Pagosa Springs Formation Flying Clinic - Flight of 10

And just like that, the clinic and the weekend, were almost over.  :-(

All that was left to do was the flight of 10 ships to Durango.  This was the closest thing to Bonanzas To Oshkosh one could expect before the actual Bonanzas To Oshkosh event... and unfortunately, B2OSH was not going to be possible for me in 2013.

We all arrived at Jim and Sheila's hangar, rested and enthusiastic.  The weather was spectacular, again!
There was a pre-flight briefing and everyone was divided into elements of two.  Going to Durango was fairly straight forward.  Five elements of two ships, spaced appropriately based on aircraft capability.

First though, a "walk through" of the plan.  I love this part.  Formation flying is fairly intense.
These pilots took it seriously (as they should) and seldom got the chance to act a bit goofy and overly dramatic together during the practices.   The walk through seemed to be the exception in my opinion!

I smiled as I photographed 10 pilots acting out run-ups...

 and take off rolls.

Four elements of two were spaced 15 seconds apart, then Tom in the Baron was going to wait 30 seconds before beginning the take-off roll.

The plan was to clear aircraft to leave the formation and fly homeward, after taking off in elements of 3 at Durango Airport.   This puts folks well on their way home, just before lunch.  Sheila had us covered though... Each person had a little brown bag lunch to take away with them.  So thoughtful!

Then we were off!

I rode right seat in Tom's Baron.   We were in charge of bringing up the rear... which is just perfect for taking pictures.

While our spacing at Durango might have been a bit tighter, I felt it was a well done flight, all told.

My only question was about the end.  We had briefed that all 10 would shut down engines at the same time on cue, but by the time the Baron was taxied into place on the Durango ramp, not only were most of the planes shut down, some pilots and passengers were already wandering outside the cockpits.

It was already pretty hot.  I could see why there rush to get inside.  The FBO at Durango was an air conditioned pilot's haven.  Clean bathrooms, free chocolates and a spacious meeting room made for a very comfortable debrief.

And before too long, it was time to go.

The order of aircraft for the Durango 3-ship element departure was specifically chosen so that pilots could be cleared to depart the formation and go home, starting with #10.  There were just two airplanes and pilots (and me!) heading all the way back to Pagosa Springs.  I rode right seat with Jim Lane in his A36 and listened to the goodbyes as each man was soon lost from sight.  It was bittersweet.

Then along came Michael!

You might remember my blogging about being right seat passenger in his Glasair in 2012.  He caught up in the blink of an eye, appearing at my side of the A36... ready to have his picture taken.  He was long overdue and I had promised.

My last Pagosa Springs Formation Flying Clinic flight was a good one.  Nice landing Michael!

 

And finally... leaving the Pagosa Springs area, Longmont bound in Bonanza N303B.    :-)

Pagosa Springs Formation Flying Clinic - Saturday Afternoon Flying

Saturday was a busy flying day for me!

I flew another two flights in the afternoon. This time taking to the skies in different Beechcraft airplanes... another V-Tail (turbo-normalized) and an A36.

You would think my wee brain was full by now... and it was, but apparently I had saved room for learning under the tutelage of Weebs.

Preflighting was done in much the same way as I outlined in my last post. But this time it had a military-esk feel. Very structured, right down to order in which pilots asked questions. I was granted permission to ask questions too - at the end :-)

Weebs preferred method is that the preflight briefing occurs after each pilot has either received or filled in the appropriate data on the formation flying form.

For such a well rehearsed flight, there were some surprising hiccups. In fact, after several "issues" with communication and one unsafe flying situation, Weebs came within a breath of terminating the flight. We nearly spent the rest of our time on the ground, debriefing - loudly!

I was impressed how these pilots recovered their composure after something was messed up, then not only continued the flight, but did a pretty good job of it. I know I'm not ready to pilot an airplane in formation yet.

The second flight of the afternoon was a breeze. I had the pleasure of going up specifically to photograph General Bud Sittig and his lovely wife, Fran, in their Bonanza. Jim was my pilot, Weebs sat co-pilot.

If you have ever wondered about whether airplanes have "in-the-air brakes", let me tell you they don't. However, I watched Bud take off just behind us then easily pull his aircraft up into perfect position. He then backed off the power with such precision that he stopped accelerating at his speed and immediately fell back to the same speed we were doing. It looked like he might have had "in-the-air brakes"!

Both Bud and Weebs were military trained pilots. Jim has extensive formation flying experience and in Pagosa Springs too. Flying with the three of them was about as awe-inspiring as it gets. I consider myself fortunate to have had the opportunity and couldn't wait to tell Mark all about it afterwards.

We headed in the direction of Chimney Rock. A natural geographic feature with a fitting name.

This last flight of the day was the best formation landing I had been a part of and had the pleasure of photographing... Follow Jim and watch Bud as he maintained his position all the way to the ground!

Day 2 was drawing to a close. I was EXHAUSTED and hadn't even been doing any flying. With just enough energy left over during my "down time" in the afternoon, I had put together a slide show for viewing during dinner. Everyone likes a slideshow. :-)

Dinner... Another delicious meal hosted at Jim and Sheila's hangar. How this lady managed it, I'm not sure. She had a way of satisfying the appetites of a dozen ravenous pilots and their significant others though. We had all been looking forward to Sheila's cooking all day!

Tomorrow's plan... Flight of 10 in 2-ship elements, heading for Durango.


**Note: For those of you wondering what the debrief looked like after the flight with Weebs that went less-than-perfectly.... It was not pretty! The pilots sat for debriefing with anxiety in their eyes, fully prepared for Weebs to have some sort of tantrum.

Weebs calmly recalled the events, asked each person of their account and gathered information to help him understand how the decisions and actions came about. Everyone felt better after talking it through and everyone had a valuable learning experience. :-)