Reno National Air Races - Saturday, September 13
Have you seen those home or auto remodeling/restoring television shows where they work against the clock to do a project, and it always comes down to the tense moments just before the deadline where they make it seem the outcome will be in doubt? "The boys are in trouble. They still have to paint the car and install the engine, and they only have 30 minutes left before the unveiling to the new owner? Will they make it?!?!?...... now time for a commercial message..."
I've always assumed those are at least a bit contrived for the drama value. Well it wasn't contrived yesterday in the Sawbones pits.
Saturday morning was dedicated to identifying the cause of the tailwheel not retracting, following the repair to the failed actuator seal. By the end of the morning, after suspending the plane on jacks borrowed from another race team, they had cycled the gear a few times, drained hydraulic lines, and tested a half dozen theories with no positive results. Race time was 3:45 that afternoon, so they started to look for help.
One of the things we learned by watching this is that although these teams are very competitive in nature, they collaborate heavily and freely when any one of them has a problem. Equipment, expertise, time - it's all shared as needed. And Sawbones was in need.
I'm still not sure where they came from, but they found three British aircraft engineers that were very familiar with the old Sea Fury, having restored many in the past. For two hours we watched them crawl in, around, and through the aircraft. pouring through manuals, and basically looking perplexed. They didn't have the answer.
Across the isle from our pit is the Sanders pit, which holds three Sea Fury race planes - the Argonaut, the 924, and the famous Dreadnought. Dennis Sanders is famous in the industry as a manufacturer of old aircraft replacement parts, and for rebuilding WWII aircraft. His specific specialty is the Sea Fury. Doug, the Sawbones Crew Chief marched on over and dragged Dennis across to the plane to take a look. In very short order, Dennis noticed a ratchet value used to control the wheel lock that he identified as being from a T6 aircraft and not common for Sea Fury application, which could account for the kind of behavior they were seeing. The crew feverishly worked to remove and inspect that valve. Indeed, it was found to be contaminated with pieces of the failed seal.
By this time, the other planes were being moved out onto the flight line for fueling. Robin, the owner, was wrestling with decisions should they pass the deadline for getting fuel, or should there not be enough time for Curt to prepare for the flight. Options included withdrawing from the race, placing them back into the rear of the Silver pack, or flying with the gear down just to the point of entering the race track, meeting the minimum requirements for staying in the Gold. While he was contemplating that, the tail gear suddenly retracted on one of the cycles. Applause erupted from the team and from the bystanders. A second time, it cycled properly. The race to put things back together in time to meet the fuel trucks before they were pulled from the flight line was on.
Team members crawled over everything like ants. Tools flew, big heavy tires rolled into position, cowlings were reinstalled, while the normal preparations for flight were simultaneously carried out.
One of the team members negotiated with the fuel truck crew, who agreed to stall as long as possible. Even Curt, the race pilot, scrambled to put the tow truck into position to haul the plane out of the pit onto the ramp. Within about ten minutes from the successful test, the plane was being wheeled to meet the fuel truck. It would have made great television.
Because one of the demonstration jets blew a tire on the runway, the Gold level Unlimited race start was delayed 10 minutes, giving Curt some time to get prepared in the cockpit. He uses a very solitary and well practiced process that usually puts him in the cockpit many minutes before the other pilots. It's one of the reasons he suggests he's been able to have such a long and safe flying career. All the race gods were shining over the Sawbones team.
Though in last place over the finish line as expected, Sawbones flew at an average lap speed of 424 knots - 2 knots faster than the best qualifying time! It must have been the 3M tape. At least that's what all the attending 3M'ers believe. Even Curt is coming around to thinking that maybe indeed, it does work after all. And again, the second place plane, Strega, who took the pylon penalty in the Silver race, allowing Sawbones to move up into gold, disqualified itself by flying too high. That moved sawbones up one position, into fifth place.
It was a good and exciting race day in Reno.
Have you seen those home or auto remodeling/restoring television shows where they work against the clock to do a project, and it always comes down to the tense moments just before the deadline where they make it seem the outcome will be in doubt? "The boys are in trouble. They still have to paint the car and install the engine, and they only have 30 minutes left before the unveiling to the new owner? Will they make it?!?!?...... now time for a commercial message..."
I've always assumed those are at least a bit contrived for the drama value. Well it wasn't contrived yesterday in the Sawbones pits.
Saturday morning was dedicated to identifying the cause of the tailwheel not retracting, following the repair to the failed actuator seal. By the end of the morning, after suspending the plane on jacks borrowed from another race team, they had cycled the gear a few times, drained hydraulic lines, and tested a half dozen theories with no positive results. Race time was 3:45 that afternoon, so they started to look for help.
I'm still not sure where they came from, but they found three British aircraft engineers that were very familiar with the old Sea Fury, having restored many in the past. For two hours we watched them crawl in, around, and through the aircraft. pouring through manuals, and basically looking perplexed. They didn't have the answer.
By this time, the other planes were being moved out onto the flight line for fueling. Robin, the owner, was wrestling with decisions should they pass the deadline for getting fuel, or should there not be enough time for Curt to prepare for the flight. Options included withdrawing from the race, placing them back into the rear of the Silver pack, or flying with the gear down just to the point of entering the race track, meeting the minimum requirements for staying in the Gold. While he was contemplating that, the tail gear suddenly retracted on one of the cycles. Applause erupted from the team and from the bystanders. A second time, it cycled properly. The race to put things back together in time to meet the fuel trucks before they were pulled from the flight line was on.
Team members crawled over everything like ants. Tools flew, big heavy tires rolled into position, cowlings were reinstalled, while the normal preparations for flight were simultaneously carried out.
One of the team members negotiated with the fuel truck crew, who agreed to stall as long as possible. Even Curt, the race pilot, scrambled to put the tow truck into position to haul the plane out of the pit onto the ramp. Within about ten minutes from the successful test, the plane was being wheeled to meet the fuel truck. It would have made great television.
Because one of the demonstration jets blew a tire on the runway, the Gold level Unlimited race start was delayed 10 minutes, giving Curt some time to get prepared in the cockpit. He uses a very solitary and well practiced process that usually puts him in the cockpit many minutes before the other pilots. It's one of the reasons he suggests he's been able to have such a long and safe flying career. All the race gods were shining over the Sawbones team.
Though in last place over the finish line as expected, Sawbones flew at an average lap speed of 424 knots - 2 knots faster than the best qualifying time! It must have been the 3M tape. At least that's what all the attending 3M'ers believe. Even Curt is coming around to thinking that maybe indeed, it does work after all. And again, the second place plane, Strega, who took the pylon penalty in the Silver race, allowing Sawbones to move up into gold, disqualified itself by flying too high. That moved sawbones up one position, into fifth place.
It was a good and exciting race day in Reno.
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