Short final rwy 25L

Clay Lacy arriving in his sleek Tigercat at the 2008 Reno National Championship Air Races

A recent acquisition to Clay Lacy's inventory, this rare Grumman F7F-3P Tigercat (G-51) NX909TC is seen here taking off from RWY 16R during some pattern work

It is difficult to describe the feeling of departing SNA, but hopefully this photo helps illustrate some of the procedure: First, engines are generally throttled up while the brakes are applied, takeoff roll and intial climb happen quickly on the 5701' runway, climbout is usually at a higher pitch than most normal departures, and after initial climb the engines are throttled back before a left hand turn is performed to follow the Newport Bay topography

Not a bad job if you can get it

This fitting registration is looking very shiny in the new paint scheme