Pylon Racing Seminar
2001
Pilot Briefing Notes
by Ray Debs
Alan Preston: 2001 Principal of Pylon Racing Seminar
Why are we here?
Learn to race, or test Alan’s reserve: Alan spent a couple of years in Vietnam, killing people. He knows many different ways to kill someone, and could easily blame the killing of at least 3 people on Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Don’t get on his bad side. Some people seem to come to the races looking for a fight. They will find one, but will get a reputation and be hated. Don’t do that. Come to fly, have fun, and follow the rules.
Why are we here? Have fun, adventure, learn a little
Not to prove something to someone: You will die if that is why you are here.
They don’t want you go come to Reno and shit in their sandbox. If you want to screw up, do it at home. Don’t come here and kill other people or the venue will be closed for everyone. Be damned sure you know what you are doing and are prepared.
Why am I here?
PRS Instructors are not here to teach us to fly. We are expected to know what we’re doing and be experienced and competent. They are only here to share what works for them. Take advantage of the wealth of experience here this weekend.
This is not about Bravery or Courage! It is about Judgement and having a good perspective!
You must know your limitations as a pilot, and you must know the aircraft’s limitations. Unfortunately, the two envelopes only have a small part in common, and if you exceed that common area, you will kill yourself. If you get out of the airplane’s box, it will fail, and if you get outside of your box, you will fail. Either way, you die.
Remember, your plane does not like you. It is a semi-random collection of molecules which obey the laws of physics, and when you screw up, the have no qualms about killing you. It does not have feelings, and could care less what you do to it.
Aerobatics are important! You WILL hit wake turbulence and be rolled inverted.
This is NOT the place for denial (Alan told the story about how he was having engine problems and just denied it for a short while, throwing away many good chances to take care of the situation before it became critical. He lived, but should have realized early there was a real emergency).
This is also about formation (non-cooperative formation flight, otherwise known as dog-fighting) flying at low-level
Lastly, it is about emergencies. You WILL have emergencies! Take a couple of days and sit and think through every conceivable emergency and what action you will take. Be prepared for them before they happen.
Pylon Racing Seminar
June 21-24, 2001
Agenda
Thursday, 21 June 2001
1200-1700 Arrivals and Pilot Registration
1730-1930 Welcome Reception – Carson Room #4, Reno Hilton, hosted by Bill Eck, Chairman of the RARA board of directors.
1815-1830 Welcoming Remarks by RARA
Friday, 22 June 2001
0700-0730 Departure from the Reno Hilton, South Bus Terminal
0730-0800 Coffee and donuts, RARA Hangar
0800-0810 Welcome and Introduction of Directors – Bill Eck/”Mr.” Alan Preston
0810-0840 General Operations Procedures Brief – Rick Vandam & Jeff Turney
0840-0900 A Pilot’s Perspective – “Mr.” Alan Preston
0900-1130 Academic Breakout Sessions by Race Classes
1100-1630 Flying – see Race Course Schedule below
1100-1200 Lunch, RARA Hangar
1630-1700 Mass Debrief
1700-1900 RARA Beer and Pizza Party, RARA Hangar
1915 Depart for Reno Hilton
Saturday, 23 June 2001
0700-0730 Departure from the Reno Hilton, South Bus Terminal
0730-0800 Coffee and donuts, RARA Hangar
0800-0830 RARA Operations - Bill Eck/Tom Gribbin/Race Control/Ramp Group
0830-0845 FAA Waiver – Clarence Bohartz
