March 11-13,2011 - Formation Clinic

Smyrna, Tennessee

I took off from work this Friday morning, hopped into the RV and headed to Frederick (FDK) where I met Mike R. and Bill R. (Jolly).  Mike R. didn't get his medical approval back from the FAA -- 3 months after submittal but "we're here to help"  -- but he wanted to go to the Formation Clinic anyways so he rode with me.  We stopped for lunch and refueling at London, Kentucky (LOZ)and then continued on to Smyrna, Tennessee (MQY).  As to be expected, we encounted headwinds heading west. 

I got a new 50mm lens for my camera and tried it out on Jolly on the transit to Tennessee. 

 
The 3-hour formation ground school was Friday late afternoon/evening with a pizza break in the middle.  Because I'm a Wingman card holder, I technically didn't have to attend, but I wanted to and picked up a few nuggets.  I understand the formation thing pretty well now -- but knowing it is one thing -- actually doing it well is another.   Smokey conducted the ground school and gave his usual outstanding presentation. 
 
Here Martin -- one of the two local pilots who organized the clinic and handled all the ground logistics -- is briefing us on all the transportation, food, etc.  arrangements.   Team RV organized the flight operations. 
 
50 pilots had signed up for the clinic and I think at least 45 showed up.  There seemed to be more pilots new to formation flying at this clinic than the one last November. 
 
I'd say there were 40+ RVs at the clinic. 
 
Smyrna Airport is a controlled field.  You can see the tower in the background.  A former military base, it has two long runways and covers a big area.    
 
The ground school was held in a nice, new FBO facility but our RVs were parked in a big ramp area on the other side of the field. 
 

Briefings complete, walking out to our ships.

Saturdays training consisted of four flights with a break in the middle for lunch.  All todays flights were in four-ship formations.   We couldn't have hoped for much better weather for flying that we had today. 

 
The briefings took place in that big hangar. 
 
Lots of RVs.   Big ramp.
 
On my first flight, I was #4.  I also had one of the new guys as a passenger.
 
On my second flight, yours truly was the passenger.  The pilot was doing his solo formation flight.  We flew in his nice RV-7A pictured below.  I was amazed at how much he improved during the course of the flight.   
 
Not much to say about the practice flights other than I was part of the infamous "Pooner Flight".   The tower called each four-ship by their Lead's call-sign.  On my last flight of the day, I was #4 and the Lead was "Pooner".   For some reason, this vexed the Tower and they made Pooner spell his call-sigh out phonetically.   Of course, everyone at the clinic heard it since it was on Tower frequency.  It was the story O' the day at the bar that night. 
 
 
We got up bright and early the next morning -- even earlier since we lost an hour due to Daylight Savings Time.
 
At the hangar, "Glider" briefed the All-Up flight which would be a 28 Ship event.  We would be doing three formations:  Diamond Wedge, Arrowhead, and Bomber.    Anybody who wasn't piloting got to ride as a passenger. 
 
I was #4 in Bravo flight.  Since most of the time the flights would be in diamond formation, I would be spending a lot of time in the slot. 
 
Many of the following pictures were taken by others. 
 
After the comm check -- pretty amazing to have 28 pilots check in on the radio in rapid succession without a hitch -- we taxiied out in a long line.   
 
Engine run-up.
 
With a 150 foot wide runway we were able to do four-ship line abreast takeoffs.   This was a first for me. 
 

I had a passenger -- Mark -- who took all the photos from my plane. 

Here we are just after takeoff.   Lead is "Slick" who is in the white RV.  #3 was "Bones" in the USAF RV. 

 
Echo Flight taking off with lead Falcon.
 
This was pretty much my world for the next 20 minute flight: the bottom of lead Slick's RV.   I was determined not to here the words "B4 move up" on the radio so I worked hard to stay in tight.   Slick came all the way from Southern California to attend the clinic.
 
From my plane:  right front quandrant.  Jolly -- Alpha flight #2 -- on the left and Bones on the right. 
 
 
There was a light drizzle for the first part of the flight. 
 
Someone in Lurch's RV must have taken this nice shot of my bird.
 
 
Nice shot of Foxtrot flight with Stripes in the lead.   
 
Good look at the Bomber formation in flight.
 
 

This picture was from my plane & camera.  The new lens works well!

From my plane - rear right quandrant.  Nice shot of the famous "Pooner".

 
From my plane - front right quandrant.  The entire 27-ship formation in a gentle right hand turn.
 
From my plane - right side.  A nice shot of Kahuna's plane in flight. 
 
From my plane - rear left quadrant.   Nice shot of Lurch's RV.
 
Delta and Echo flights. 
 
From my plane.  Charlie Flight movin on up. 
 
The Arrowhead formation. 
 
The Bomber formation.
 
Every formation flight gets debriefed and this one was no exception.  Although overall the flight went well, as always there are things that can be improved upon.   
 
Formation clinic group shot.  I think everyone enjoyed the clinic; I know I did.  A weekend of flying and swapping aviation stories with a bunch of fellow aviation-obsessed men -- what's not to like?
 

Heading home with Jolly.   We had a nice tailwind going home.   There was a broken layer of clouds all the way which was fine by me;  clear blue skies can be kind of boring at altitude.   This time we stopped at Fairmont Airport (4G7) in West Virginia for lunch.  They have a 50's and 60's Diner a short walk from the airport.  

The winds had really picked up on the final leg home.  We made 240-250 mph over the ground all the way to Frederick.  Hard to believe a machine I built by myself in my basement could do something like that.   Sweet! 

We visited with Dave H. at Frederick for a little while and then I made the short flight back to Essex.  Chalk up another great aviation weekend. 

 
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