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Advanced formation flying at Temora

newt

Well Known Member
Eddie (RV-7), Mal (RV-6A), Glenn (RV-7) and myself (RV-6) did a formation flying course in Sydney last November. It's a flight activity endorsement on a pilot license in Australia, all very formal and well organized, modulo the usual regulatory bureaucracy.

We've been out on weekends practicing, and wanted to get one of our instructors back to hone our skills, set us some new challenges, and generally step things up a notch.

So we brought Jeremy Miller from Mildura and Michael Jorgensen from Brisbane across to Temora in central NSW, and spent three days on it last weekend.

Belly turns. Formation wing-overs. Line-abreast turns. Combat formation. Planning and executing manoeuvres in larger formations. The whole nine yards.

We'd started doing some of that ourselves already, but Jeremy and Mike's experience added to our discipline and safety culture.

If you're in the US and you have a flying RV, get yourself to a FAST clinic, get your ticket, and practice, practice, practice.

And if you've never done combat formation, get someone who has to show you the ropes. Best fun you can have in the cockpit, I reckon. I think I might have scored a guns kill on Eddie. :D

Up, forward, in!

- mark

form.jpg


panoform.jpg
 
Hi Mark,
Looks good. There are a couple of RV owners at Tyabb with formation endorsements, and I have just lined up a 7 to complete my endorsement over the next few months.
Can't wait, looks like it will be fun.
Cheers.
 
I saw the video on the Pilots Lounge FB page, very cool indeed. Aero & Formation are my next tickets.
 
Nice line in that photo

Had magnificent time in Temora, with outstanding instruction, great teamwork and more fun than I thought possible in an aeroplane. There is gonna be a lot of combat formation practice in our future.
 
Looks good. There are a couple of RV owners at Tyabb with formation endorsements, and I have just lined up a 7 to complete my endorsement over the next few months.
Can't wait, looks like it will be fun.

Most fun you can have with pants on.

One of the things we've covered is a process for inducting other formation pilots into our group. Terminology and SOPs are absolutely critical, extremely important to make sure that everyone is on the same page to avoid swapping paint.

We've observed that we spend about as much time briefing and debriefing as we do flying.

We've been trained to RAAF procedures (right down to using their paperwork for briefings/debriefings). Means we'd need to do a bit of a mental shift to fly with USAF- or FAST-trained pilots, but that's what the briefings are there to sort out. It can't be that hard, RAAF and USAF do pilot exchange programs all the time.

Say, "Hi!" to Chris Brown for me :)

- mark
 
What an awesome weekend we had.

I think that bullet your taking about hit my tyre thus the flat when I got home

Cheers
 
To explain Eddie's last comment:

He and Glenn BOTH had flat tyres on landing at home base, about ten minutes apart from each other.

We're now sufficiently well trained that we can have formation tire blowouts :D

- mark

xnc-flat.jpg
 
Looks like my tire repair will have to wait till next weekend, my original plan was to fly the RV down to Bendigo, but now the weather has me using JetStar instead.

Bummer
 
Started at Last

I eventually got a start on my formation on the weekend. Had a blast. Can't wait until next session!
 
I eventually got a start on my formation on the weekend. Had a blast. Can't wait until next session!

Still at Tyabb? Tell Chris Brown I said, "Hi."

(he's been doing formation in 152's for the last six months. I keep telling him he needs a better airplane...)

- mark
 
Hi Mark,
I still fly out of Tyabb sometimes, but do not know very many in the club, hence I do not know Chris. I tend to hang around away from the club rooms when down there.
I also fly a Nanchang out of Tooradin quite regularly, so that satisfies my flying itch most weeks and I don’t get to Tyabb.
Cheers,
Joe
 
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