Reno air race midair crash

[Roy DeCamara]

Just after completion of the T-6 Gold race, two T-6 collided with both crashing to the ground.  Remaining events canceled. Really tragic.  Condolences to the families and friends of both pilots.

[Dan McEntee]

   Such a tragic and sad way to end the Reno racing history. As far as I know it was Nick Macy in "Six Cat" and Chris Rushing in "Baron's Revenge." I was watching the live stream on the RARA site and live stream ended just after they crossed the finish . They were in the patter for recovery when they touched and both went straight in. I checked another live stream and saw no fire or smoke, and one comment I read on line said they went down west of the airport, and no casualties on the ground. So far the remain 3 or 4 races are canceled. Dreadnaught ate the corncob in qualifying, and Miss America was having lots of issues but was grated a slot on the Gold final, but was still a question mark.so the Bardahl Special almost looked like a shoe in for make it a bookend beginning and end in 50 years of Reno air race history, but I guess we will never know now.

    Lots has been and will be said about the dangers of air racing, with I think 21 deaths in 20 accidents over the 50 years at Reno, but I would hazard a guess that compared to other motor sports, and considering the level of danger, that really too bad when you consider the number or laps raced, hours in the air, and number of pilots involved over 50 years. The question of whether it will continue at another venue remains to be seen.

   Thoughts and prayers for the pilots, families and crew members.
  Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

[Dan McEntee]

  Well, the latest I have is that this was perhaps a case similar to what happened with the P-63 and B-17 last year in Texas. The P-63 was in a left bank turning to form up with or over take the B-17 and he did not get a good visual on the bomber and instead collided with it. In this case, I think it was Six Cat that was turning get in line for a landing approach and impacted the fuselage of Baron's revenge just in front of it's horizontal stab with it's left wing and severed the tail from the fuselage. Baron's revenge had his gear down, so was prepared to land. Both aircraft went straight in from there. There is supposed to be video of the collision that has been turned over to the NTSB and I saw a video tonight of a preliminary report that had a still photo of Baron going down with no tail. So, nothing to do with speed , or old fragile airplanes, just a momentary laps of awareness, it would seem, after two experienced pilots finished what might have been the last race of their careers, and it reality it was. Accidents like this have happened at small airports before all over the country. You just can't take your mind off the job at hand until you are on the ground, wheels in the chocks, switches off and prop quits turning. Just still so hard to fathom this involved two of the top pilots in the class.
    Type at you later,
    Dan McEntee