Skylor Piper

Skylor Piper has had an avid interest in aircraft and model airplanes since childhood and has been a licensed private pilot since 2003. Skylor has competed in the Sport Class at the Reno National Championship Air Races since 2015. He won his first Reno Heat Race that he competed in, the 2015 Heat 1D, after having a minor bird strike on lap 5. Skylor also took first place in the 2016 Slalom Match Racing event. He works as a mechanical engineer for Northrop Grumman Space Systems.

Sport 80 “Miss Ruby S.” was built by Skylor Piper, Jim Piper, and Sharon Hale and was completed in June 2010 after 7 years of construction. When sport 80 was initially completed, it was unpainted except for white paint on the canopy skirt and shiny red paint on the spinner and wheel pants. The red wheel pants particularly stood out and suggested Ruby Slippers, therefore Sport 80 was dubbed “Miss Ruby S.”

Miss Ruby S. is equipped with a stock 200 HP Lycoming IO-360 engine and a Hartzell Blended Airfoil constant speed propeller. She features a full IFR glass panel with a Garmin 430W GPS and Grand Rapids Technologies Electronic Flight Information System (EFIS). Miss Ruby S. was painted in 2014 by Flying Kolor’s Aircraft Painting in Riverside, California.