The Reno Air Show & Races Sponsored by Breitling
Reno, NV
September, 2006
The Reno Air Show & Races is an annual event for which Breitling has been a major sponsor for several years. I was fortunate to receive an invitation from them this year to attend the event, and got some really fantastic photos to share.
Upon arriving to the Reno Airport, I was taken to the hotel at which the event guests were staying - the El Dorado in downtown Reno. I've been to Las Vegas several times, but this was my first visit to Reno. When the downtown area had about four larger size casino hotels, it was nothing on the scale of what Vegas is - it sort of reminded me of "old Vegas." Here's a few shots from my hotel room:
The next day we headed out to the air strip outside of town where the event is held. Upon arrival to the Breitling hospitality tent, we were greeted by David Martin. Here's a shot with David Martin (professional stunt pilot) and the Breitling stunt plan he flies, in front of the Breitling hospitality tent:
We then entered the Breitling tent - it was filled with cases of watches, as well as a gorgeous Bentley car, as Breitling makes a line of watches in association with the famous automaker:
We were then escorted past the public area of the tent, into the VIP hospitality tent. The food was incredible!
Toward the back of the room in the above photo, you'll see doors leading out to a patio which provided an excellent view of the planes. Here's some shots I got of some planes getting ready for the show:
Then it was time for the show to begin!
I got some pretty spectacular shots, but later in the day we were escorted to the middle of the airfield where Breitling had a special elevated chalet built for their guests to enjoy a unique perspective of the the races and performing jets. Here's a shot of me from the chalet:
From the chalet, I got some of my best shots! Here's a photo of two planes racing - look how close they get to one another!
Here's a few shots from the jet shows - ever try to photograph something traveling near the speed of sound? It ain't easy....
After the show, we were taken back to the Breitling hospitality tent, and waited for the arrival of the weekends "celebrity guest." As many well know, Breitling hired celebrity actor and aviation enthusiast John Travolta as a spokesperson for the company last year. Mr. Travolta attended the event, and I had the opportunity to interview him for an upcoming article. He was also present during a nice dinner on Saturday night. Mr. Travolta was very gracious and an all-around nice guy - here's a shot taken after we spent time chatting during the interview:
After my interview, Mr. Travolta mingled some with the VIP guests - of course, he was wearing a Breitling Navitimer:
He also posed for a shot with some of the pilots who performed earlier in the day:
The following day I had to fly back to good old Dayton, Ohio - but not before Breitling had one final surprise in store for me. Breitling was gracious enough to arrange for me to have a flight with their stunt pilot David on Sunday - we drove over the California border to a small air strip where they'd transported the Breitling stunt plane. Here's a couple of shots of the plane - in the second shot, I'm getting instructions on how to release the safety harness and bail out of the plane in the event of engine failure....oh boy!
David performed barrel rolls, loops, and we went completely upside down! At one point, we experience "3 G's" of force - equivalent of what astronauts experience during take off. :o David was even kind enough to let me have some time "on the stick" and let me take the controls. My first experience flying a plane!
I cannot begin to express my appreciation to Breitling for the invitation to this event. It was an incredible weekend I'll not soon forget.
I hope you enjoyed the photos - thanks for looking!
* The photos and text of this article are copyright protected by the author - no part can be reproduced without permission.