New Google Search of Aerophile.org Website!! - Saturday, December 13, 2003 @ 21:04:13 PST - Ray Debs
Merry Christmas!!

Santa came early this year and brought us a Google search of Aerophile.org! Try it out. Just type in the word(s) you want to search for and press the "Search" button. This will make it much easier to find things and we hope you all like your present.

2003 Race Report - Wednesday, December 03, 2003 @ 23:07:27 PST - Ray Debs
Well, it's been a couple of months now, and you may be wondering what happened to us at the race in Reno this year. It took me a while to get back to a normal life and gather my thoughts, but here it is in a couple of different formats: PDF OpenOffice Doc Microsoft Word Doc.

For pictures of the races, visit our gallery exhibits:
Gloria's Pictures
Atsushi Fujimori's Pics
Col. Al Wimers Pics
Tina's Pics
Ray's Pics
Curt's Pics

Also, we were surprised to see that Michael Luvara had written an article about his experience being on the crew here on WarbirdAeroPress

2004 Here We Come!!

Reno 2003! - Sunday, October 05, 2003 @ 09:58:05 PST - Curtis
We had a lot of fun in Reno (Stead Airport) this year with Plane Mantis. We had our share of ups and downs throughout the week. The most exciting of all is that last year we qualified at 175.472. When it was flown by Will Dennis in 2000 it qualified at 161.053. This year we Qualified at an amazing speed of 198.461! That is a 23MPH speed increase! This is a little more than we expected as we did some aerodynamic and engine modifications in hopes of mainly making the plane more reliable and with a bit less drag. There is still room for improvement, so we'll see next year how much faster she goes. In our first heat race we placed 1st in Bronze! An awesome achievement! Then we got bumped into the Silver class where we stayed for all of the remaining races. We want to thank our crew for all of the help you provided and to all of the other race teams that helped us out when we needed it. Thank You!

Pics of us on other websites - Monday, September 22, 2003 @ 05:28:01 PST - Ray Debs
We were pleased to see articles and pictures of us on other websites, and wanted to share with the Aerophile supporters. Here are a couple found by Mike Luvara:

Engineer fulfills dream of becoming a race pilot - Reno Gazette Journal.
http://www.airrace.de
http://www.stickandrudderphoto.com Gallery
http://www.stickandrudderphoto.com
http://www.IF1AirRacing.com

We're back!! - Wednesday, September 17, 2003 @ 01:20:57 PST - Ray Debs
Last week (coincidentally during the Reno Air Races), this website was experiencing technical difficulties. We have them resolved now and continue with our normally scheduled broadcast....

Air Race Update!! - Monday, September 08, 2003 @ 10:09:05 PST - Ray Debs
Hello from Air Race Press Room (really!), Just wanted to give you an update. We are having a great time here in Stead. The plane is flying really well, and this morning we were the first to qualify. Last year we qualified at about 170mph. This year we qualified at 198.465!! That's a 28mph increase! We are really happy and now we get to relax until the races start on Thursday. (of course we'll be trying to make it faster in the meantime...). We were able to get vinyl graphics cut on the way up to Reno and the Micron Logo looks great on our cowling (pictures coming soon). The NHK crew got here yesterday and seem to be getting a lot of good shots. Wish us luck and pray for our safety. Thank you all for your support.

Reno Air Races 2003, Here we come! - Tuesday, September 02, 2003 @ 23:31:52 PST - Curtis
Today we flew Plane Mantis for a while to help finish breaking in the new cylinders. With oil leaks/loss now at a controlled rate, we are ready for Reno. Tomorrow Ray will again fly in the morning for the last flight before we pack her up for transport to the races. We will try the race prop and hope that we see a 5-8 MPH increase which will bring our full power straight and level cruise @5,000' to a major increase from last year (about 184 MPH) to over 200 MPH. We are still doing some last minute tweaking and adjustments. Hope to see you all at the Stead Airport for the RENO AIR RACES!!

Flying Plane Mantis is Going Great - Wednesday, August 27, 2003 @ 01:29:22 PST - Curtis
We went down to the Hollister Airport last weekend to do some flying since we changed the engine cylinders. We are suprised that with an engine that is still breaking in and with us running full rich it is giving us a noticable added power/speed increase. We changed the entire top-end. Now several days later we are off to Hollister to do more flying today, Wednesday the 27th. We will pack it up in our trailer and take it to my workshop to do a few minor things and then head off for Reno the end of next week.

Taxi Test and Flight - Thursday, August 21, 2003 @ 17:54:54 PST - Curtis
Ray, Jacob and Curtis took Plane Mantis down to the Hollister Airport. One of our generous sponsors Bay Area Glider Rides, is letting us utilize some hangar space while we do testing and practice flying. We had taken the plane down on a weekday evening and mostly assembled it. We were shocked to find that we had misplaced the wing bolts and aileron linkage arms. So in a rush we overnighted the bolts and Curtis made a set of aileron linkage arms. After the arms were partially finished Ray took them down to the plane to test fit and mark the bolt hole locations. An annual was due on the plane as well and Ray took care of getting it done with Gavalin Aviation. The only issue was leaky brake cylinder seals. On Saturday the 16th of August we finished doing the assembly and were ready for testing. So Ray decided to do a high speed taxi test. It proved to be just fine. On Sunday Ray did another high speed taxi test and with it ready for flight Ray accelerated climbed a little (about 10') and stayed in ground effect all the way to the end of the runway (6,200'long) and climbed steeply to 5,000' where he leveled off and did some orbits around the airfield. After a while he descended and landed. He was going to do another flight and went full power and rolled until the tail lifted, but he seemed to keep it rolling on the ground much longer than normal. He lifted off just a few feet and stayed there for a short time then put it back on the runway. As it turned out he was losing a lot of power. We pulled it back into the hangar and un-cowled it to discover oil running down and out of the carb. How can this be? the only way oil leak through is via the valve guides. Under further examination we found that all of the cylinders were leaking oil into the intake system. What did this do? It fouled all of the spark plugs enough to greatly reduce power. This is the problem we have been having since we bought the plane. Now, we had a lot of the spare parts and an extra set of four new cylinders. We brought the plane back to Curtis' workshop to do the cylinder change. We also decided to add a larger oil cooler and a remote oil filter. We expect that we will have it all back together and back in Hollister by Saturday morning August 23rd for a weekend of break-in and test flying.

Test Engine Run Complete! - Friday, August 08, 2003 @ 22:43:16 PST - Curtis
Today we (Curtis, Ray, Jacob, Mike (Luvara)) started up the engine to check a few things, mainly the fuel system, new tank and the new tachometer. Over the past week and a half Ray, Jacob and me have been putting all of our time and effort into the plane. We did so many things that I will not list them here (check out the Cassutt Log, (it's not yet fully updated as we were concentrating so much on the plane that we didn't have time to log entries)). The only minor problem was the new tach. The display and LED's were bouncing all around at various Rpm's. Static with full throttle and a cruise prop we were getting 3610 RPM. Next is to finish the cowl scoop and fit the wing. Then we'll pack it all up and take it to the Hollister Airport to do all of our test and practice flying.

Getting Ready for the RENO AIR RACES! - Sunday, July 27, 2003 @ 00:36:36 PST - Curtis
We at Aerophile Racing are excited to announce that we will be at the Reno Air Races again, this year in September during the week of the 7th, the races officially start September 11th and finish on the 14th, prior to that are qualifying and practice days. We will be racing one of our race planes, Plane Mantis. We have been working swiftly to finish a few minor mods and get ready for a lot of practice sessions. We look forward to seeing you at Reno Stead Field in September for what promises to be one of the most exciting motorsports and aviation events ever. Until then - - fly low, go fast, and turn left!

Tachometer for Plane Mantis - Friday, May 23, 2003 @ 13:33:31 PST - Curtis
Yesterday Ray received our new EI tach for Plane Mantis. Once we install it we will go test fly it. The old tach hole is for an 3 1/8 instrument and the new one is a 2 1/4. So for now we will make an adapter plate. Then we will make a new instrument panel as some of the other instruments have adapters already and look like a new configuration is needed. We figured that if we make it out of carbon fiber it will prove to be a good test for making the one for Carbon Slipper and will look a whole lot nicer.

