Friend Doug took me for a flight yesterday, we ran up to Georgetown for some cheaper-than-San Marcos gas, then bounced off Taylor and back south over the F1 track. The track is _really_ close to the end of 35R at Austin Bergstrom, so we spoke nicely to the controllers there and they let us do a quick orbit there while the Southwest jets were coming in around us! Not that we were in the way, but it would be very easy to _get_ in the way...

Anyway, here's a couple of aerial views of the circuit. We stayed at the hairpin end; if we had gone too far over to the pit straight, we could have been a bit close to Bergstrom.

If you aint seen F1 in the flesh,....well prepared to be blown awy by the sheer breaking & acceleration of these things, I know you guys have IndyCars, but these things are in another league....
Take good ear defenders,...with no Turbos to muffel em they literally scream....

Lookin for ward to someones hots....typical F1 thought they wanna put chain link fences between the crowd & the cars,...unless you can sneak a 500f4 intot he grandstands....

Al

FlyingPhotog wrote:
Jeff W. wrote:
I really love how you captured the shear power of this "heavy" with the jello air and jet wash - excellent

Much appreciated Jeff...

Feel free to help with the ID but I think this is the "smallest" model of Challenger just cracking the gear on takeoff from Tucson this morning...




Beautiful shot, sir. If it all goes well, my son - who is Ultrarunner here on FM - should be piloting one of these puppies in the short term. I can remember when he was sitting in the left seat of Cherokee 140 on 3 pillows with wooden blocks taped to the rudder pedals flying his old man around . Time flies, eh

thanks for the pic

Angry wrote:
If you aint seen F1 in the flesh,....well prepared to be blown awy by the sheer breaking & acceleration of these things, I know you guys have IndyCars, but these things are in another league....
Take good ear defenders,...with no Turbos to muffel em they literally scream....

Lookin for ward to someones hots....typical F1 thought they wanna put chain link fences between the crowd & the cars,...unless you can sneak a 500f4 intot he grandstands....

Al

Hm, good point about the ear protection; thanks.
We will see what I can take in... they say they allow personal camera equipment, maybe I can get my 400mm in there and perch at the top of the hill by the hairpin... I'm thinking on Friday I might just take my little camera and see what everyone else is packing!

Jeff W. wrote:
FlyingPhotog wrote:
Thanks Gents...

Not a fan of shooting aluminum tubes, but when he's right in your kitchen...


I really love how you captured the shear power of this "heavy" with the jello air and jet wash - excellent

"Jello Air and Jet Wash": the title of Jay's first coffee table book?

Sunny Southwest Departure


I guess sunshades cost extra on a B737

futurshox wrote:
Angry wrote:
If you aint seen F1 in the flesh,....well prepared to be blown awy by the sheer breaking & acceleration of these things, I know you guys have IndyCars, but these things are in another league....
Take good ear defenders,...with no Turbos to muffel em they literally scream....

Lookin for ward to someones hots....typical F1 thought they wanna put chain link fences between the crowd & the cars,...unless you can sneak a 500f4 intot he grandstands....

Al

Hm, good point about the ear protection; thanks.
We will see what I can take in... they say they allow personal camera equipment, maybe I can get my 400mm in there and perch at the top of the hill by the hairpin... I'm thinking on Friday I might just take my little camera and see what everyone else is packing!

Jo,

With 2 free practice sessions on the Friday, it might be better to try out the gear on the Friday.

Yeah, I am thinking that if I take my 100-400 then actually it is less than the 10" length they originally wanted to prohibit... so maybe I'll take that on the 7D and the little Olympus.. that way it might be manageable. I think we will be on our feet for three looooong days!

Cool overheads! Given that friday is the likely to be the least crowded day of the race weekend, I'd say bring your long lens then. Sunday might get very crowded, especially at the hairpin. Like Angry says, there are fences galore all over the track. Some GA sections are however not too bad to look over the fence. Might need lots of walking though

I got an e-mail this morning that FIFI is grounded again. #2 is toast. They need $250,000 for repairs and a spare. I think it may be time for the CAF to take a look at what the Sanders decided to do with their Sea Fury Argonaut, and put R-2800's in that thing. With the exception of us gearheads nobody would know the difference, and it would be much more reliable.

Tim Adams wrote:
I got an e-mail this morning that FIFI is grounded again. #2 is toast. They need $250,000 for repairs and a spare. I think it may be time for the CAF to take a look at what the Sanders decided to do with their Sea Fury Argonaut, and put R-2800's in that thing. With the exception of us gearheads nobody would know the difference, and it would be much more reliable.


Well that didn't took long just after two years hope they use something like your idea Tim.
Would be a shame if they can't fix it.... lucky to have it seen fly once in 2010 at Alliance were it came in for Static after it's Restoration...

Two-fer

Look ma! Somebody jello'd that mountain! Cool stuff Jay

Heres an AA jet from dfw

Very cool pic Ironhide.....although the slight lean to the right is bothering me a bit.

Tim Adams wrote:
I got an e-mail this morning that FIFI is grounded again. #2 is toast. They need $250,000 for repairs and a spare. I think it may be time for the CAF to take a look at what the Sanders decided to do with their Sea Fury Argonaut, and put R-2800's in that thing. With the exception of us gearheads nobody would know the difference, and it would be much more reliable.

When I visited the Air Force Museum in Dayton a couple of years ago, we saw them working on a B-29 engine during the behind the scenes tour:





Too bad that by virtue of it being there, it won't ever fly again.

Mark

"Centennial" Falcon

JWilsonphoto wrote:

BTW, no trick filter, just the iris on the Nikon 24 PCE.

I notice the same tendancy with the 24pc-e to create those enhanced and larger than normal starlight effects. Does the til/shift optics make the starlight effect more distinct for some reason?



Glenn

FlyingPhotog wrote:
Predatory Glance...
(that awkward moment when you realize he really is looking at you!)


Loving the dirty feel on this image, man I gotta get out to Arizona sometime

Thanks... Thought it needed a little "Terminator" feel...

Dear Powerball Pt II

what the heck is in the tail of the X? It looks so wide at the top almost like a electronic warfare pod.