAST for them to do so. The Jet class does formation training in conjunction with CJAA, a FAST signatory. Some Sport Class Racers are FFI-carded (especially the RVs), and some hold FAST cards. Our class has formation guidelines that are a tailored form of FFI and FAST policies and procedures. We hold a formation warm-up just prior to PRS, but as the others said in earlier posts, it's a warm-up, not basic formation training. With our numbers, we don't have the bandwidth to do basic formation training during PRS. Although we don't require a FAST or FFI card, we require prospective pilots to have significant formation experience. Prospective RV race pilots have a plethora of training opportunities among the RV groups that train to FFI standards, including many clinics nationwide. Fast glass pilots are not so fortunate, but our class leadership tries to help all of our prospective pilots through networking to possible training opportunities. In the end though, it's the pilot's responsibility to come prepared and ready.

We do a phone interview and experience assessment with every PRS applicant, and we talk straight with pilots about what is required. We do our best to help those that fall short of the experience requirements find ways to gain it. We have taken a much more strict policy position on this over the past several years, because we have had issues with pilots that did not meet the experience requirements...and 50' over the ground going around pylons is no place to work though experience shortfalls...as you can imagine. We also want to do our best to prevent pilots from spending money and travel on PRS, only to discover they don't meet the performance standards to move from Formation Warm-up to PRS. This has happened in years past, and we do our best to prevent it, by maintaining high prerequisite standards.

Here is an excerpt from our draft 2019 Sport Class Rules, that describes the prerequisite experience:

Pilots and designated Alternate Pilots must provide the Officers and the Pilot Standards/Contest Committee evidence of meeting the following requirements before participating in any Sport Class Air Racing Association-sanctioned Formation Warm-up or PRS training event, or any NCAR (or other) Race or Qualification event.

(1,2,3 edited out for post)

4. Documented Formation Experience. Pilots must posess adequate formation skills prior to acceptance to participate in Sport Class Formation Warm-up and PRS. Pilots must be proficient and safe-for-solo in a 4-ship or larger formation, in all formations and maneuvers described in the Sport Class Formation Guidelines. Documented Formation Experience must include formation training/experience via any of the following sources:
a. Military Formation Training and Experience (Training Command, UPT, Fleet or Force).
b. FFI or FAST (Industry Formation Carded, or documented attendance at multiple FAST/FFI clinics, or other documented training with FFI/FAST carded pilots).
c. Other documented sources of formation experience, such as documented training with Sport Class pilots.
d. All prospective Sport Class pilots must have formation flying experience in their race aircraft type prior to attending Sport Class Warm-up and PRS.
e. All race pilots must have flown in formation in their actual race aircraft prior to participating in an NCAR race heat.


So now you have the straight poop. The focus on this has been increasing the past several years, and we experienced a mid-air collision mishap in 2017...formation experience was a factor. Our focus on safety continues. We are slightly revising our Class Rules, our Race/Pace SOP, and our PRS presentations. Updated versions will be available on our website soon. The formation guidelines are on the website, and I'd be happy to send them to you (the other files are too large for e-mail).

Johnnie or Don, please feel free to PM me, and I'll share my contact with you. Then please feel free to call me any time. Johnnie, we can conduct that interview any time, and once we assess your experience, if needed, I'll refer you to pilots or groups that may be able to help you prepare for our Formation Warm-up and PRS.

Preparation is the key to success. I hope this helps prospective racers git er dun, so their experience in Reno is as great as it can be!

Cheers,
Bob
 
Last edited:
Great post Nasty!

I kept thinking about our friend?s experience at PRS and the disappointment of not being quite up to speed with some of the skill requirements.

Cm
 
Back
Top