Plane Mantis Fuel Tank - Sunday, April 20, 2003 @ 16:33:44 PST - Curtis
I just finished weighing the (ready to install) fuel tank for Plane Mantis and it comes in under 6 pounds and has a capacity of about 8.35 gallons.

New Reno 2002 Pictures Added - Monday, March 17, 2003 @ 00:09:55 PST - Ray
I just posted new Reno 2002 pictures my mother and sister took while they were crewing for us. Check them out in the Aerophile 2002 Gallery here:

        Tina's     Gloria's

Presentation for Micron Technology, Inc. - Sunday, March 16, 2003 @ 14:29:08 PST - Ray
On Wednesday, I did a presentation for Micron Technology (where I work) to talk about balancing work and life. I actually volunteered to talk about air racing, but the HR director wanted me to talk about how having a real live is important for being a good employee. I started out by saying I really don't know how to do that, but I would talk about what I've tried and what has worked. Two nights before, Curtis and I brought the Plane Mantis fuselage into the cafeteria (a story in itself), and that helped get people interested in what I was going to talk about. We actually had about 50 people attend the presentation (the largest attendance yet, not counting when Steve Appleton our CEO did his presentation). Anyway, everyone enjoyed it, I got lots of questions, and afterwards, 5 or 6 people sat in the cockpit. It was really a lot of fun. Some of the people were asking if I would be interested in talking to Boy Scout troops, and I said that of course I would, since I am an Eagle Scout.
Here are the slides from the presentation(html) (Powerpoint)if you are interested.

Air Racing Presentation for Kiwanis Club - Saturday, January 18, 2003 @ 23:02:41 PST - Ray
Sam Kahn (my step-father and an Aerophile Racing Team Member) is a member of the Kiwanis Club, and invited me to talk to them about the races this year. It was quite an honor to be asked, and I couldn't pass up such a great opportunity to play Aviation Ambassador. There were about 25 people who showed up at 7AM that morning at the IHOP for their meeting. The speech was a great success with people asking all kinds of questions and being really interested. I spoke for about a half hour on Air Racing, International Formula One, Aerophile Racing Team, this year's Reno Air Races, and a little about how Curtis and I got into this. After the meeting, many people came up and shook my hand, expressing their gratitude for me sharing, and asking more questions. I had some pictures my mom had taken at the Air Races which I passed around so people could see what our plane really looked like. All in all, it was great, and I look forward to doing it again whenever I get the chance to share our experiences and excitement about Air Racing. The PowerPoint presentation is available for anyone who would like to see it as an example if you would like to do your own.

Fuel Tanks for Plane Mantis and Carbon Slipper - Saturday, January 11, 2003 @ 20:39:35 PST - Curtis
Before the Reno Air Races this past September we started to make a composite fuel tank for Carbon Slipper. In Reno with Plane Mantis we experienced some fuel/tank related problems. It seems that the fuel tank that was in Plane Mantis was a little large at 16 gallons! Most of the other racers use tanks ranging in size from the minimum of 5 gallons to about 12 gallons being the largest and the average is approximately 7 gallons. Besides the size issue we encountered a fuel starvation problem due to a fact that the fuel vent was at the "rear" of the tank. This is not normal as under acceleration and climb attitude fuel sloshes into the vent and blocks the flow of fuel and further more creates a vacuum that stops the flow of fuel to the carburetor. In addition to these problems the tank was made of sheet aluminum welded at all the edges (lots of places for a failure to occur). Before the races discovered that we had three leaks that we had to have fixed during race week. After the races we discovered an additional leak in the tank. So, we are scrapping the 16 gallon tank! The composite tank we started to build calculated to roughly 8.35 gallon capacity. A little on the large side for our sleek, fast, and lightweight, Carbon Slipper! We are taking the first tank and using it on Plane Mantis. The second tank will be an undisclosed "smaller" size and made for a perfect fit in Carbon Slipper.

Flying "Plane Mantis" - Monday, August 26, 2002 @ 18:53:13 PST - Curtis
Ray has been racking up the hours in our newest plane "Plane Mantis." We have been doing some basic maintenance as well as some minor modifications, such as installing a new prop, prop extension and spinner. Rays first flight went very smoothly with only one minor problem, he could not hear the radio, Curtis was on the ground calling his intentions while he kept flying. One of our sponsors Drew Pearce of "Bay Area Glider Rides" has generously let us use part of his hangar to keep our plane until the races in Reno. Ray and I will leave for Reno in about a week. Good luck to all the pilots and crew, we will see you at the races.

Plane Mantis in a Hangar in Hollister! - Tuesday, August 13, 2002 @ 00:21:30 PST - Curtis
We are excited about having a place to hangar Plane Mantis. On Sunday Curtis and Ray loaded up some tools, parts, and test equipment along with the plane and headed down to Hollister in our "Rig" to find a place setup the plane. We felt we might have a good chance of squeezing our plane in somebody's hangar for a few weeks until Reno. The hangar we are in is quite spacious and it makes our plane look really small. We unloaded everything from our truck and trailer and put most of it together. We left the top and bottom cowls off so we can time the mags and left the spinner off to torque the prop bolts. Ray is hoping to do first flight sometime this week.

Picked up "Plane Mantis" - Monday, August 05, 2002 @ 13:33:24 PST - Ray
We had an interesting trip picking up the plane from Will Dennis in Willits, CA. We didn't know we were going until about 11am Saturday morning. We got everything together and left around 1pm. The truck ran pretty well, but we had very strong headwinds the whole way, so our max speed was ~60mph. Unfortunately, because of very heavy traffic, we rarely saw the max speed. We had planned on arriving in Willits around 4pm, but actually got there around 6:30pm. When we opened the back of the trailer, we found the car ramps and steel cross-bar had fallen onto the floor. Will had been up for 48 hours with his wife in the hospital, and was trying to be as gracious as possible, given the circumstances. We really felt bad about keeping him at the airport for so long. We took off the wing, and rolled the fuselage into the trailer, and put the wing on the floor under the fuselage. Then we tried to make sure everything would stay in place. After getting everything loaded and tied down and all the paperwork done, it was midnight! We got back on the road for the trip home. It was better with no traffic and a bit of a tailwind, but it still took quite a while. The Golden Gate Bridge was beautiful at night with no fog. We got back home at about 5am, really exhausted and slightly deaf. The next day, Curtis opened the trailer and found the car ramps had fallen again, an narrowly missed the wing and fuselage by a couple of inches!! If it had hit the wing or rubbed against it, it surely would have destroyed it. We were really lucky this time. We are going to make sure this can never happen again!

I can't wait for the first flight. I'm going to get some time in a Pitts or something like that and get really comfortable in tailwheels again. Check out the Gallery for pictures of the new plane.

"Plane Mantis" #82 to debut at Reno 2002 - Friday, July 26, 2002 @ 12:09:25 PST - Ray
Aerophile Racing is proud to announce the name and race number of the new cassutt formula one race plane. "Plane Mantis" (formerly "Fool's Gold") will be sporting the race #82 (Aerophile's plane under construction, "Carbon Slipper" is #81). We will be racing "Plane Mantis" this year, and working hard to complete "Carbon Slipper" for the next race. Hope to see you at Reno!

Curtis Gets His Pilots License! - Friday, July 19, 2002 @ 00:12:11 PST - Curtis
Today is a great day (7/18/02), as I have received my Airman Certificate for "Airplane Single Engine Land." It has been a long time coming waiting for this, over three years. I soloed at 18 hours and at 40 hours I was ready to take the test. But, I put it off for a little while (2 1/2 years)and added a few more hours to the log ~100. Next on the list is to get checked out in a tail dragger, then get a sign off for a seaplane rating. I would like to thank Ray for all his help and encouragement.

Aerophile Racing Team Aquires a New Team Plane ! - Thursday, July 11, 2002 @ 00:14:04 PST - Curtis and Ray
We are proud to announce the purchase of a new team race plane! More info will be released soon.

Aerophile Racing Team Reveals... "Carbon Slipper" - Saturday, June 22, 2002 @ 09:44:02 PST - Curtis
At the Aerophile movie night this past Thursday, we announced the name of our new Cassutt race plane, Carbon Slipper. Now we can't wait for Reno to show and tell everyone our new plane and its name. The chosing of the name was a long slow process, we literally came up with hundreds of names, then narrowed it down to about five. Chosing one of five was a very hard choice. See you at the races!

