wera710
Well Known Member
Easton MD, at ESN airport. Held on the Easton Airport Day weekend each year.
RedStar Formation Clinic. RedStar Pilots Association. Held on October 14, 15, and 16 of 2011. Posting it anyway for those interested in next going year, or those wanting to attend other RPA clinics in their own region. And besides, with all those Commie aircraft, I need more RV guys flying good CAPITALIST aircraft off my wing!
If you have any interest in learning flying formation with your RV, this group of Yak/CJ pilots will welcome you with open arms. While their normal focus is military aircraft, primarily Yak-52s and CJ-6As, you will also see T-6s, T-34s, T-28s, possibly Grasshoppers of various sorts, and if you are lucky, a Spitfire or P-51. The group is very friendly and very open to helping RV pilots as the performances in formation are similar. The three day clinic is pro-rated depending on how many days you wish to participate. The $100 to $150+ fee covers a catered lunch each day, a dinner Friday and nicely catered hanger dinner Saturday evening. There are breakfast treats if you mainline donuts and coffee, plus some extras that may change from year to year.
Most importantly, You also get the complete attention of a very professional formation instructor in your right or back seat for all three days, excellent debriefs on the flights, personal attention if needed on any phase of the flight, and if you are not late to the party, this year included a 5 gallon bucket of smoke oil! The smoke oil may or may not apply for the next clinic but doing the math, your money is amazingly well spent with or without it.
You will be mated with a like-performance aircraft, and in the case of the RV, this means you will be flying wing with RVs, Yaks, CJs, T-34s and T-6 Texans -- All of which cruise at similar speeds for the purposes of formation instruction. You will be instructed in the proper sight lines, speeds, and procedures. After a solid foundation on the ground you will be paired with a flight leader and an instructor in your spare seat, and off you go.
The group is professional to the extreme but never intimidating. The instructors are mostly prior military fighter pilots and they will fly with you on every hop if you are not yet rated. You will participate in military style flight briefs and debriefs, as well as several group briefs and seminars, one of which for this year was a repeat of the RPA seminar at Airventure 2011, which was an overwhelming hit (an in-depth examination and lessons learned of the Duxford crash of the P-51 Big Beautiful Doll).
RedStar is a FAA FAST Signatory so your sorties will go toward obtaining your FAST Card, which qualifies you to fly formation in FAA Waivered space (airshows, Oshkosh, et cetera). I cannot over stress how professional and well run this clinic is. You will learn the needed skills at a rate that will not overwhelm you, and by Saturday afternoon, you will be schooled well enough to take part in the Mass Formation if you wish, which is the main event for the spectators of the Easton Airport Day. In 2011 this event generated public donations for a local Hospice Program. Altruism aside, for the pilots it was a very entertaining and fun event. Seeing 19 aircraft, most with smoke ON, is impressive from the ground, but seeing it from pattern altitude, while parked off the wing of a T-6, is amazing.
But for all of time hacks, white boards, professional training, and instructors reminding you that you are getting acute on that rejoin, or that you need to close it up a little, you will meet some of the funniest individuals flying, and might even be called up on charges at the Saturday night Kangaroo Court, which gives Comedy Central a run for the money!
For the wives or husbands who do not fly, daily runs are made to local the
gym, shopping and other areas of interest outside the airport fence. There is a little something for everyone, so don?t feel like you have to come alone.
If you?ve gotten tired of boring holes and making endless burger runs, or are not trustful of your friend flying so close without some training, and/or want to hone your stick and rudder skills in a completely entertaining and fun way, while doing so in a safety-committed environment, with top notch instructors who are, in essence, volunteering their time, the RPA formation Clinic should definitely be on your bucket list.
RedStar Formation Clinic. RedStar Pilots Association. Held on October 14, 15, and 16 of 2011. Posting it anyway for those interested in next going year, or those wanting to attend other RPA clinics in their own region. And besides, with all those Commie aircraft, I need more RV guys flying good CAPITALIST aircraft off my wing!
If you have any interest in learning flying formation with your RV, this group of Yak/CJ pilots will welcome you with open arms. While their normal focus is military aircraft, primarily Yak-52s and CJ-6As, you will also see T-6s, T-34s, T-28s, possibly Grasshoppers of various sorts, and if you are lucky, a Spitfire or P-51. The group is very friendly and very open to helping RV pilots as the performances in formation are similar. The three day clinic is pro-rated depending on how many days you wish to participate. The $100 to $150+ fee covers a catered lunch each day, a dinner Friday and nicely catered hanger dinner Saturday evening. There are breakfast treats if you mainline donuts and coffee, plus some extras that may change from year to year.
Most importantly, You also get the complete attention of a very professional formation instructor in your right or back seat for all three days, excellent debriefs on the flights, personal attention if needed on any phase of the flight, and if you are not late to the party, this year included a 5 gallon bucket of smoke oil! The smoke oil may or may not apply for the next clinic but doing the math, your money is amazingly well spent with or without it.
You will be mated with a like-performance aircraft, and in the case of the RV, this means you will be flying wing with RVs, Yaks, CJs, T-34s and T-6 Texans -- All of which cruise at similar speeds for the purposes of formation instruction. You will be instructed in the proper sight lines, speeds, and procedures. After a solid foundation on the ground you will be paired with a flight leader and an instructor in your spare seat, and off you go.
The group is professional to the extreme but never intimidating. The instructors are mostly prior military fighter pilots and they will fly with you on every hop if you are not yet rated. You will participate in military style flight briefs and debriefs, as well as several group briefs and seminars, one of which for this year was a repeat of the RPA seminar at Airventure 2011, which was an overwhelming hit (an in-depth examination and lessons learned of the Duxford crash of the P-51 Big Beautiful Doll).
RedStar is a FAA FAST Signatory so your sorties will go toward obtaining your FAST Card, which qualifies you to fly formation in FAA Waivered space (airshows, Oshkosh, et cetera). I cannot over stress how professional and well run this clinic is. You will learn the needed skills at a rate that will not overwhelm you, and by Saturday afternoon, you will be schooled well enough to take part in the Mass Formation if you wish, which is the main event for the spectators of the Easton Airport Day. In 2011 this event generated public donations for a local Hospice Program. Altruism aside, for the pilots it was a very entertaining and fun event. Seeing 19 aircraft, most with smoke ON, is impressive from the ground, but seeing it from pattern altitude, while parked off the wing of a T-6, is amazing.
But for all of time hacks, white boards, professional training, and instructors reminding you that you are getting acute on that rejoin, or that you need to close it up a little, you will meet some of the funniest individuals flying, and might even be called up on charges at the Saturday night Kangaroo Court, which gives Comedy Central a run for the money!
For the wives or husbands who do not fly, daily runs are made to local the
gym, shopping and other areas of interest outside the airport fence. There is a little something for everyone, so don?t feel like you have to come alone.
If you?ve gotten tired of boring holes and making endless burger runs, or are not trustful of your friend flying so close without some training, and/or want to hone your stick and rudder skills in a completely entertaining and fun way, while doing so in a safety-committed environment, with top notch instructors who are, in essence, volunteering their time, the RPA formation Clinic should definitely be on your bucket list.