0845-0900 Daily Operations Brief – Rick Vandam/Jeff Turney
0900-0930 Open Forum – Preston/Rheinschild/Sanders
0930-1200 RARA Operations Committee Mtg: Tom Gribbin, Chair, in RARA Hangar
0930-1130 Breakout by class
1100-1630 Flying – see Race Course schedule below
1100-1200 Lunch, RARA Hangar
1630-1700 Mass Debrief
1715 Depart for Reno Hilton
Sunday, 24 June 2001
0700-0730 Departure from the Reno Hilton, South Bus Terminal
0730-0800 Coffee and donuts, RARA Hangar
0800-0820 State of the Races Brief – Mike Houghton
0820-0900 RARA Officials – Timer/CFR/Contest/Pylon
0900-0915 Daily Operations Brief – Rick Vandam/Jeff Turney
0915-0930 Group Photo
0930-1130 Breakout by class
1100-1200 Lunch, RARA Hangar
1100-1630 Flying – see Race Course Schedule below
1630-1700 Mass Debrief
1715 Depart
Daily Race Course Times:
1100-1115 Biplanes
1115-1145 Formula One
1145-1215 T-6
1215-1245 Sport
1245-1315 Unlimited
1315-1330 Biplanes
1330-1400 Formula One
1400-1430 T-6
1430-1500 Sport
1500-1530 Unlimited
1530-1600 Jets
Frequencies:
Race Control Primary: 123.5
Race Control Secondary: 122.9
Unicom/Admin: 122.7
AWOS: 135.17
Discrete Frequencies by class:
Unlimited/Jets: 122.85
Sport: 122.325
T-6: 122.175
Formula One/Biplanes: 122.075
Formula One Pilot Brief 06/22/01
“Knock It Off” – Stop racing. Only used in case of mass casualty or major accident. Climb to 3000’ AGL, stop racing.
Instructors
Charlie Greer – w/ Extra 300 2nd year racing IF1, 10 years racing Shadow and Miss Behavin’
Scotty Crandlemire – w/ RV-4 8 years racing IF1 Scarlet Screamer
Writer: Karen Morss (Dave Morss’ wife) is writing a screenplay based on Reno Racing in IF2 class. She handed out a biography/survey that all the IF1 pilots are to fill out for her.
There are only 2 IF1 planes here this weekend: BlackJack (Cassutt) & Tim’s Midget Mustang.
Formula One Pilots
Tim Wobee(sp?) – Midget Mustang
Joe Young – Fredericksburg, VA Cassutt
Scott Sextant – Anchorage AK
David Hoover – Class President – new scratch built IF1
Birch Introken – Cassutt & Shoestring
Tom Hallendorf – San Carlos
Gary Dalleske – BlackJack Cassutt #21
Gary Davis - TX - Cassutt
Flip Miller – North Dakota - rebuilding
Ed Dutreaux – San Francisco - Slingshot #33
Larry Hardy – Midget Mustang
Larry Lebner – Colorado – Quad Nickel
Hep Porter – racing since 1989
Dave Rolass – AZ – FE for DHL – Cassutt #40
Roger Kearny – Sled Driver, Vietnam for 1 year – flew a Goodyear Racer
Steve Meyers – 93-97 – Cassutt
Bryant Bueller – AZ
The timeline for the practice period:
20 min before 11, start engines
15 min before 11, takeoff
go to practice area
learn passing, rolls, turnpoints
will do approx 4 or 5 laps, then give plane to student
The course is a 3.12 mile course. 1 mile straight ways
245mph @ 3.45g turns
slower=lower g
Set Alt to 5000 so 0 is 0AGL
Radio usage is almost a complete waste of time for IF1 because there is too much noise and static, and you don’t want to hear chatter while you’re racing.
Today, Density Altitude is 9000’!
Stock O-200 only produces ~70HP @ 7000’ (September temperatures)
You MUST PRACTICE! Practice Deadstick! Practice Abort!
Simulated Emergency is SIMULATED! If you are having problems, go around.
Watch how other people fly.
Fly predictably so other people can get around you.
It is much easier to check out at your home airport. At Reno, there are thousands of eyes watching you. FAA, all the other IF1 Pilots, course officials are watching you roll over everyone.
After afternoon session 2-2:15 come back for briefing
Tom and Flip to fly on second session today 6/22
Talk to Jeff Turney about getting slide shows from briefings.
