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Reno National Air Races 2002

Roll 09

Hawker Sea Fury Race 114 passes through a taxiway. Rolling on the two main gears a Hawker Sea Fury Race Number 114 racers passes though one of the taxi intersections. During race week Stead airfield activity soars with formation takeoffs, parachutists and fast launch intervals for both the racers and the fans.

The P-51 Sparky about to touchdown on the two mains. The P-51 "Sparky", does a standard two wheel touchdown at Stead Airport. Stead airfield has a definite slope to it so aircraft are either going uphill or downhill on the airport.

 

P-51 Sparky taxis down the ramp. Another image of this P-51 Mustang "Sparky", it is a stock Mustang, coasts downhill back to the pits.

 

 

An Tiger striped L-39 Albatross about to touchdown. A very colorful L-39 "Albatross" takes off to join up with the others L-39s prior in a qualification race.

 

L-39s coming down the 'chute' at the start of a race. A gaggle of L-39s Albatrosses coming down the "chute" at the start of a qualifying race. Formation flying is a needed skill at Reno.

 

 

An engine run-up on "Risky Business" reverberates on the ramp during a routine engine check. Crews put in long hours during race week keeping their aircraft at their peak performance capability for all four days of actual racing.

 

Another image of the Risky Business Engine Run-up. This time I changed the shutter speed to 250th of a second to stop the props a bit more than the image shown above. You need to know the PRM of an engine in order to effectively freeze or blur the props on aircraft as desired.

 

"Vodoo" passes by the photographers stand after landing.

 

 

The radial engined "Furius" places his two wheels gently onto the upsloped runway. Most every racer lands "hot" when compared to airspeed that a stock plane that they are derived from lands at.

 

The AT-6 "4 Play" sits on the ramp as a group of unlimited racers are pulled out the pits onto the ramp prior to their launch.

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