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. :-)

Pagosa Springs Formation Flying Clinic Day 2 : Flights 1 and 2

Day 2 started early!  By 8am everyone was ready to go up in the air.

Mark was lead of Bravo flight of three.
His wingmen... Bonanza Bill (Bravo 2) and Mooney Brett (Bravo 3).

Lead briefed the flight.

What does a flight briefing sound like? Glad you asked!
Everyone does it a bit differently, but from my perspective it went something like this:

Engines start at a pre-planned time (time pieces are synchronized)
Pilots come up on Comm 1, which is the Bravo assigned frequency 123.45
"Bravo flight radio check"  "Bravo 2"  "Bravo 3"  (Role-played during briefing)
The lead communicates we are switching to the local airport frequency 122.7 and does another radio check in to make sure all 3 pilots are on frequency.
Weather permitting, the preferred runway at Stevens Field is 19.  To get to the run-up area for this runway, there will need to be some back-taxiing on 19 from taxiway B to taxiway A3.

Lead stops the group just before entering the runway at B and looks/listens for traffic that may be on, or planning to be on, the runway shortly.  After the back-taxi part is complete, lead radios that Bravo flight of 3 is clear of the runway and taxiing on Alpha to runway 19 for take off.

Each plane turns 45 degrees near the end of Alpha taxiway, so we parallel each other for run-up.  This position allows each pilot to see the hand signals of the ones beside him and avoids being in another's prop-wash.
The run-up hand signal can only be described as finger pointed skyward, elbow bent 90 degrees, then twirl finger in a horizontal circle.  Ok... perhaps "only described as" might be an exaggeration, but the wingmen saw it demonstrated at the pre-flight brief and were poised to look for it in the window of the pilot in front of them.
Each person was to complete their run-up, then give a thumbs up to the next person down the line until lead had the idea that we were ready to fly.

Lead will radio on local frequency that Bravo flight of 3 is taking off and will indicate our intentions as far as departing the pattern and direction of flight.

Our flight was briefed for a 2-Element take off and Bravo 3 to rejoin in the air on the way to the south practice area.

After rejoin and upon leaving the airport vicinity, lead calls for a radio check on 122.7
He then "kicks out" the wingmen by wagging the tail of his plane using exaggerated rudder movements.
Wingmen, who should have all eyes on lead, use this cue to move their aircraft further out from lead and check their planes for fuel or other engine tweaks that make for safer flight.  Lead will also at this time, give the call for Bravo flight to switch to the discreet frequency that was assigned to Bravo flight.  (123.45)  A radio check will follow.

When satisfied that we are all back on the same frequency, lead will rock his wings to bring the wingmen back into formation position.  "Rocking" is the act of deflecting the ailerons so the aircraft does this:

The brief now enters a period where we define the maneuvers that will take place, the hand signals and voice commands that will be used and what is expected of each wingman.

The pilots will also be reminded of several key phrases...
"terminate" to end that maneuver prematurely and return to original flight positions
"knock it off" to end the flight altogether... separate the aircraft and return to the airport.

Safety is always first and pilots need to know they can communicate whatever discomfort they are feeling to the flight.

Briefing also included our plan for heading back to the airport.
We went over positions for flying back in, when Bravo 3 would fall back to land alone, how far behind he would be and the frequency change needed for communication in the airport vicinity.

Last but not least, we briefed  some more Plan B type stuff... go-rounds, engine issues, other traffic etc.

And then we flew the plan!

For a few minutes, all went predictably.   :-)
Taxi, run-up, take off.... all good.

We departed to the south area but as the radio call was made for Bravo Flight to check in, another three pilots calling themselves Bravo took to the sound waves.  Uh-oh!

It seemed the "others" were not on our discreet frequency, nor were they heading to our practice area, so the decision was made by Mark to rename us "Zulu Flight" before we progressed.

Everyone was either new to formation flying or rusty.  Zulu flight took a short while to get used to each other and trust the formation flying protocol, but was looking pretty good by the end of our first flight together.

Back on the ground, de-briefing (just as important as briefing and flying) took place.  Each pilot took a turn at expressing their concerns, perceived weaknesses, giving credit where due, asking questions and ... double checking the whiteboard to make sure they were correct in thinking their flight had been assigned "Bravo"!

I'm going to go out on a limb and say all three pilots were just thrilled to learn that the "other Bravo flight" had made the mistake, not them!  In fact, when I offered to change the whiteboard so we were listed as "Zulu" now, they stopped me.   Apparently it makes a huge difference to the amount of gloating one is allotted if the evidence remains untampered with!!!  <insert giggles>

Zulu flight, flight of three took to the skies one more time before lunch.  They really flew comfortably together now.  Moving as a unit, responding quickly and smoothly.

I wondered... Is this how geese feel?