Afternoon switch
Will Dennis – Secretary of IF1 Association
I Fly w/ Charlie in Extra tomorrow afternoon 6/23
Bob Cannon is the insurer. It is $600 for this year.
I volunteered to crew for someone this year.
Gary Davis from Texas needs a crew.
Gary Dalleske from Cameron Park needs a crew. It turns out his crew chief is Brian Halkett (from Cameron Park).
2001 IF1 Training Syllabus
Pre-racing checklist is for being done at home before the race.
Pre race/Registration packet w/ $300 must be in by July 31
For $300, you get 7 arm bands, vehicle passes, 8 banquet passes.
Hotel rooms – No more deal w/ Super 8 We will be getting rooms at Circus Circus for $63/night average (over the 10 days for race, $630total).
Anita Enfante has set this up. There are 40 rooms w/ 1 or 2 beds. Held until Mon, Aug 6. Call after July 1 and mention Formula One Air Racing. 866-447-7728.
There is a purse for everyone who qualifies and races. You should be able to break even for the week including insurance, entry fees, food, etc. You get $1800 just to race. There might be 26 planes. 24 qualify. If someone is out, alternate gets to fly. There are $65,000 to be split between all pilots.
You must have a 2nd class medical, private pilot. The FAA will want to look at your logs. Make sure they are in order.
Safety:
Nomex flight suit
Nomex gloves
Flight helmet (not a bicycle helmet)
Most Important: Find Someone you can count on to be your crew chief. They should be as familiar with your plane as you are. You should be able to trust them to do necessary mx while pilot is in meetings.
Race Course will be open on Sunday. You need to be here on Saturday and go through tech inspection. Sunday is good for qualifying to fly.
Tech inspection – small office w/ glass windows is Formula One office.
During your inspection, take notes of their suggestions and what they find.
You will get a nice print out of the wt&bal, cam profile, and other things they examine.
Get the tech rules!
Ignorance is never an acceptable excuse. The information is available and you are expected to use it.
Tech inspections start Sept 9 (Saturday).
You will be here for 10 days, so you may wish to bring a sofa, comfortable chairs, blow-up couches, refrigerator, etc.
Your brakes need to hold you stopped at full throttle. No Creeping! You will have other aircraft closely around you.
Since 1989, almost no (only 1) pilots died at Reno in a race. Unlimited is the most unsafe. They lose 2 or 3 every 4 years or so. T-6 had 2 mid airs 3 pilots killed.
Pilot Briefing 06/23/01
I sat down for the Pilot’s briefing in the morning, and was sitting alone on one of the benches, as I am not a morning person, and didn’t feel like being personable. As people started coming in and filling the benches, mine was still empty. Then, to my surprise, Hoot Gibson (the astronaut, race pilot, and world record holder) sat down next to me. I said “Hi”, and asked if he would be racing this year. He said he will be racing in the jet class (L-39 Delfin). I said “I guess I should introduce myself: I am Ray Debs”, and I shook his hand. He said “Nice to meet you, I am Hoot Gibson”, to which I replied “I know”. He kind of nodded and acknowledging that he was known by a lot of people. I asked if he still has his Cassutt which he set a world record. He got real interested and intense and started telling me about how much he likes that plane, and explaining how he set the world record. We were talking for about 15 minutes before the briefing started (interrupting our conversation). Then, after the briefing was over, he stayed and continued our discussion for another 10 minutes! I was so engrossed and enthralled that I wanted to learn as much as I could (and ask if I could stow away on the shuttle J ). He is one of the nicest men you would ever meet, and that is really cool that he is one of my heroes.
The previous day, Molly and I were having a discussion about whether to ask people for autographs, and she said that nobody was any better than anyone else. I had to take her aside and point out that Hoot Gibson is much better than any of the rest of us because he has done incredible things with his life. True, we may all be equal in God’s eyes, and may have all been created equal, but there are people who choose to do nothing with their lives, and then there are the very few like Hoot who do extraordinary things with their lives. It is just that much sweeter that he is a really nice man, too.