Congratulations Ray and Connie!!! - Saturday, May 25, 2002 @ 20:31:03 PST - Curtis
May 11, 2002, Ray and Connie got married. They had a beautiful ceremony in an awesome church and a wonderful reception. I (Curtis) wish Ray and Connie all the best and look forward to watching them grow closer together. Please congratulate them next time you see them! (Reno?)

Catto Delivers Prop! - Monday, May 06, 2002 @ 11:35:15 PST - Ray
Yesterday, Craig Catto called me and said he was in town with our sport prop. Connie and I drove to meet him at the San Jose Jet Center. I also brought the elevators for Craig to modify. The prop is a beautiful 58x70. It is white with some red striped tips and a black back. It also seems pretty light (which is great). It was nice to visit with him for a few minutes. He said he might have our race prop done in a week or two, and after finishing a wing he is working on, he would start on the spars for our wing.

It's coming together!

New Team Race Support Vehicle and 35' Trailer - Monday, May 06, 2002 @ 01:12:06 PST - Curtis
We just purchased a 35' 5th wheel trailer and an Iveco diesel tractor. We look forward to hauling our racer around from test flys to Reno 2002! You can see the pics in our '02 Gallery with the heading "Potential Aerophile Team Vehicle." We will be posting more pics soon.

Aerophile Server Back Online - Saturday, April 13, 2002 @ 16:13:01 PST - Ray Debs
Last Tuesday, the DSL modem on the Aerophile server (my home computer) died, and it took until Saturday to get a new modem. But now we are back up and running. We have plans to move to a more reliable and faster server at Sunset.net, but have to transfer a couple of files and change the DNS entry. Hopefully that will be completed by next week. I bet everyone will appreciate having a faster server.

Aerophile Cassutt Named!! - Sunday, March 03, 2002 @ 12:29:37 PST - Ray
We have selected a name for the Aerophile Cassutt and will be announcing it in the next two weeks. We are really excited about finding a fitting name, and are working on our roll-out plan. Check back to find out what she will be called.

We've Been Stabbed! (on the tail that is) - Sunday, January 27, 2002 @ 22:09:49 PST - Curtis
Today Ray and Curtis went up to pick up our completed Horizontal Stabilizer at Craig Catto's. It looks really cool!! With a heavily curved leading edge and a unique high tech curved trailing edge it should raise a few eyebrows. On a prior weekend we had gone up to help build and learn some tricks on stabilizer construction. We didn't quite finish it on the previous weekend so we returned to Craig's to bring it home to its place of honor on our Cassutt fuselage. Now we can find our thrust line, set incidence, square it up and bolt it in place for good. This is a step we have been waiting to do for a while as now we can also build the elevator drive arm out of 4130 (chromoly) and align/setup the pushrod to the control stick via the intermediate idler arm.

New 2002 Aerophile Gallery Opened! - Friday, January 11, 2002 @ 12:17:02 PST - Ray
We are now entering our third year in operation, and are proud to announce the opening of the new Aerophile Gallery 2002!

We also have moved the older news items into the Aerophile News Archive. So if you are looking for some old news, check there. If you are looking for new news, check in the Aerophile News section.

N81XS!!! Cassutt N-Number! - Saturday, December 15, 2001 @ 12:01:47 PST - Ray
I received the letter today from the FAA confirming reservation of N81XS. Here is what the letter says:

U.S. Department of Transportation Aircraft Registration Branch AFS-750 P.O. Box 25504 Oklahoma City, OK 73125-0504
Federal Aviation Administration
Date: December 11, 2001

DEBS RAYMOND
715 JEFFREY AVE
CAMPBELL CA 95008-4617

CONFIRMATION OF RESERVATION OF UNITED STATES REGISTRATION NUMBER

United States registration number N81XS has been reserved in your name for a one-year period beginning December 11, 2001.

This registration number is not assigned to an aircraft and may not be painted on an aircraft until authorization is issued by this office. To obtain this authorization send a written request describing the aircraft by manufacturer, model, serial number and current registration number to the FAA Aircraft Registration Branch, PO Box 25504, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73125-0504.

If assignment has not been requested and authorization issued within one year, the reservation will expire. The reservation may be renewed each year by sending a written request and a $10 renewal fee in check or money order to the address given above, or by credit card at http://diy.dot.gov.

Corresponding ICAO Aircraft Address Code 52604441

FAA Aircraft Registration Branch.

We Are Making Progress On Our Cassutt - Wednesday, December 12, 2001 @ 23:25:14 PST - Curtis and Ray
We have been doing a lot of little things on the plane. The brake fluid reservoir (an off the shelf item) was modified to have a screw-in vent (the feature is the ability to flush/bleed the brake system from the calipers as bubbles go up and it can be a one man operation)and the mounting bracket then had to be changed from its original design. We are continuing to make the air/oil separator and will soon be taking it to the welder. Another biggie was assembling the engine enough to replicate the finished size and layout then mounting it on the mounts. It looks really cool as until then the nose looked fairly short. We are continuing to make at least once weekly parts orders to accumulate as many parts to keep the work flowing. This project is flow chart sensitive and keeping us on our toes. We love solving problems and evaluating what is going in and on the A/C (AirCraft). Our goal is to make it go fast! We are really enjoying working on our plane, the word "FUN" is an understatement!!!

We Have An Engine For The Cassutt! - Saturday, November 24, 2001 @ 19:36:57 PST - Curtis
Curtis drove up to Orville (about four hours drive North of San Jose) to meet Dave Nicholas and pick up our Continental O-200 engine that we bought from him. He lives in the Boise, Idaho area and came to California for a visit, and that makes for a pick-up saving shipping costs and time delay of a weighty item plus all the crating hassle. Curtis was so excited to finally get the engine in our possesion that he left Saturday morning (he likes driving at night) at 00:30 and arrived at the Orville Airport (the meeting place) at 03:30 (not much traffic). Now all he has to do for a few hours is sleep. This proved to be a little difficult as a rain storm (one that followed him from San Jose) hit hard shortly after falling asleep. Strong winds and rain would violently shake the truck enough so that about every half hour he was awakened until around 08:00. He went in to towm for some food and fuel. Then returned to the airport to meet Dave at 09:30. He met Dave and and transferred the cache to his truck (all of which was apart and fit in the front of the truck(X-tra cab)). Now the engine is laying under the fuselage and wing awaiting temporary assembly and then will get mounted on the fuselage to check fit. Thanks Dave!

Cassutt Coming Together - Tuesday, November 06, 2001 @ 23:08:33 PST - Curtis and Ray
We have been working steadily on the Cassutt, and have much of the control system in place. We are really having a lot of fun learning about everything and getting help from so many great people. You can check out our builder's log here:Cassutt Log.
Drop by occassionally to follow our progress. We are very close to chosing a name for the plane, so if you have any suggestions, let us know before it is too late.

Fun Had By All At IF1 Fly-In, Auburn, CA - Saturday, October 20, 2001 @ 22:26:36 PST - Ray and Curtis
Today, we flew to the 1st Annual International Formula One Fly-In in Auburn, CA. We had a blast and tooks lots of pictures and movies. Check them out in the Gallery.

International Formula One Fly-in in Auburn, CA, Oct 20 - Saturday, October 13, 2001 @ 09:33:02 PST - Curtis and Ray
We just got news that there will be an International Formula One Fly-in on October 20, 2001 in Auburn, CA. This will be a chance for everyone to hang out, share stories and have a good time. We will be flying the Bonanza up for the day, and hope to see lots of the pilots and teams. Auburn is also a nice place to visit with a lot of other interesting aircraft. We expect people to show up around 10am.

Anyone who is interested in joining us, we have 2 seats left.

Reno Photo Gallery Grand Opening - Sunday, September 30, 2001 @ 00:20:05 PST - Curtis and Ray
Aerophile Racing welcomes patrons to view the works of art we have compiled from the Reno Air Races 2001 (well, almost races). Two of the pictures were submitted by IF1 Treasurer, Pilot, and Aerophile supporter, Will Dennis, and the rest were by Curtis Weinman and Ray Debs. If you would like to exhibit some of your work, send them to Ray or Curtis. The exhibits are organized into Aircraft, activities, and day by day during the event. If you are interested, we also have high-resolution versions of each image.

Enjoy!

