This was taken on the final morning of the annual Great Reno Balloon Race. Just as the sun pops into view over the Virginia Range Mountains east of the city, all the hot air balloons are launched from Rancho San Rafael Park for the Mass Ascension event, and some of them can be seen being inflated in the background. I have no idea who was on board the C-40B, but judging by all the other military aircraft that were also here (a Navy C-40, four Apache copters, a pair of Ospreys, this C-40B, and a chartered Sierra Pacific B735), the occupants of this government fleetbird were not here to watch hot air balloons. lol

Cool!

awesome capture gary, 5 stars, perfect

Gary... *F*I*V*E* Stars!!!

Awesome shot! I will be uploading some images I took during the CCA tomorrow. Come check em out!

Gary, I think this was the same weekend as Tailhook at the Nugget. Nice light there and see you at Fallon again soon?

My apologies for the late reply ... was away on a photo r/trip and did not get a chance to see these comments until yesterday. Greg, Sam, Cliff, E-pro, and H-jet >>> Hi to you all and TY for the comments. Habu >> Hey, D, I'm there tomorrow (Thurs, Sep 28). Are you in tomorrow's group? Hope to see you. Also, I'd forgotten it was Tailhook weekend. That definitely explains this one and all the visiting a/c. (Wave)