Fly Low, Fly Fast: Inside the Reno Air Races - Hardcover

Gandt, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670884510 ISBN 13: 9780670884513

Publisher: Viking, 1999

Synopsis

A behind-the-scenes look at the fast and furious world of airplane racing vividly depicts the 1997 and 1998 championships at the Reno Air Races, chronicling the history of the sport from the 1930s and capturing the wild personalities who participate.

About this title

About the Author

Robert Gandt, a former navy pilot and current Delta Airlines captain, is the author of Bogeys and Bandits (Viking and Penguin), Sky Gods, and two other books. He lives in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Reviews

The high-risk sport of unlimited air racingAin which racers fly wingtip-to-wingtip around towers at high speedsAis extolled with a focus on the 1997 and 1998 Reno Air Races, which are held annually in September and draw as many as 150,000 spectators. A former navy pilot and current Delta Airlines captain, Gandt (Bogeys and Bandits) shares his knowledge of the planes, but his detailed descriptions of the former warbirds will appeal mainly to hardware junkies. And his comprehensive account of the sport's history and evolution, which could clarify much for the reader, doesn't appear until the second part of the book. But Gandt does succeed in portraying the bravura of the flyers, who are traditionally male (the first woman entered in 1990), and their rivalries in colorful depictions of the Brethren, the sport's elite pilots, ranging from former astronauts and ex-military pilots to Bill "Tiger" Destefani, an ex-farmer who has won the race six times. In trying to understand why unlimited air racing hasn't caught on like stock-car racing ("Wasn't stock-car racing a redneck thing... ?" he has flyers wondering. "By comparison, air racing attracted a rarefied class of mostly college-educated, affluent aviation enthusiasts"), Gandt examines the differences between the two sports, but one similarity emerges: "the prospect of mayhem." Fans want to see action and possible destruction. Many accidents are mentioned, including a fatal 1949 crash in which a plane hit a home, killing a mother and child, an occurrence that halted air racing for 15 years. Gandt's souped-up, jargonized writing is for fans of air racing and warships and lovers of extreme sports, not for the average sports reader. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A history of Unlimited AirRacing over 35 years at Reno, Nev., an annual high-risk competition among veteran top pilots of propeller-driven planes that are mostly hyped-up WWII surplus fighters innovatively improved to drive their original wartime speed to close to 500 miles per hour. Gandt (Bogeys and Bandits, 1997, etc.), a former navy pilot and a current Delta Air Lines captain, writes of the successors to old-time daredevil speedsters and test pilots like Jimmy Doolittle and Roscoe Turner. The modern racers, who may be friends and comrades, try to outdo one another while competing to win the big race near the desert at Reno. The best fighters of WWII, such as the P-51 Mustang and the P-38 Lightning, were worked on by expert, creative pit crews and investors to win the coveted race and the fat purse. Professional air racing has been called the most dangerous sport in the world, one that sometimes claims the lives of the most adroit and experienced pilots. The Reno event attracts as many as 100,000 grandstand spectators. Some form fan clubs around favorite celebrity pilots. The majority of the contestants are former military and airline flyers, ``hotshot'' test pilots, and a few former astronauts. Gandt describes some scary situations, when even the best equipment, stressed and strained by the tremendous speed, can result in crashes and loss of life despite the superior skills of flyers and ground crews. Gandt points out that WWII relics gradually wear down and become too valuable as antiques and collectors items to be risked in demanding competition. Included are colorful descriptions of characters driven by their love of planes and flying. May well appeal to aficionados of flying and those who enjoy adventure stories, but not necessarily the general-reader population. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Viking
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0670884510
• ISBN 13: 9780670884513
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 336