RARE BEAR

摘要

Already a two-time national champion in air racing's Unlimited class with thousands of hours as a U.S. Navy pilot flying AD-6 Skyraiders, A-4 Skyhawks, and T-38s on exchange with the U.S. Air Force, Shelton knew what to do. He hauled back on the stick and zoomed up off the course, trading airspeed for altitude. "77's a mayday!," he said on the air race frequency. Maydays and deadsticks in the one-of-a-kind racer weren't new to Lyle. In 1970, his second year of racing the Bear, his 3350 developed a serious case of the hiccups when too much nitromethane was added to the plane's water injection/anti-detonation system, causing it to quit running for several two to three-second intervals then smoke badly. Shelton maydayed and landed hot, blowing two tires. Speeding toward the end of the runway, he had to ground loop the airplane in the overrun to save himself and the racer. Six years later it was happening again. He set up to land on Mojave Airport's runway 12-30, descending steeply to make the runway and leaving his gear up to preserve airspeed being bled away by the enormous 13-foot, six-inch AeroProducts Skyraider propeller milling in front of him.