Silver State Photo News Winter 2004

Silver State Photo News

Goldfield Consolidated Mines Company, Goldfield, Nevada

Reno - Las Vegas - Elko - Laughlin

A subsidiary of Images of Light Internet Press Service

www.ilips.net

Last Updated June 10, 2005

Update June 6, 2005 ~ Precious Metal will travel to Reno once the weather clears in Florida. The Rolls Royce Griffon-powered racer was kept on the ground due to a series of strong thunderstorms that moved across Florida. We missed Tunica but will be at Reno for the Reno National Championship Air Races and Aviation Nation 2005, the latter at Nellis AFB, Nevada, eight miles north of the Las Vegas strip off Interstate 15. This year salutes the Vietnam Veteran with Operation Welcome Home, which has been underway since January. The final event of the 2005 season for Operation Welcome Home is the Nellis AFB Air Show, Aviation Nation 2005, and Precious Metal will be appearing at Nellis for Boyd Gaming's Las Vegas Style Air Racing demonstration, featuring the Unlimited Class racers of The World's Fastest Motorsport! 2005 events include potential Demonstration Races in Oshkosh. In the Spring. Lake Air Inc. opened its new FBO at Ft. Lauderdale. New Precious Metal gear will be advertised soon at the Precious Metal Air Racing Team "Pit Stop," our Official Online Webstore! Volunteers ~ thank you for all your support! More stories and photos coming to the website soon...

Even in the 21st Century, Round-house Engineers must move the round table by hand to facilitate loading of one of three Steam Locomotives at the Nevada State Railroad Museum, onto the tracks for operations at that facility on Nevada Day, November 1, 2003.

A proposal is currently underway to extend the Virginia & Truckee Rail lines from Virginia City, to Carson City, but surprisingly the station in the State Capitol will be on the other end of town and away from the Museum...something that disappoints local volunteers.

In the meantime, Engine 8 and three other operational Steam trains at the Nevada State Railroad Museum will continue to operate on their grounds near the Carson City Tourist Information Center on US Hwy 395, south of downtown, while restoration work continues on rail cars destined for preservation with the V&T lines in Virginia City.

Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn rides a US Army Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) through the Nevada State Capital, Carson City, on November 1, 2003 -- Nevada Day.

The Governor and his staff were among those participating in the three-hour parade celebrating Nevada's birthday in a Parade that rivaled Pasadena, California's, historic "Rose Parade" for entries and length. Over 250,000 people were estimated in attendance along the US Highway 395 parade route. History re-enactors were on hand portraying soldiers from the American Revolution, Civil War, World War I and II, as were current, active-duty, Desert Storm and Operation Iraqui Freedom/Enduring Freedom US Military personnel in Humvees, the APC, an M-1 Abrams tank and a Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk Medevac. A pair of Boeing F/A-18 Hornets overflew the parade, as did a Lockheed C-130 Hercules and the North American B-25 Mitchell and P-51D Mustang of Carson City residents Ted Melsheimer and Ted Contri, respectively.

Below, the "Leader of the Band" in action. The Drum Major is a ceremonial figure in all parades everywhere and is representative of the "Pomp & Circumstance" of such colorful events.

Winter arrived in the Sierras over Nevada Day weekend, leaving anywhere from an inch to a foot of snow along the Nevada-California border and the Reno area. A series of accidents on Interstate 80 kept the stopped traffic at times, keeping the NHP and CHP busy, while chain requirements over Donner Pass and Highway 50 kept traffic moving slowly in between. More snow is expected this week along the Sierra Nevada Range. A hard winter is not expected, which is good news for the effort to preserve the endangered Sierra Nevada Mountain Goat herds, but bad news for the snow pack which supplies water to the surrounding regions and can help or hinder fire-fighting efforts in Summer.

Two of Era Classic Airline's Douglas DC-3 commercial airliners rest on the ramp at Reno-Stead Airport, Nevada, after recently being withdrawn from service due to Federal mandates requiring security of cockpit doors post 9/11. The DC-3 first flew on December 17, 1935, at Clover Field, in Santa Monica, California. Commercial, military and firefighting versions have been in service nearly seventy years as a result. Though DC-3s are essentially grounded in airline service until a fix can be presented that will provide adequate security to DC-3 cockpits, SSNS advises that you don't count out the "Plane That Changed The World" (-- Douglas Ingalls, Aero Publishers) this early, and expect to see them fly past the century mark in 2035.

Coming and Goings at LAX

An American Trans Air (ATA) Boeing 757 arrives at Los Angeles Runway 24R while a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 departs on Runway 24L. Note the unusual shapes of the horizontal stablizer on the 737 caused by the heat signature from its two CFM56 engines.

Outbound Boeings

A Lufthansa Boeing 747-400 departs Runway 25R on the south side of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) while an El Al Boeing 767-200ER departs from Runway 24L on the North side.

Both aircraft will fly diverging courses, albeit in the same general direction. El Al to Toronto before Tel Aviv, while Lufthansa follows an Arctic route towards Frankfurt.

El Al also operates Boeing 747-400 and Boeing 777 equipment to LAX, while Lufthansa operates the Airbus A340 to and from LAX.

Silver State News is the first mainstream or alternative, print or online newspaper publication, to feature a regular, year-round column, about Air Racing in its Sports Section ... where the "World's Fastest Motorsport" belongs! Silver State News is also the first mainstream or alternative, print or online newspaper, to feature an Aviation section, due to the importance of Aerospace to the World Economy and Politic.