VERY Close Call @ Reno Air Races!

From the second clip, it's stated that flags were up to warn the other pilots, but tail draggers like that have almost no forward visibility until the tail is up. If the marshals that had the red flags had also had a radio available, I suspect this could have been prevented.
 
That could easily have been a fatal crash. I, too, wonder why there was not a radio call to abort the takeoff.
 
There's essentially no radio communication for the F-1 racers. Even if they have radio equipment on board, the sound is static at best. At the start, hand signals and flags are used. This was just a worst case scenario, where the ill-fated timing was just right, Thom's plane quit, and the green flag was on it's way down. Wasn't enough time to get everyone on the same page.

Maybe we'll see the procedures change a bit for next year?

In the meantime.. Team Hot Stuff is traveling abroad for another race!


Glad everyone was ok!


- Joseph
 
There are many golden rules in aviation, and one of them says: "no take-off clearance until the runway is clear".

Why the h... are they using this kind of multi-row starts ? It is not that this kind of accident could happen, but will happen.

Pure madness IMHO.
 
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