My Thoughts On The Reno Air Race Crash

This is a long post and I apologize but I feel the need to express myself this morning.

As I watch the news reports of the Reno Air Race crash on 9/16 I am shocked and saddened. Many of our friends know that we attend these Air Races regularly. Jim and I have gone to them 6 years out of the last 10 years. When we go, we make a week of it and usually go about 3 or 4 days of the Air Show. The qualifying events start on Monday and the pits are open so one can casually stroll through the pits and talk to the pilots without the crowds being there. As the week progresses, more and more people come and usually by the weekend there are close to 50,000 people there. Jim and I love the Air Races. It gets in your blood. The sounds and sights are mesmerizing. Its exciting….and dangerous.



Unlimited Race at the Reno Air Races in 2007


Those at the event yesterday will forever be changed. Some lost their lives, some were injured and others were just witnesses. Many people will relive the nightmare over and over and over. Thousands of times a day it will replay in their minds. They will always remember what they were doing at that very moment. Those that looked away from the races will always remember the collective gasp of the crowd when they realized the plane was going to crash and the moment when they knew they had only moments to react. They will remember the micro second when their brain realized what was happening. When they try to sleep at night, their brains will replay it like a sick motion picture that won’t stop. In the future, the sounds of an airplane will trigger the memories and their hearts will beat faster and the adrenaline will rush until the plane has safely passed by. Their brains know they are ok, but their body reacts to the sounds. Many will struggle with PTSD for months or possible years. So in a way, many more were injured at the even then the statistics will count.

Below is a very graphic video of the 2011 plane crashing into the crowd. This is not for the faint of heart. Watch at your own discretion.



Jim and I have had our concerns over the years about the safety of the event. We thought about how we are fenced in and there was only one main gate to get out of the event. We thought about the size of the crowd and if something happened and the crowd panicked, would we be able to get out. We thought about what would happen if a plane hit the grandstands.

In all the years we went, there weren’t ever any crashes that we witnessed. Plenty of “Mayday” calls but no crashes…that is until 2007.

We were sitting in the grandstand watching the Jet Class race on Thursday afternoon of Sept 13, 2007. I had just gone down and bought some nachos and was sitting there with them on my lap. There were at least 8 jets in the race and it was pretty exciting. It was the first lap of the race and they were bunched up together. They were making their way (left to right) in front of the grandstands when one jet got in the wake of another jet and he started porpoising. He then nose dived onto the runway in front of the grandstands. I had just bent over my nachos and lifted the chip to my lips when the crowd gasped. I looked up just in time to see the jet slam into the ground and turn into a giant fireball. I felt the heat of the flames. The entire crowd stood up. “ooooh no, ooooh no” . The announcer kept calm and told people to stay calm and stay put. I knew the pilot just died.



We went back to our hotel that evening, trying to decide if we would ever go back to the races again. It was only Thursday and we had already pre-purchased our tickets for Friday. We made the decision to go back the next day. We got there early and walked around the pits. We went out to the Jet pits, which is very close to runway and watched the formula racers prepare to take off. We watched them take off, one by one. We decided to go back to the grandstand and watch the race. As watched the planes come down the chute (they line up way up in the sky and when the race starts, they dive down to the pylons and race very close to the ground) I had a very uneasy feeling. I told Jim “I don’t like this”. There were too many planes, too close together , which is usually the case on the first lap. As they round the first pylon on my right, two planes touched and one plane immediately dropped to the ground in a cloud of dust. The pilot died on impact. (the pilot ended up being one we had talked to previously in the week).



The other plane continued “He’s still in the air, He’s still in the air” and landed on the far runway despite a broken windshield and a cut up face.
I was very shook up seeing the second plane crash in two days. Seeing one is traumatic enough, but seeing two….incredible.

We went home wondering if we would ever go back. 2009 comes and we decided we would go back. We have always gone on odd years. About every two years we really get the bug to go back. We did see another plane crash in 2009 but luckily the pilot survived.

Here it is, September 2011. Jim and I decided early in the year that we probably wouldn’t go this year. We had other things going on and trips to take and not sure we wanted to spend a week in Reno this year. However, as it got closer we started getting the bug. I saw Jim was logging onto the race website and watching podcasts of the pilots. Last week he watched the Jimmy Leeward podcast on the P-51 mustang, Galloping Ghost. I watched the end with him. We both regretted our decision not to go the races this year. He stated just a few days ago, that if our weekend plans fell though, we should head up to Reno for the races. I agreed. It would be fun. But we didn’t make it. We were not sitting in the stands watching the Unlimited Races. We were not injured and did not suffer from PTSD but I can put myself in the seats of those that were there because I have been in their seats and loved watching the races that they were watching.

I don’t know if the Reno Air Races will ever happen again. If they do, would we go back? I don’t know. I don’t know how I could but I would miss them alot.

Someone asked me why I thought there have been more accidents there in the past few years. I really think that pilots are "pushing the envelope" on modifications and speed. The goal is to win so they are continually modifying their planes to get more speed out of it. The next year, someone else does something new to get more speed to beat last years record. The amount of speed they have gotten out of the planes have been incredible. We were there the first year that the unlimited class reached 500mph and now it seems like the new norm.