Here are my notes (I wrote as much as I could remember immediately after our discussion because I didn’t want to forget anything):
He was explaining about racing jets. He will be flying the L-39’s this year. I asked him about his altitude record in his
Cassutt. He said he still has it and it
is the funnest plane to fly. After he
built it in 1985, he hasn’t had any problems with it, and it has been airworthy
the whole time. The record he broke is
the highest altitude in level flight (for aircraft < 600lbs). He said that
he knew before he even tried that he would be able to break the previous
record. He said he did a plot of
altitude vs. Rate of climb, and found with his new 6% thickness, high aspect
ratio wing, that instead of the normal curve(A), his plane w/ new wing looks
more like curve(B) where it gets better the higher he went. 
He said the last 10 minutes he was only going up at 35ft/min
at 27000ft. He couldn’t see any
movement on the altimeter or rate of climb (didn’t have one), he was just
holding constant airspeed (indicated) at Best Rate of Climb speed, just
adjusting the mixture to get maximum power.
He said that the engine RPM was 3500 at Sea Level, and stayed constant
throughout flight. He said Rate of
climb is just excess HP at sea level his climb rate is 2900ft/min. He was using an oxygen mask, 0-200, no NO2,
no turbo, pretty stock. Then he started
talking about being required to do a chamber ride every 2 years, and said that
it is a little difficult to get into one (they are military operated), but that
if I ever get the chance, I should do it.
I said that I was a glider pilot, and that I had done a chamber ride at
Mather AFB, so I understood when he was talking about hypoxia and oxygen
systems.
Briefing
Head of Race Control and Pylon Judges and Timers spoke, giving some helpful hints on getting timed correctly, and how to not cut pylons.
Joey Scolari – Executive Director of Ops Committee
FAA will be inspecting paperwork for pilot and aircraft.
Alan Preston quit (had something to do with a practical joke. I didn’t hear at the time what it was, but Molly heard about it from some other people. It sounded a bit like an inside joke.). He wasn’t here today. Last night in the Pylon Bar at the Reno Hilton, I heard him saying he just didn’t want to do it.
Ron Buccarelli – flying Gryphon powered P-51 (silver and bright green mustang picture in gallery) is a rookie racer. He has 15,000 hours, but hasn’t raced before. His second practice session, he had a problem, and the plane was starting to get away from him. He quickly brought it back before it all went to hell in a handbasket. He landed alright and was flying again the next day.
Art Vance took over the brief with Dennis Sanders (This morning, Molly and I missed the bus to Stead by about 1 minute because they are militantly prompt, and we ended up getting a ride with Randy a Sea Fury Pilot, and Dennis Sanders). Dennis Sanders rebuilds Sea Furys in Ione (near Rancho Murieta). He said “There is no place for a practical joke in air racing. If someone in his shop ever pulls a practical joke, he will be fired immediately. It is really important to not be joking around.” I guess this was in reference to Alan Preston’s antics.
Anyway, Art and Dennis both shared their thoughts on the PRS, and racing in general: Improvements in briefs are so much better than 5 years ago. Attend every briefing you can. You will learn a lot and get important and critical information.
Emergencies: Someone has kept track of all the emergencies that have happened in Reno. When there was a survivor, they were asked to fill out a debrief form. These have been collected over the years, and copies are available to each of the class presidents. Dave Hoover (IF1 class president) got a copy and I browsed through it. I think it would have been nice if there were reports even when no-one survived (filled out by someone else). I would like to know what not to do as well as how to survive.
Do Not Enter Denial! Address the emergency immediately.
In 1986, there was an IF1 accident. The engine died, he pulled straight up, stalled, recovered, flew over the grandstand, spun again, crashed. The engine died because he ran out of gas! He had flown all night from Germany to get to the race. His plan was flawed from the beginning. “The accident started about 2 weeks before the last day”.
