I found a better video of the “formation solo” flight described in the last post and posted it above. The best thing about it is that I know the two students and the instructor that are in it – they’re all here at Training Squadron SIX (VT-6) with me!
Yesterday I had my first “cruise formation” flight as the “lead” aircraft. This is the second segment of the formation block. The “cruise” position is a little different than the “parade” position I had been flying earlier. Your wingman is hanging about ninety feet back and about thirty feet down. The primary advantage of this position is that it allows much better maneuverability for the “lead” aircraft. We also did a “section takeoff” for the first time yesterday. This involved positioning our two aircraft on the runway and using the entire runway length to take off at the same time. That was a quite the experience to be cruising down the runway ten feet from another plane and lifting off at the same time! Aside from getting both aircraft airborne and established in the “parade position” expeditiously…it just looks cool! After takeoff we headed south to one of our working areas and entered the pattern at Navy Outlaying Field (NOLF) Choctaw, which is about twelve miles east of Pensacola. Let me tell you, maintaining the “parade” position while in the landing pattern was challenging, but I improved a lot toward the end of the flight. I lost count, but I think I did three passes as the “lead” aircraft, and then three more as “wing.” Good thing for us the runway at Choctaw is long enough to allow us to land, come to a full stop, and take off again in a procedure known as a “stop and go.” This means that both of us landed on the same runway within seconds of each other (we each had our own half to use). Except for a couple of large birds that were hanging out perilously close to the runway, we had the entire airport to ourselves…which is always nice. When we finished our pattern work we headed south over the beaches at Gulf Breeze to get clear of Choctaw’s airspace before climbing and heading back north over Blackwater Bay. This is the same airspace I used to transit from Peter Prince Airport in Milton to the “beach practice area” last year when I was learning to fly Cessna 172’s during the Navy’s Introductory Flight Screening (IFS) Program. It’s amazing how far I’ve come since then! My instructor ended up taking the controls on the way back and demonstrated a Precision Approach Radar (PAR) approach to South Field before breaking off the approach and giving me back the controls for a safe landing at North Field. Without going into too much detail, a PAR approach involves an air traffic controller guiding the plane along a set glidepath by directing the pilot to fly specific headings, advising him of his distance from the field, and telling him whether he is on, above, or below where he needs to be to touchdown on the runway. This is just one way we can find our way back to the airport during when visibility is poor (or for fun…as in this case)! I’ve had this approach demonstrated before a while back, but this is one of the last thing students learn how to do by themselves during the next phase of training…Radio Instruments (RI). One last thing from this flight: the signal to call your wingman into the “parade” position from “cruise” is to “porpoise” the aircraft gently three times which results in vertical oscillation of your airplane above and below the horizon. Apparently I have a slightly more aggressive definition of “gentle” because I accidently “unloaded” the aircraft during this maneuver (the video below demonstrates this condition nicely). The end result was my instructor and I momentarily and unexpectedly “floating” in our seats (just like the dog in the back seat of the video). I knew I was doing something wrong when I heard my instructor’s helmet smack the top of the canopy! Of course, his reminder that "it's a good thing I’m strapped in and wearing my helmet or you would have launched me straight out of this plane” just served to drive the point home! We both had a good laugh about this when we were safely back on deck after the flight…and I bought him a six pack of beer for his troubles.
Today I was able to knock out the last two formation flights in the syllabus in another “out and in” to Andalusia, Alabama. This is the same airport I flew to on my first solo cross-country flight in IFS. We got the same deal as our last “out and in” – namely a free lunch! I finally got a taste of the infamous ribs I’ve been hearing about for the past year. Back in IFS I thought it was hilarious that every Friday four instructors would pile into a Cessna and take off for Andalusia! Apparently the word has gotten out because there were four T-34’s, four T-6’s from NAS Pensacola, and about five Army helicopters over there today. We did another “section takeoff” for the first flight and then went to our formation operating area and performed a series of cruise maneuvers for about two hours. I particularly enjoyed the “cruise wingovers,” which reminded me of World War 2 footage of fighter aircraft maneuvering to shoot each other down. I really can’t explain in writing any of these maneuvers...but they were a lot of fun! My wingman and I traded off “lead” and “wing” responsibilities on both of these flights and chased each other around the sky. After lunch I became the “lead” aircraft and we executed an “interval departure” from Andalusia to the Rose Hill Military Operating Area (MOA) in Alabama. Then we ran through the sequence of cruise maneuvers again. It was a little bumpy up there on the second flight, but I actually think I flew better. When we finished having fun I passed the “lead” to my wingman and flew home as the “wing” aircraft. They shot an instrument approach to NAS Whiting Field called a TACAN approach (that stands for TACtical Air Navigation). Unfortunately for me I didn’t get to see much because I was trying to stay in “cruise position” by watching the “lead” aircraft the whole time! I sure hope my wingman learned something though! In any case, I’ll be learning all about this and the other types of instrument approaches very soon. I'm hoping to take a class an weather and start the Radio Instrument (RI) phase of training next week. Overall formation flying was an absolute blast, and these last few flights in particular were thoroughly enjoyable. I still can’t believe they pay me to do this stuff! Well, I’m off to enjoy my last weekend of freedom for a while!
