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Pine Bluff Formation Clinic, 10/14-10/16

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Thanks for the post BG. We plan to have a Catfish Fry on Saturday evening after the days training flights and an open bar at the EAA Hangar "O" Club. That should add to the fun. Also on Sunday following the all up formation flight, the "Harbor City Wings & Things Fly-In" will begin featuring a performance by Falcon Flight.

Bulldog
 
I am looking to have a good time flying and having a lot of FISH (beer).:D
I hope we have a big flight on Sunday.
 
Not at all

Tram.

Please sign in and then add record to the database. These clinics are very well organized and certain to improve skills. We have a blast during these clinics. Look forward to flying with you.

BeeGee
RV-7 N151WP
Lee's Summit, MO
 
Pine Bluff Formation Clinic

After 42 people signed into the Yahoo site, 29 signed up into the Database, 6 cancelled, and 23 participated in the clinic held at Pine Bluff AR (PBF).

Bulldog Loyd acted as host with his EAA Chapter all pitching in, doing a SUPER job of providing Over the Top hospitality. Airport Management additionally provided superior hospitality and an excellent airfield with a 150' wide runway which had just been upgraded, spacious ramp, and a huge hangar, and excellent briefing rooms. Local air traffic was minimal and the airspace without restrictions except for one sector over the arsenal, and the air was silky smooth. GREAT training environment.

A lot of great formation training occurred. After a Friday afternoon seminar, we flew four turns on Saturday with some great formation proficiency upgrading. Everyone upped their formation skills with several upgrading to solo status, a couple Novices passed their Wingman evaluation, and two passed their Lead evals. Then on Sunday morning, 16 pilots were selected for the ALL UP and we launched into smooth air for a sequence of formations, ending up in the mythical 16-ship Diamond of Diamonds.

Saturday evening the local EAA Chapter put on a Catfish Fry with all the fixins which was to die for. The local chapter has been renovating a PT-19 and they fired up the engine after sitting idle since 194?

Great clinic with super hospitality and super environment!
 
Sounds like you guys had a blast.

It just wasn't meant to be for me. My wife works most Saturday's of the year and this one, she was off and I was in town, I couldn't tell her I was going to play with airplanes.

I did get to spend some quality time behind a round engine of Friday, so the weekend wasn't totally lost. :)

I thought I had gotten a PM from a member here who told me they'd keep me up to date and I must have fallen through the cracks, I only found out about the clinic by searching for "formation" on the board to see if anything was coming up..

Maybe next time..
 
For those that were not there, it was a great time of very professional training during the day and lots of laughs in the evening. "TC" let me tag along this time, as this was her first clinic. She flew all four flights on Saturday solo, and I hear she made great progress. Instead of picking flowers by the side of the runway while everyone else flew, Falcon put me to work as instructor/safety pilot with a newbie, David Bray. We didn't get him to solo status, but he made progress, and best of all, didn't try to kill me. He didn't know it at the time, but I was absolutely thrilled to get 5sec. of RV8 stick time. You guys flying -8s around in formation have it so easy with all that power! Watch out when I get mine done, after having done so much in formation with Tanya's 160hp -9a. After all the training was over, I got to fly #7 of the Falcon flight demonstration practice. Talk about getting the blood pumping. Obviously this is a whole different level of performance expectation than what we do at clinics for basic training.

Sunday was my day to fly. We launched the 16 ship all up and I flew #2 in perfectly smooth air. It really just felt like a familiar lunch run on the wing of Falcon except with a little extra pressure to keep it perfectly steady and deviation free for the rest of the flight to fly off of. RV9 formation tidbit: I have a large piece of tape at the proper measured distance on the underside of each wing to indicate an RV7 wing hinge location for a wingman to fly the proper line of position. It is silver and can be a little hard to see, I think I'll paint it black. After the all up, we flew the Falcon flight performance for the fly-in, just as practiced the day before.

The whole weekend was a ball. I thoroughly enjoyed having the opportunity to pass along some knowledge and technique. I even caught David calling me "passionate about this" to TC behind my back :) Maybe next year we'll be able to bring a -9A and a -8.
 
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I finally got through the first pass of reviewing all the photographs that Kelly took while at this clinic and posted some real keepers on my picasa page at: https://picasaweb.google.com/109854784657274835863/PineBluff2011#

Let me echo the thanks to Bulldog and the great crew at the Razorback EAA for putting on such a great spread - even for those of us with our burnt orange colors on ;o). The staff at KPBF was awesome to deal with - fuel guys, line guys - even the "bucket guy" !

The volunteers - from the food servers, cooks, all the way to the safety pilots - it was all executed by the book with perfection (I'm gonna give the bus driver a pass on his faux pas)

The result - a perfect storm where everything lined up to give us a great clinic. No one was injured, no paint swapped, everyone improved on their skills - everyone !

I'd have to say one of the best, if not *the* best formation clinic I've attended. I can't wait for the next one !
 
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Wow

Ron,
Really nice pictures, I felt like I was there! Wished I were. Everybody was looking very professional. Koodos to everybody!! Thanks for sharing the pictures with us.
 
Nice pictures!

Sorry I had to miss the clinic, but Team RV had a show in Augusta that conflicted. Looks like you all had a great time and judging by the formation photos, you all learned a thing or two. Some great shots and some great flying you can be proud of.

We're kicking around the idea of having another clinic in NC in the Spring. Looks like some of you will be set to get that FFI wingman or flight lead card. We recruited a few formation students at the Augusta show. Look for an announcement here on VAF.
 
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