National Air Races 2001 Cancelled! - Saturday, September 15, 2001 @ 17:25:49 PST - Ray
We were very dissappointed to hear that the races were cancelled. The Reno Air Race Association (RARA) worked very hard day and night to get the approval to continue with the air races, but the threat of terrorism is still hanging over our country. We heard many of the pilots say they didn't feel right going on with the race with what happened on the East coast. Many of the people who were at the air races are ex-military, and all of us just wanted to help in some way. It is really difficult to hear about how bad the situation is, and not be able to directly help.

One of the ways we were directly affected was through the cancellation of the Air Races. Because of the attacks, there were estimates that RARA is now in the hole $1.7 Million for this year's cancelled air race, not including the hundreds of thousands of dollars the air race teams spent to get to Reno and spend a week waiting and hoping. Now we are hearing about how the airlines will be taking major hits and cutting their schedules and staff by 20%. It makes me wonder how many other businesses and organizations and people were directly affected by the terrorists.

As Americans, we all need to come together and support each other in this war started by terrorists. We must not let this take down our spirit, lives, or livelihood.

This world is certainly much smaller than it used to be.

Tragic News - Tuesday, September 11, 2001 @ 22:38:26 PST - Ray & Curtis
    We awoke this morning, as many people did, to the radio message about two planes crashing into the World Trade Center. The DJ was kind of laughing (maybe he didn't believe it himself yet), so we weren't sure if it was real. When we got to the Formula One Hangar, there was this palpable dread hanging in the air. There was a mass-briefing called for all the classes, during which they told us that all aircraft in the United States are grounded, and we would just have to wait until the FAA lifted the order. Then after a few questions, someone suggested we have a moment of silence, and a pledge of allegiance. The atmosphere was very somber. Ray said "There has never been a time in my life when the pledge of allegiance meant so much to me, and I was choked up trying to get it out."

    Our prayers go with those who are touched by this tragedy.

National Championship Air Races Still On Schedule - Tuesday, September 11, 2001 @ 22:30:48 PST - Ray & Curtis
This is a press release from the Reno Air Racing Association, Inc.

    Reno, NV - Reno Stead Airport is on a 24-hold for qualifying rounds of the National Championship Air Races, Tuesday, September 11, 2001. With FAA Clearance in the morning, the airport will open and qualifying will continue. As of today, a full-schedule of racing will continue Thursday - Sunday.

    For further information check the website www.airrace.org. The site will be updated several times a day.

Formula One Teams Excited About Aerophile Cassutt - Monday, September 10, 2001 @ 11:39:57 PST - Ray & Curtis
    Aerophile Racing Team's Cassutt is getting a lot of attention in the Formula One pits as we put more pieces together, and listen to all the advice. Yesterday, we purchased a great O-200 engine from Dave Nicholas from Boise, ID, with mags and carburetor for less than quarter of what it is worth! Today, we bought a really good wing from Gary Davis of Texas. Gary had the wing with him so we put it on the fuselage in the pits, and gathered a huge crowd. Everyone was really excited about us putting a plane together at the races. There were plenty of jokes about us going through tech inspection and weight and balance for qualifying. But also plenty of good suggestions about how to make it go really fast.

    As we are typing this, we can hear the Unlimited Racers doing their qualifying runs. What a cool sound!!

    Now, we have just about all the major parts we need to finish the plane and get it in the air. We hope to be flying in about 6 months.

    We will continue posting news about the Reno Air Races during the week. Check back often to see what's new.

Reno Air Races 2001 - Monday, September 10, 2001 @ 11:20:49 PST - Ray & Curtis
Aerophile Racing Team is crewing for Formula One Race Plane Blackjack 21 who's pilot and owner is Gary Dalleske. We are learning all the ins and outs of Formula One racing and prep. Monday morning, Gary woke up at 4:30AM excited and anxious to get out on the course for qualifying. We got the plane ready and out on the ramp while Gary was in the pilot's meeting. He was the first plane to get on the course in the smooth morning air. He had 2 great qualifying laps at about 190mph each! After his flight, we filled the fuel tank back up and cleaned all the bugs off to get ready for the next flight. Gary and Christine have been really gracious, feeding us lots of food and keeping us full of liquids.

Blackjack 21 in Stead - Thursday, September 06, 2001 @ 13:56:07 PST - Ray
We just got news from Gary Dalleske that he flew his Formula One Cassutt "Blackjack 21" up to Stead yesterday, and is all ready for the races. Curtis and Ray will be driving the Aerophile van up on Friday to crew for Gary. We are all really excited and looking forward to the week!

See you in Reno!

Voodoo Out For 2001 Race! - Thursday, September 06, 2001 @ 13:44:32 PST - Ray
Voodoo is out of the 2001 Reno Air Races with an engine failure! "We're done" were the disappointed words from Voodoo owner Bob Button after a late afternoon engine failure yesterday. Airplane on the ground "feathers ruffled" engine destroyed, pilot OK. Check out the article on All Aviation Flight Online (AAFO) here.

Scotty Crandlemire Interviewed on AAFO! - Thursday, September 06, 2001 @ 14:00:35 PST - Ray
From the All Aviation Flight Online Website:

Formula One Pilot Interview With all the buildup about the "big boys" of Air Racing, it might be all too easy to forget the other heated battles that are building in ALL classes of Air Racing! We talk with Scotty Crandlemire, one of the men who will do battle in the very competitive International Formula One Class - IF1- Check it out on AAFO!

Aerophile Introduces Children to Aviation - Tuesday, September 04, 2001 @ 17:14:31 PST - Ray
Labor Day weekend, Molly and Ray helped about 40 children build flying model airplanes at the Sunnyvale Presbyterian Church Camp. It was a big hit with the children and their parents. After spending about 2-1/2 hours building, we held a contest and gave awards for longest flight, most modified aircraft, etc. We used CA (superglue), so many of the parents and a few kids came away with really hard fingers. Now Ray gets to replenish his supply of glue and accelerator.

We think fun was had by all, and look forward to being able to do this more in the future. Also, a big "Thank You" goes to all the parents who stuck around and helped!

Check out the pictures here.

Ray 2nd, Curtis 3rd for last '01 P-51 Mustang Race - Saturday, August 18, 2001 @ 18:13:49 PST - Curtis and Ray
     Today (Saturday, Aug 18), Aerophile Racing Team (Curtis, Ray, and Molly) competed in the last Warbird Race of the season. This was a day of attrition, and heart stopping finishes. Curtis did consistently well, placing high in all but the last of his heats where he was rolled into the ground by turbulence. Unfortunately, in the trophy race, he crashed on takeoff, putting him in 3rd overall in Novice Mustang. In the first and second expert heats, Ray took first, but in the third heat, he had a small accident on takeoff, and did not compete. As team Aerophile is always prepared, we pulled out the backup plane, and Ray went on to take another first in the last heat, and place 2nd overall in the extremely close trophy race. The racing all day was very close and exciting. It seemed like everyone had a good time, and the race was very well run by Kevin Norred. There were quite a few unfortunate accidents, only three of which were mid-airs. By the end of the day, there were over 15 damaged or destroyed aircraft. All of the Aerophile Racing aircraft are now unflyable, so we will be doing quite a bit of rebuilding for the next season. Molly was happy because her lap counting services were being requested by other racers at this event.

     Aerophile Racing Team final 2001 Warbird series results are Curtis with a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, and Ray with a 1st, 2nd, and 2nd.

We just bought a Formula One Race Plane! - Sunday, August 12, 2001 @ 21:27:54 PST - Ray
At 9:20pm PST, Aerophile Racing purchased Scotty Crandlemire's Cassutt fuselage! (See the pictures from last Thursday) We are really excited about getting started building, and making it fast. Scotty has generously offered to answer any questions we might have while building it. Now we have to find a wing and an engine. Then we embark on the acquisition trail where we buy everything and anything even remotely associated with Cassutts and Formula One Racing (as per our normal behaviour and as much as our checkbooks allow). This year, we have volunteered to crew for Gary Dalleske in "BlackJack" (Race #21), so we will be learning everything we can from Gary and the other crews while at the air races in September.

Reno Air Races, Here We Come!

Weekend in Boise...What a beautiful place. - Sunday, August 05, 2001 @ 18:22:49 PST - Molly and Ray
     It all started at the Reno Pylon Racing Seminar back in July, where Ray and I met Scotty and Karen Crandlemire. For those of you who already know the Crandlemire's, you know what nice people they are. For those of you who don't, you'll have to meet them some day.

