Brothers from Billings Montana  to attend their 6^th National Championship Air Races during September 2012.

Mark and Dave Standish of Billings Montana will return to Reno for their 6^th year serving on the pit crew for Pilot and owner Pete Zaccagnino of Clearwater FL for the Jet (# 24) and helped if needed on the Sport Class (#28). 

The Reno Air Racing Association (RARA) sponsors the National Championship Air Races and Air Show at Reno Stead Airport north of Reno Nevada.

The National Championship Air Races and Air Show take place annually during September.  The races started in 1964 and featured multiple laps and multiple high performance aircraft on closed ovoid courses ranging from 3 miles (Biplanes, Formula 1) to 8.5 miles (Unlimited, Jet and Sport).

The first Reno air races in 1964 and 1965 were set-up by WWII flying ace Bill Stead and was located at Sky Ranch airfield 20 miles to the east of Stead on a 2000 foot dirt runway which today is called Spanish Springs.  When Stead AFB (named after Bill’s brother, Croston Stead) closed in 1966, they turned it over to the public for use and the races have been there since then.

The Unlimited class aircraft consists mainly of modified and stock World War II fighters such as P-51 Mustangs, the F-8F Bearcats, Hawker Seafury and many more which can reach speeds above 400 miles per hour on a regular basis.  In 2003, pilot Skip Holm flew Terry Bland’s highly modified P-51D Mustang “Dago Red” to an all time speed record of 507.105 during a six lap race around the 8.5 mile course.  The new Sport class which is generally homebuilt aircraft is reaching speeds of 350 mph or better.  The jet class has a record of 538 mph in 2009 by Curt Brown with his L-29 and Viper jet-engine.

 There are six classes of aircraft for the races

·         Biplane

o   Two sets of wings

·         Formula one

o   Continental 0-200 engine

o   Wing area of 66 square feet

o   Empty weight of aircraft of 500 pounds or more

o   Fixed landing gear

o   Fixed pitch propeller

·         Sport

o   Reciprocating engine of 650 cubic inches or less

·         T-6

o   Pratt and Whitney  R-1340-AN-Wasp engine

·         Jet

o   No afterburner

o   Less than 15 degrees of wing sweep

·         Unlimited

o   Empty weight of 4500 pounds or more

 Mark and Dave’s passion for aviation began at a young age in Big Timber Montana where their father Dr. V. D. Standish, a Big Timber physician, flew a Cesena 195 and a twin Beach and several other types of aircraft allowing them to fly with him.  Mark and Dave have 5 brothers and sisters. 

 Mark went on the attend A&P (Airframe & Power Plant) school at Colorado Aero Tech in Broomfield Colorado in 1991, and then went to work at Goodrich Aerospace working on heavy jets (L-1011, DC-10, Boeing 747’s etc) as a systems mechanic.  He worked through all areas of the aircraft and then started in quality control. In 1999 he moved back to Billings and worked for Corporate Air for awhile.  Mark now has an automotive repair shop; he specializes in BMW and general automotive repair.  

Dave graduated from Creighton University in 1982 and Creighton University School of Medicine in 1986. He completed his internship and residency at the Phoenix Hospital in Arizona in 1989. He joined the Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and then joined the Children's Clinic of Billings in 1989.

So how did our brothers end up on a pit crew for the National Championship Air Races?

Mark and Dave finished building their high performance kit aircraft Lancair IV by Lancair in 2006. Dave had done extensive research on what aircraft would be best and consulted Mark's expertise as an aircraft mechanic as well .  That went on for four or five years before finally selecting the Lancair IV.  Dave had started the project in 1998.  Mark moved back to Billing in 1999 and helped finish the project.  They hired Pete Zaccagnino to inspect and do a check flight for FAA certification after doing research on who would be best based on a forum of Lancair owners.  After he was finished, he asked Mark and Dave to crew for him at the Reno Air Races.   In talking with Pete he said “it was Mark and Dave’s quality of work and attention to detail on the airplane that impressed him the most”. 

The races begin with entries and pilot credentials reviewed for proper training and qualifications to race.  Reno Air Racing Association has a class earlier in the year to qualify new pilots and pilots changing classes for the races.  They cover rules and course layout and have several practice runs to get the pilots familiar with the course with an instructor on board.   It is called Pylon Racing Seminar and lasts for 4 days.  For more information go to the Reno Air Racing Associations website, www.airrace.org/

 The racing teams start arriving as early as a week earlier to get their aircraft ready for the races.  Sign in and qualifying starts Monday morning and run till Wednesday morning, then the Races start Wednesday afternoon to Sunday afternoon ending with the Gold Unlimited featured race.  During qualifying each class is given a time slot to conduct the qualifying, during this time is controlled chaos with aircraft qualifying, taking off, entering and departing the course, and landing at the same time.  This is very impressive in how well it is coordinated by the RARA/FAA personnel.  Typically each pilot has more than one run to qualify.  If you fly to low they will be disqualified for that day but you can retry the next day.  If you continue to fly to low, they will disqualify you and you will not race.  Safety is #1 priority for RARA.  The pilots and aircraft are irreplaceable.

A typical day in Reno Air Races starts before day break.  There seems to be at least one aircraft flying above the field checking any adjustments that have been recently done.  Sunrise and sunset on the ramp are beautiful times of the day.    A typical day for the pilots and pit crews starts with a morning briefings for the pilots followed by briefings with the pit crews with the aircraft schedules and needed last minute adjustments/repairs on the planes.  Planes are then staged, fueled and prepared for the pilot.  During 2011 they were working on an L-29 Delphin.  It did qualify and raced on Friday morning. 

2011 was very special for both Mark and Dave.  Mark had suffered a heart attack in June and underwent heart surgery to have a stint inserted and was released by his doctor in time to attend this year’s races.  Mark is very thankful and says the good Lord looked after him.

The races for 2011 came to a tragic end on Friday September 16, 2011 at about 4:29 P.M.  The P-51 “Galloping Ghost” flown by Jimmy Leward suffered a mechanical failure of the elevator trim tab leading investigators to believe this caused the plane to pitch up violently resulting in high G’s on the pilot rendering him unconscious which lead to the crash of the airplane in the box seat section of the grandstands.  The pilot and 9 people on the ground were killed and 69 injured.  This was the worst disaster of the air races history.  Dave Standish went an offered his services to assist with the injured.  Both Dave and Mark were in the Sport hanger helping on the Lancair when the crash occurred.  That was approximately 200-300 yards from where the impact was.   Race officials announced that the rest of the races for the weekend were cancelled.

Prior to 2011, 19 aviators lost their lives due to collisions and crashes during the races on the course.  2007 there were three pilots who died in separate incidents over a four day period.  The races were suspended for one day after the third incident but continued for the finale race on Sunday.

After months of uncertainty the Reno Air Races Association decided they needed to continue this very special event which is rich in history and tradition.  They announced in January they would have their 49^th annual National Championship Air Races and Air Show September 13-16 2012.

Owner Pete Zaccagnino of Clearwater FL says he is returning and his faithful pit crew members who include Mark and Dave are going to be by his side this September in Reno, at Stead Airport North of town.