Air Racing starts at home. Plane ready, practiced, prepared. It’s not the time to change anything at Reno.
In Unlimited Racing, there have been 3 homebuilts, and all 3 have crashed, killing the pilots: Gary Levitz in Miss Ashley II, the Pond Racer, and Tsunami. All were because of design flaws. This is something the sports class racers need to think about more because their speeds are approaching the Unlimiteds. Also IF1. It is important to realize the risk of experimentation, and be very careful with the design.
Handling qualities are really important. There are professional test pilots you should employ to test new things: Curt Brown, Skip Holm, Dave Morss, Neal Anderson. Get someone else to test fly any changes to the airframe.
The PRS gives you a chance to blow it and change your mind about racing without the humiliation in front of your whole family and team and 100,000 fans.
By the way, the fans are who keep this going. Take the time to wave at the crowds to sell tickets.
Formula One Brief 06/23/01
Qualification:
The fastest 8 planes race in the Gold group
The second fastest 8 planes race in the Silver group
The third fastest 8 planes race in the Bronze group
Planes 25 & 26 are alternates (if someone drops out or is disqualified)
Last year (2000), only 15 planes showed up
2 years ago (1999), only 18 planes
This year there should be 23-26 planes (counting rookies in PRS01)
If you don’t qualify, you don’t get racing money, but you do get “tow money” which should cover the cost of driving to Reno.
Previously, IF1 got 9 races at Reno (2 heats and a final for each class), but since there wasn’t a full field the last 2 years, there will be only 8 races for 2001. (Later note: If IF1 can get a full field of 24 aircraft, they will get 9 races)
There should be 3 races on Thursday, 3 on Friday, and 3 on Sunday for championships.
If there are only 8 races, there will only be one Bronze heat, but the Bronze pilots will be paid as if they flew 2 heats.
It is normally $250/race, but Bronze will get $500 for one heat.
Even if you don’t qualify, you can still fly on the course on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. This is a once a year opportunity to practice on the course, and you should try to fly as much as possible.
Everyone needs to get to Reno no later than Saturday. Tech inspections start on Saturday, and they usually do the rookie pilots first. Plan on getting there on Friday.
To race: Takeoff, do one lap, when the first plane crosses the home pylon after one lap, the clock starts. Then you do 8 laps. If you are slow, and someone finishes when you are on lap 6, the race is still over. Don’t keep flying.
The Start Positions are shown in this diagram. There are three in front, two in the middle,
and three in the back (with possible alternates behind them). Everyone must stay in their lane (there are
5 lanes) until passing the home pylon.
You must keep other aircraft in sight, and if you climb, you will not be
able to see them anymore. If this
happens, your only option is to pull off the course. 
The scatter pylon is used when taking off to the West. The course is all left turns, so on takeoff,
after passing home pylon, everyone drifts to the right to go around the T-6
pylon #6, turns left, goes around the scatter pylon, and head inbound for pylon
#1. You must not overfly the hangars.
People
we met:
Jack Caulder(?) - previous director of ABS, T-6 racer
David Hoover – Formula One class president
Gary Dalleske – Formula One rookie pilot
Bill Eck – Chairman of BOD of RARA
Mark Vance – Unlimited class president
Lee Behel – Sports class president
Alan Preston – started PRS – 2001 Principal & School Director
Steve Brown – Biplane class president
Rick – Air Boss
Jeff Turney
Hoot Gibson – Astronaut: will be racing L-39’s this year
Dennis Sanders – builds and races Sea-Furys. Lives in Ione, CA (near Rancho Murieta)
Sandy Sanders – married Dennis Sanders’ mother (conveniently, they already had the same last name) after his father’s death
Karen Morss – David Morss’ wife. Writing a screenplay about Formula One Air Racing at Reno.