     Ray and Scotty have been staying in touch, because they seemed to hit it off, and Scotty is kind of mentoring Ray in full scale air racing. Karen has been very good about making the companions of the aspiring air racers feel welcome. She says she's returning the favor, since Karen Morss did that for her when she first started attending with Scotty.

      Anyway...Scotty and Karen invited Ray and I to fly to Idaho to visit them for the weekend. We took off on Friday afternoon around 2:00pm. We definitely should have left in the morning, as it was very turbulent and I ended up getting sick. But I had to work in the morning, so there wasn't much choice. It was a rough ride over the desert and mountain ranges, so Ray stopped in Winnemucca, NV for about an hour for me to recover. We arrived in Nampa, ID around 7:00pm, and were picked up by Scotty and Karen. We went out to dinner, then to their gorgeous house which is actually located in Meridian, ID. Talk about culture shock, houses are actually affordable and traffic was very light. The joke all weekend was that Ray and I should buy their house so that they can buy a new one. We'll see...

     Saturday was a lot of fun. I ended up doing "girl things" with Karen and two of her friends, Cheryl and Margaret. And the boys...Well, I'll give you one guess what they did. Of course they flew, and flew, and flew. They were in their element, and I was introduced to quilting by Karen and her friends. By the way Scotty, thank you for being so gracious by answering all of Ray's questions about air racing. Ray said he really enjoyed meeting all the people at the airport and seeing some beautiful homebuilt airplanes. Ray also got to check out "Outrageous", Scotty's incredible Formula One race plane.

     We had an excellent B-B-Q on Saturday night; Scotty grilled up some wonderful steaks, and everything was just delicious. After dinner we all jumped into Ray's Bonanza and toured the Boise area at twilight. We had a blast doing that, and Karen and I got very silly together. Saturday night, like Friday night, we stayed up talking until about 2:00am. That was just way too late!

      Sunday morning Scotty and Karen drove us back to the airport and Ray and I headed back home. What a beautiful day. It was clear and very smooth. Ray let me fly for a while. It's a little bit stressful at first, but I managed to catch on. He said I did very well; I'm sure I'll be trying more of that in the future.

      In closing...Thank you Scotty and Karen Crandlemire. You were fabulous hosts, and Ray and I had a great time with you. See you at the Reno Air Races, and good luck to you Scotty.

      Go check out the pictures from our trip!

Aerophile Invited to Participate In 2001 SCCMAS RC Airshow - Sunday, July 15, 2001 @ 23:14:09 PST - Molly, Curtis, and Ray
Arrival
We got up at 5:45 Saturday morning to arrive at 7:10am and set up our booth. We realized later that the Airshow didn't start until 10am, but at least we got a good parking place. We set up a shade canopy and put out a T-38 Talon Ducted fan jet along with two World Models Mustangs, and a World Models T-34. The banner for Bay Area Glider Rides was our backdrop, and we were facing the flight line so we could watch all day.

BSA
The opening of the airshow commenced with the Boy Scouts of America Troop 217 doing the flag raising ceremony while playing the Star Spangled Banner. Curtis' uncle Warren and cousins Matthew and Christopher were there helping the Boy Scouts handle the event parking and selling snow-cones, and ice cream.

AMA Darts
The Tomcats RC Club had 400 model airplanes for people to build at the show for free. By the end of the first day, they were all gone!

Planes
There were quite a few really nice aircraft, and some exotic and interesting examples. The coolest had to be the Turbine powered F-15. It sounded, smelled, and flew like the real thing. When any of the jets flew, every pair of eyes in the audience was glued on the plane. There were some very nice World War II models that did some mock dogfighting, and flight displays. The favorite of the kids (and many adults) were the Snoopy's Doghouse, and Flying Lawn Mower. Among our favorites was Mike Luvara's GR-7. He holds the world speed record with this sleek model.

Jet engine
Tam Nguyen brought his RAM 500 Turbine Engine for demonstration runs, and left it in the Aerophile Racing booth for display. This was a great draw for the crowds. Everyone wanted to see it run. Unfortunately, Tam was out for most of Saturday, but did run it on Sunday.

Air race demonstration
After lunch, all of the air race pilots were asked to put on a demonstration air race for the show. Curtis was up first with one of the Aerophile T-34s, but had difficulties with the computer radio, so didn't get to fly. Next up was Ray with one of Aerophile Racing's World Models Mustangs. There were 4 planes in the race (one didn't get started), and no pylons, but fun was had by all, and it gave the audience a good taste of what air racing is all about. Fortunately, there were no accidents for this demo race.

Air ambassadors
We talked to a lot of novice, and non-flying people who are interested in flying, and tried to help them understand how to get into this wonderful sport. We felt like this airshow was a great chance for us to give back a little to help others in thanks for all the people who have helped us over the years.

Raffle
We held the final ticket sales for the Mile High Glider Ride Raffle, and Sunday evening drew the winning ticket of Chris Kennedy. Congratulations Chris! He will get a gift certificate worth $175 for a ride in a glider at the Hollister airport.

Met nice people
We all had a great time and enjoyed meeting so many people from ex-military pilots to pre-flight neophytes. We also met many of our friends and made new ones. There were thousands of people over the weekend, and we hope that in some way they will have a better understanding of aviation, and possibly develop a love of flying like we have.

Pictures
Take a look at the Airshow pictures in the Aerophile Gallery.

Mile High Glider Ride Raffle Won By Chris Kennedy! - Sunday, July 15, 2001 @ 21:05:26 PST - Molly, Curtis, and Ray
Chris Kennedy of San Jose is the latest winner of a $175 Gift Certificate donated by Bay Area Glider Rides of Hollister. See Aerophile Racing at the next T-34 race for your chance to win!

Congratulations Chris!

New Aerophile.org Layout - Tuesday, July 10, 2001 @ 02:07:30 PST - Ray
Ever since we received our logo design from our sponsor Design Annex, we have been thinking about how to display it on our website, van, t-shirts, aircraft, etc. Well, we finally finished the website upgrade, and added a couple of new sections to better serve you. There will be longer, more detailed articles on building, flying, and events in the Articles section. In the Full Scale section, we will be posting information about our full-scale (hence the name) aircraft and races. The Warbirds and T-34s sections have been combined into the R/C Racing section. Of course, we have to have a place to display our trophies. To top it all off, you may have seen our brand new opening page displaying a beautiful large image of our logo.

We hope you like the changes as much as we do. Happy Flying!

2nd Place For Both Ray And Curtis! - Saturday, July 07, 2001 @ 18:10:20 PST - Curtis
Saturday morning July 7th in Lodi, Aerophile was present for the World Models P-51 Stock Mustang race. The day got off to a great start and cool morning temps were very welcome. All day the racing was very close and that made for some exciting heats. Ray placed second in the Expert race and Curtis second in the Novice race.

Curtis' last race had an exciting last turn as there was a mid-air between Curtis and Jacob, which broke Jacob's whole right stabilizer and elevator, and it was just hanging by the covering. Luckily, he and Kevin were able to get it under control enough to land without any more damage. Curtis' Mustang just has a broken leading edge sheeting, and he landed safely.

See the pictures in the Aerophile Gallery.

Ray and Molly Go to Reno Air Racing Seminar - Tuesday, June 26, 2001 @ 12:24:55 PST - Molly
June 21st through June 24th, 2001, Ray was attending the Reno Air Racing Seminar, so that he would become better educated within the realm of full-scale air racing. Formula 1 air racing is something he has been extremely interested in for a long time. This was his opportunity to learn all about it, and determine if it was really something he wanted to pursue and invest in.

Well, after three full days of school and flying, it is safe to say that he is more excited than ever! It was really great for me to be there as well. I got to hear first hand what it is like for the racers before, during, and after the race. I learned about the preparation needed to get there, the dedication that is required, and the safety rules as to avoid injuries and fatalities. Yes it is a dangerous sport, but it can also be exhilarating and rewarding as well.

I got a chance to speak to some of the other racers wives. I spent the most amount of time speaking to JoAnne and Char (hello ladies), whose husbands are thinking about racing in this years Reno Air Races for the first time. Then there's Karen Crandlemire who is very experienced in the "supportive wife" role. Karen was very helpful to me and told me that the anxiety I was feeling while Ray was in the air racing, was perfectly normal. Thanks Karen.

