yourself on the wrong side of a pylon or
the wrong side of somebody’s wake.”
Training flights and practice race
flights necessarily include upset
training, unusual attitude recovery,
and more. Scott experienced some,
well, unexpected emergency maneu-
ver training “snuck” in courtesy of
lead jet instructor Curt Brown.
“I was flying with my instructor when a couple of the other
guys pulled up and off the course,”
Scott said. “Curt asked about my
fuel, I told him we were good,
and he said, ‘Why don’t you get in
a few more laps before we land,’
and I’m all ready to do it. Not 60
seconds later the throttle comes
out of my hand, and Curt yells,
‘ You’ve just lost the engine. …’
“I tell you, I didn’t see that coming…
but I pulled up quick, got turned back,
the wheels down, and dead-sticked back
to 34 without a hitch. It felt good. …”
Ditto for his sense of accomplish-
ment on the next mock race, with
no instructor in back. On that flight
Scott’s Iskra felt the violent downside
of wake turbulence at more than 300
knots and barely 100 feet up. It hap-
pened twice—a mock race that served
as his checkride.
Scott debriefed how he got
upended by a passing jet’s wake on
the back half of the course and got
the Iskra upright again—and without
missing a pylon. “Then a lap later it
happened again and bad enough that
I just went all the way around.” All
in all, he felt good, though he still felt
the turns were challenging him.
Guillermo and Alvaro struggled
with two challenges: getting the
speed they needed and Guillermo’s
consistency on the course and, in particular, in the formation starts. “It
looks good on the video, but it doesn’t
feel as good in the cockpit,” he said.
Flown by its previous owner, N-A-
Rush, the Spaniard’s Cassutt Formula
One bird, placed “mid-pack in the
Silver finals,” Guillermo noted. “We
want to get to that speed, but we’re
not there yet.”
Austin dealt with his own air-
plane issues and a narrow comfort
zone flying the course. He flew his
first turns around the course at about
300 feet above field elevation— 5,050
feet; on his next session he cut his
height down to 200 feet; and on his
third he dropped the Pitts slightly
more, to about 150—still higher than
the would-be competitors also train-
ing for September. He wasn’t happy.
“I need to be lower—and I will get
lower. I’m building my comfort zone,
and it’s getting better.”
The students at PRS are
affectionately called
rookies, though each
pilot arrives to the school
with an impressive flight
resume. Chris Schaich, a
737 pilot for Southwest
Airlines, flew the pylons
for the first time during
the PRS.
THE EYES OF EXPERIENCE
A cadre of 20 instructors worked the
rookies through the seminar along
with another 20 certified racers who
returned to hone their skills and
share tips with the rookies.
These 40 Reno veterans worked
with and flew with or alongside the
rookies, coaching and coaxing and,
sometimes cajoling a bit after sloppy
or otherwise sub-par circuits.
They spent hours in classroom work
and dual training—for those flying aircraft with the seating: the T- 6 Class, Jet
Class, and some in the Sport Class.
Unlimited, Biplane, Formula One,
and the balance of the Sport Class,