But the best thing about the whole weekend was that Ray was SO happy! He walked around smiling and had sparkles in his eyes. Everyday that we were there was like Christmas morning for Ray. He was so excited about flying Charlie's Extra 300; I thought he was going to start bouncing off the walls. I am so glad that I could be there to share this experience with him.

In closing may I just say that I know Ray will be an excellent Formula 1 racer...He's built for it...and I hope to be the supportive partner he will need to do it. God's speed Ray, and thanks for bringing me to Reno with you.

Checkout the exciting pictures in the Aerophile Gallery!

T-34 Race at Madera. Curtis takes 2nd in the Gold Trophy Race - Sunday, June 24, 2001 @ 18:37:25 PST - Curtis
     Before the race, Curtis started out the day without a caller. (Ray was in Reno attending the Pylon Racing Seminar) Curtis asked Chuck Winter if he would call for him. Yes, he was interested in helping him out. (little did Curtis know who he had picked to have help him, as it turns out Chuck won 1st place in all of the Expert heats and finished overall in the Expert Gold Trophy Race with 3rd ( great flying Chuck!) An exciting day started out with Curtis taking 2nd place in the first race.

     All was going well until... on landing approach at 30' off the deck, the radio got a glitch and rolled the plane 45 degrees right then 225 degrees left, with the plane fully inverted Curtis added power and pushed to climb out but the plane pulled in even tighter to hit the runway(total time from loss of control to impact ~2 seconds). Team Aerophile then pulls out the backup and places 2nd for the next two heats. The last heat Curtis placed 1st. So on to the Gold it was, flying was close and with a perfect start Curtis was in the lead for a few laps, then made a minor overbank and was passed. It was a close race! Curtis came home with 2nd place!

     A special thanks goes out to Chuck Winter for all the help! Chuck is an excellent caller and also helped Curtis dial in his plane (and it made a difference too!).

Check out Curt's pictures from this event!

2001 Pylon Racing Seminar - Saturday, June 02, 2001 @ 16:33:11 PST - Ray
Ray is now registered for the 2001 Pylon Racing Seminar (we're talking about full-scale here) to be held in Reno at the Reno-Stead Airport on June 21-24. This is a requirement for pilots who plan on racing at Reno. Ray will be taking the Formula One course. We don't have an aircraft to race this year, but are preparing for next year. Here is an excerpt from the registration packet has to say:

Whether you are an experienced racer or a rookie to Reno, the Pylon Racing Seminar offers something for everyone. If you plan on racing in Reno this September, this seminar is a must!! You'll get 3 days of classes from some of the greatest race pilots of all time and learn to fly the pylons at 50 feet above the desert floor.

Aerophile Competes In Hayward Air Race! - Friday, May 19, 2001 @ 22:07:35 PST - Ray and Curtis
See the Aerophile Gallery for the pictures and videos.

Preparation
      Months of hard work and preparation paid off in the end as we actually made it into the first full-scale air race for the Aerophile Racing Team: the Hayward Air Race. Every day it seemed like there was another roadblock popping up threatening to dash our plans against the rocks. The trouble started when Ray was trying to find someone to do an annual inspection of the Bonanza, and all the shops said they were booked up for months. If the plane didn't get annualled in time, it would be grounded. Then, one of the shops agreed to do it, but they didn't actually start working on it until a week before the race. This gave us no time to do a practice flight. We spent every day on the phone trying to convince the mechanics that they needed to finish in time. Finally, Tuesday night, we were able to do a test flight to Bakersfield.
     On the way there, we were having problems with one of the cylinders running too hot. We were only 5 seconds off our time estimate, so we were feeling pretty good. Unfortunately, when we started the engine to go back home, one of the cylinders was not firing at all. We shut-down, looked a couple of things over, and tried again. This time the engine was running, albeit roughly. About 1 minute after takeoff, we got a low-battery warning from the engine monitor showing that the alternator was not working. Since it was night and Instrument Flight conditions back home, we turned around and landed back at Bakersfield and found a hotel to stay in overnight.
     In the morning, with great dread, we found a mechanic on the field to figure out what happened. He towed it to his hangar, and as soon as he opened the cowling, he found the shredded alternator belt. Shortly after that, he found the injector on cylinder 2 plugged. So, with about 1/2 hour of work and a new belt, we were on our way back home.
     Wednesday night, we arrived at the Palo Alto Airport around 8pm to put race numbers on the Bonanza. It took quite a bit longer to make them than we expected. We didn't finish until about 1am. We thought they turned out pretty nice.

Avionics
      As we were perusing the rules, we realized the new avionics in the Bonanza would possibly cause problems with the race officials. We talked to Chris Verbil about the current setup, and he said they had never had someone in the race before with those instruments! He wanted us to show up early for the impound so he could personally inspect the plane. There was some concern that we would have access to illegal data during the race. Before we got to the impound, we just took the Garmin GPS/Nav/Com out of the avionics stack, much to the surprize of the race officials. They said "that'll work," covered up the digital engine monitor, and impounded our plane.

Flight Planning
      We went to the registration booth in one of the hangars and picked up our packets, t-shirts, pins, and other goodies. Then we went to the pilots meeting and listened intently to everything. Then we were off to come up with our flight plan for the next day's race. This included estimated time in flight, and fuel burn to the 10th of a gallon on each of the two legs. Around 12am we finished the flight planning and loaded up the Aerophile Race Van to stay overnight at the Hayward Airport. We didn't actually get to sleep until about 2:15am. So much for a good night's rest before the race...

The Race
      0700 Friday morning, bright and early (for us). Eat a doughnut, some OJ, and try not to look to nervous... Wait for the morning weather briefing. Do a very thorough preflight. We are number 8 to take off, so we get in the plane and wait...
     Now the tension is really building. The race starts. Each plane down the line starts their engine at one minute intervals. We have 7 minutes to taxi, do the run-up, and get ready on the runway for the flagman to give us a green flag. Off we go with a hectic start on our first leg.
     We are off to a good start, and don't have any difficulty finding the checkpoints. We did find it a bit odd that everyone else is at a lower altitude than us (we cruised at 5,500'). After a 2-1/2 hour flight, we got to the second-to-last checkpoint in time to do a test run. After using up our excess time, we started our final run into Bakersfield. Somehow, we miscalculated and ended up 33 seconds late (which is actually not too bad, but we did much better on our practice flight). Also, in trying to make up the time, we burned more fuel than we had planned for, so we ended up 0.9gal over our estimate of 30.9 for the leg. We weren't too unhappy about that leg, we just couldn't make any mistakes on the second leg if we wanted to be in the top 10.
     We had lunch in Suzanne McGowan's (Race #31) beautiful hangar with a house built inside of it. Then we got ready for the leg from Bakersfield to Laughlin. We knew we would be over desert so were expecting a bit of turbulence. Our first checkpoint in Tehachapi took us really close to the mountains as we were still cruising at 5,500'. We again found it a bit odd that everyone seemed to be flying 2000'-4000' above us... We later found out there were some good reasons for flying a little higher.
      The rest of the flight went pretty well, but it was pretty turbulent. We tightened up our belts, and lashed all the loose items down so we wouldn't be busy defending ourselves from floaters. At one point, we had to pick our way through a notch in a ridgeline that was a couple of hundred feet higher than us. We arrived at Needles early so we flew around for about 20 minutes before making our final run for checkpoint Bette. Curt warned "we are early", so Ray put down the gear, lowered the flaps, and flew as slow as possible across the finish line. We figured we were about 1-2 seconds early, but the timers said we were 10 seconds early (which is still pretty good).
     We landed in Bullhead City, Arizona with a 30mph headwind. We tied down, and waited to find out how close we came to our fuel estimate. The fuel truck arrived and after filling us about 3/4 of the way, it ran out of fuel! We couldn't believe it. What terrible luck! We had to wait close to half an hour for the truck to be refuelled. Then, when they finished filling us up, we were off a lot more than we expected: 1.7gal!
     We pulled the race numbers off the plane so the desert heat didn't melt them permanently in place, and checked into the hotel for a much needed rest.

Laughlin
      The hotel we stayed in had a Railroad theme, complete with a medium steam engine train running around the perimeter. We rode on this, and puttered around in the casino for a while before going to sleep. The next morning, we went on a river boat cruise and saw most of the Laughlin strip along the Colorado River. It was very relaxing, although quite short as far as cruises go. There was even a wedding on the lower deck.
     The awards banquet came quickly. We weren't sure if we should be expecting anything, but in talking to other teams, it sounded like many of them had misjudged their fuel burn on the second leg. There were trophies all the way down to 15th place. They started announcing them, and after they got to 11th, Curt said "I guess that means we are in the top 10!". Alas, it was not to be.
      There were framed photos for all the race teams, which we were really pleased to find. It turned out we placed 16th in a field of 55 teams. Overall, it was pretty respectable for our first time in a full-scale air race.
     The banquet was a very enjoyable event; a chance to share our experiences with other pilots, and sing songs together (ask if you must).

Epilogue
     Sunday, we topped off all four tanks in the Bonanza, and flew home in one hop in about 3-1/2 hours. On the way home, we buzzed our friends and race sponsors at Bay Area Glider Rides in Hollister. Ray dropped Curtis off in Hayward to pick up the Van, and flew the Bonanza home to Palo Alto.
     A couple of days after we got home, we started thinking about where we could have improved. We found our flight plan had a small error which could have taken ~100 points off our score (would have put us in the top 10). Another problem was the fuel truck running out of fuel in the middle of filling us up. This may have introduced an error in measurement.
     With what we've learned from this race experience, we feel we can do substantially better next year, and we can't wait! Thank you to all the race officials and everyone involved for holding this race, and for the great time we all had. We will be back next year!

     We would also like to take this chance to thank Gary Waldeck and Chris Jones who both helped us immensely in preparing for the race. Without their help, we wouldn't have had a clue about how to fly this race. Thank you very much!

Team Aerophile does it again! Curtis takes 2nd place in Novice Gold! - Tuesday, May 08, 2001 @ 23:52:18 PST - Curtis
What a day! In the very first race for Ray, after a few laps "Bam" his T-34 was hit by another plane and sent into the ground. Unrepairable, out came the backup to fly for the rest of the race. Curtis stayed consistent for the day and finished the heats good enough to be in the Gold race. The race was very close and at the end only a few feet was the difference between first and second. Curtis secured the second spot in the Novice Gold! And as expected, an engine tear down was performed to prove that the O.S. .46FX is in fact Stock!

Kevin Norred...Latest Winner of Glider Ride Raffle - Monday, May 07, 2001 @ 13:01:51 PST - Molly
Aerophile Racing Team would like to congratulate Kevin Norred (1.33MB mpg) for being the most recent winner of the "Mile High Glider Ride" Raffle. On Saturday, 5/5/01, at the T-34 Race in Lodi, Kevin was the lucky winner when his ticket was chosen from the pool. Kevin lives in Hollister, so getting to the Hollister Airport for his glider ride should be no problem. CONGRATULATIONS again Kevin, and thanks for participating in the Aerophile raffle.

Aerophile Racing - New Logo! - Monday, May 07, 2001 @ 12:50:39 PST - Molly
Friday, 5/4/01, Ray, Curtis and I met at James Dudley's Design Annex in Sacramento. Victor Robinson and James had done a lot of work to put together a nice presentation of their ideas. When we saw them, Ray and Curtis very quickly knew which one they liked the best. I, of course, liked a different "more colorful" one. However, I was out-numbered. After a little tweaking, we had a great looking logo that we all really loved. Then Victor and Duane DeJong spent a couple of hours cutting vinyl in different sizes (fun, fun, fun), so we would have graphics for the van, hard hats, and planes. Now that we have our trademark logo, we will be updating our website, T-shirts, hats, and all other team paraphernalia. We are really excited and proud to have a unique, great looking logo that signifies who we are.

Flying at 25,000 feet! - Sunday, May 06, 2001 @ 11:50:05 PST - Curtis
On Tuesday, May 1, Curtis went to Beale AFB for a High Altitude Chamber class. One of the goals of the class is to recognize the signs and symptoms of high altitude sickness or Hypoxia (the lack of oxygen to the body and brain). We breathed 100% pure oxygen for 30 minutes prior to the 'flight' for a process of removing the nitrogen from our body. Ready to ascend, off we go to 6,000 ft and back just to make sure everything is OK.

Here we go to 25,000 ft at a climb rate of 3,000 ft/min. In 8 minutes we are at 25k, doesn't seem much different except for the fact it's very cold. At this point we remove our oxygen laden masks and wait until the effects of oxygen deprivation become apparent. When will it happen? Each person reacts differently and after about five minutes I started to notice a slight dizziness and within seconds after that I started seeing small spots appear. I became aware that I was breathing heavily due to a feeling of a shortness of breath. I also checked to see if "Cyanosis" is detected and yes I did have bluing of the fingernail beds and fingers. At this point I decided to don the mask and go for some O2. After many deep breaths I felt normal again.

We then descended to 18,000 ft for some night Hypoxia effects testing. In very low lighting (simulated cockpit lighting) we were handed a color wheel card and again asked to remove our masks. Looking at the chart I saw no change, then after a few minutes we put on our masks. After four lung fulls of pure O2 'Wham' I saw super bright and vivid blue colors leap off the chart and lift off the card. That was a very interesting sensation! What I learned in the class and in the chamber is valuable information and was well worth doing it.

Enter the Glider Ride Raffle! - Monday, April 30, 2001 @ 15:44:14 PST - Molly
It's time once again to give away another "Mile High Glider Ride." This incredible experience is valued at $175.00. Be sure to see us at the T-34 race in Lodi.

First Warbird Race for Ray and Curtis...Can you say "EMOTIONAL?" - Sunday, April 22, 2001 @ 13:48:59 PST - Molly
     Yesterday, April 21, 2001, was the first Warbird race of the season. It was also the first Warbird race EVER for Ray and Curtis. Much anticipation and preparation went into this new aspect of air racing, and Team Aerophile was very excited about it. The day started out cold and cloudy, having just come off a 40 hour rain storm. However, we were fortunate to see sunshine and clearing skies as the day progressed.

     As you can see in this photo, Curtis and Ray had their planes tuned, cleaned and ready to go. Ray was up first, and was filled with excitement at this new opportunity. He took his beautiful yellow P-51 out for takeoff. Up she went, getting ready for the start of the race. The clock was set at the 30 second count down, Curtis was by Ray's side to call the turns, and I was there to count his laps. The race began. Ray whipped around the first lap with great flair and just as he was about to take the next turn, POW! Another plane turned into the side of him and took him out!! I was just plain angry. I felt so badly for Ray knowing all the time and effort he had put into his plane and this race...All just to be dashed after one lap? I know Ray was disappointed, but he tried not to show it. We went out after the race to retrieve the plane. She was hit hard, and nearly landed in a large pond. I was feeling pretty frustrated and hopeless at that point, and I can only imagine what Ray was feeling.

     Then it was time for Curtis to race. He brought his gorgeous Miss America P-51 out, and off she went. 30 seconds on the clock...And the race begins! Curtis completed all 8 laps successfully. So successfully, in fact, that he lapped the field and took FIRST PLACE! Yeah Curtis!!! Ray, of course, was calling his turns, and I was counting his laps.

     At this point, Ray had been crossed off the matrix, then Team Aerophile regrouped. Curtis offered his plane to Ray for the betterment of the team. That was so great, now Ray could compete in his remaining 3 races. I was so happy that he would get another chance to race a P-51 Mustang.

     Ray was up for his next race. The clock was set, the race began, and Ray got a great start. He flew all 8 laps beautifully. Then they announced, "Ray Debs takes FIRST PLACE!!" We were all so excited...Team Aerophile was cleaning up.

     Curtis went on to win first place in all 4 of the races he participated in. And took First Place Overall, for the Novice category. Way to go Curtis!!

     Ray continued his racing, taking first place again in the third heat, and forth place in the forth heat, due to a bad start and one "questionable" cut.

     At the end of the day, there would be a fly off for the top 5 placing racers in the P-51 Expert category. Ray was one of the contenders. Man, this was one intense race. The planes were up in the air waiting for the 30 second count down. We invited Kevin Norred to call the turns this time, because Curtis and Ray both wanted another perspective on that. I was there with my trusty counter. The clock was counting down, and Ray was racing toward the start line. At the last moment he realized he was a second too soon, and crossing the start line too early would disqualify him from the race. Therefore, he did one extra loop around before crossing the start line. Well, this kind of threw things into a chaotic episode for the next few seconds. As Ray was coming back around from his loop to start the race, the other planes had just come around the first pylon, and were heading straight for Ray. I don't think any of us were breathing for a while there, but Ray, thinking quickly, managed to get his plane back in sequence and in the race. He was quickly gaining on the others when POW! Another mid-air collision. Thank God Ray was not involved in this one. We're now down to the wire. Ray crossed the finish line in second place. However, the plane that supposedly took first was involved in the mid-air, and had damage to the wing, which automatically disqualified him. Thanks to Curtis offering his plane, Ray was named Winner Overall in the Expert category!!! I was a wreck after that race, it was so exciting, and emotionally draining. And...It had a very desirable outcome...Ray won!

     So, for the first Warbird race of the 2001 season, Team Aerophile dominates. Ray and Curtis both take "Best of Class." I was so proud of them both, and glad to be a part of it. Be sure to check out the photos and video clips on the "Gallery" page.

J. D. Johnson Wins Mile High Glider Ride! - Sunday, April 15, 2001 @ 23:06:43 PST - Ray
Today Aerophile Racing Team held its' first raffle of the season. The winning raffle ticket for the Mile High Glider Ride worth $175 is J. D. Johnson from the Fresno Area. We have a beautiful laminated gift certificate from our sponsor Bay Area Glider Rides in Hollister, CA for a ride up to 6000'.

Visit us online to find out when our next raffle will be held. You can buy tickets from us at the T-34 and Warbird races, or you can contact us directly in-between races.

Curtis Takes 2nd in Gold Novice! - Sunday, April 08, 2001 @ 21:43:40 PST - Ray
Saturday, in our first T-34 race of the season, Aerophile Racing Team Member Curtis Weinman took 2nd place overall in the Novice Class. His heat placings were 2nd, 2nd, 1st which put him in the Gold Trophy Race at the end of the day. For this last race, the wind was gusting to about 25, and a couple of times it almost smashed Curtis' race plane into the ground. Throughout the 8 lap race, Curtis kept from cutting any pylons, and from having any mid-airs to finish a close 2nd. This finish places Curtis in the head of the pack for the championship points race.

Bay Area Glider Rides is new sponsor! - Thursday, April 05, 2001 @ 00:07:04 PST - Ray
We are proud to announce that we have signed Bay Area Glider Rides as a major sponsor! The owner Drew Pearce's father used to race airplanes and won 2 National Championships, so Drew is no stranger to the racing scene! We are also hoping Drew will be able to fly with us occasionally.

For the first race of the season in Morgan Hill on April 7, we will be raffling off a gift certificate for a Mile High Mountain Ride (a $175 value). Get ready for your chance to win this incredible adventure. Soar a mile high over the spectacular peaks and jagged rock formations of the Diablo Mountain Range. It is not uncommon to have hawks and eagles play in the rising air currents along side the glider. You can even choose the aerobatic ride!

"AEROFYL" Plates on Van - Wednesday, April 04, 2001 @ 22:07:57 PST - Ray
Today we picked up the environmental license plates for the team van. They look great! This really puts a finishing touch on all the hard work we have put into getting it ready for this racing season. When you see us on the road, go fast and turn left!

St Patricks Day Practice - Monday, March 26, 2001 @ 18:47:42 PST - Ray and Curtis
Curtis and Ray and Molly met Curtis' boss Joe Prizzi and his two daughters at the Dwarfs Field for practice on St. Patrick's Day. We had a great day with beautiful weather, and when we were taking a break for lunch a large group of horses and riders walked through our flying field. It added to the enjoyment of a relaxing day flying. Joe brought out his RC Car, and we were racing up and down the runway between flights. Aggressive flight testing was completed on the Yellow Mustang, with the flight envelope being filled out for racing. During practice racing, Curt's T-34 was flying a little faster than Ray's Chrome T-34, so we decided to trade planes to see if the difference was in flying technique or in aircraft. While we were on our 2nd or 3rd lap, Ray (flying Curt's plane) hit the tail of the Chrome plane (flown by Curt), tearing it off. After that, Curt had no control, and the plane crashed (full throttle) into the field. Fortunately, there was almost no trace of the collision on Curt's plane which was landed safely. We walked over to pick up the pieces with everyone, and took some good pictures. Unfortunately, the chrome plane is totalled, but we still have two more. This was the first time we have had a mid-air collision in a year and a half of racing. We are building another backup T-34, and will shortly be testing our second Mustang.

2001 Gallery Opened And Race Calendar Updated - Thursday, March 15, 2001 @ 23:55:49 PST - Ray
Take a look at our new 2001 Gallery. More pictures will be added in the near future. You can still get to the 2000 Gallery if you want. Also, the Air Race Calendar has been updated with all our races this season, and other racing events across the globe.

Fast Weekend!!! - Monday, March 12, 2001 @ 20:05:26 PST - Curtis
Ray and I started off the weekend flying the race planes. We did some tuning, tweaking, testing and practice races most of Saturday afternoon. Then back to finish one of the P-51 Team race planes that Ray is building and being done in the "Bob Hoover- Rockwell" attire. We finished all but a few minor things that work night (OK, Sunday morning 3:15 to be exact) and were set to head out in the late morning to visit with our friends in Sacramento, James Dudley of Design Annex and Dave. Sunday the Race Team support vehicle was all loaded up with race planes and the Pitts and we headed for Sacramento. While enroute Ray finished working on the few last things on the P-51 in the back of the van. We arrived at Design Annex, played a mean game of Foosball, then we're off to Mather Field to fly. We flew all our planes including the first flight of the P-51. Ray did an awesome job building, setting up and flying our first Mustang. Ray even took out the Pitts for a spin (literally) and we had so much fun flying, we stayed until sunset. The weekend went by way too fast, if only I could do this everyday!

Race Calendar Updated - Sunday, March 04, 2001 @ 16:03:53 PST - Ray
Now we have the dates for the Warbird races, so I updated the Aerophile Calendar. Now all of the races we will be flying in are posted. We encourage everyone to come out and see at least one of these races. They are very exciting, and most of you probably have never seen anything like this before. Also, we always appreciate a cheering section. See you at the races!

Added Indices for Aerophile Store - Saturday, March 03, 2001 @ 13:35:46 PST - Ray
I added a list of the categories at the top of each of the Aerophile Store pages which link to the category sections, providing a quick, easy way to jump between categories.

Race # 81 Confirmed! - Wednesday, February 28, 2001 @ 19:38:54 PST - Ray
Today I received the Entry Confirmation for the Hayward Air Race 2001. Now we get to put #81 on the Bonanza tail and wings, and try to get as much practice in as possible before the May 17th Impound. We will have to bring our Pilot's license, current medical certificate, and log book showing our last flight review, so we have a little preparation to do (like Curt taking his flight test).

Yahoo!

Aerophile Registered for Hayward Air Race - Tuesday, February 27, 2001 @ 22:40:10 PST - Curtis and Ray
We mailed in the registration packet and $50 deposit for the Hayward Air Race, and scheduled Bonanza N828R so it is official: Aerophile Racing will be in it's first Full-Scale Air Race!

Check back for pictures of Race Numbers on the Bonanza, and read along as we embark on this great adventure!

Racing Registration Received - Tuesday, February 27, 2001 @ 22:33:54 PST - Curtis and Ray
Tonight, Curtis and Ray went to Kevin Norred's house and picked up the huge registration and rules packets. We are chomping at the bit to build our warbirds, and needed the rules so we didn't disqualify ourselves before we even got to the field. Now we have the rules for that, and a number of other race events we may decide to fly in also. We enjoyed the chance to talk to Kevin about the upcoming season, look at his pictures, and pick his brain about airframes, engines, paint, and more. For the T-34 races this year, Curtis is now race number "9X" in the novice class, and Ray is "9" in the expert class.

You better start waxing up your wings, 'cause here we come!

Aerophile Van Registered - Thursday, February 15, 2001 @ 11:02:52 PST - Ray
Yesterday, I waited in line for about 45 minutes at the DMV to register the Van. Curt and I thought we would be paying late penalties because the registration was out of date. It turned out the previous owner had paid the registration, but couldn't get it smog