eagl posted 01-01-99 06:21 AM ET (US)        

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Hello...

Guess I'm bored, but since some guys on the plonking newsgroup liked it, I figured I'd stick it up here too.

Caliber <caliber@2liam.sig.ten> wrote in message

news:7673l1$6ek$1@remarQ.com...

>Wondering if you could give me general advice for formation flying.

>Wondering what things to look for and general information as well as

>maintaining formation and not overflying, falling behind, drifting, etc.

>Thanks

>Caliber

Here's some general tips I've learned, but if you plan on flying formation in real life, I strongly recommend going up with an instructor who is experienced in formation flying.

First off, you need to pick your formation position. Do you want to be nearly line abreast, in trail, 45 degrees aft, etc? An easy formation to fly is about 45 degrees aft and slightly lower than the other plane.

Next, pick 2 parts of the plane that line up when you're in position. For example, on the F-15E, we line up the wing root position light with the upper UHF antenna. If those two things are aligned, we are at the correct angle. In a cessna, a good line might be lining up the wingtip with the nose of the plane. Of course, the wingtip must line up above the nose in order for you to stay at the same altitude or slightly lower than the other plane.

Now, you need another reference to give you a triangulation to the correct range along the line of your first reference. On the F-15E, if we line up the leading edges of the vertical tails, and the wing root position light is lined up with the upper UHF antenna, we are in the perfect fingertip position. In a cessna, that reference might be your head abeam some portion of the tail. In addition, you need a vertical reference. In the F-15E, we want to be able to see the top of the wing but not the far wing. In that cessna, the reference might be you barely seeing the horizon above or below the fuselage. Or alternately, just stay low enough to see the bottom of the close wing (for a high wing plane).

It is very important that these references give you a position that has no wingtip overlap, because bobbles could then cause either your wings to hit or your wingtip to fly into the other plane's wingtip vortice causing you to roll into the lead plane. A good way to figure these lineups out is to stand near the other plane on the ground at the position you want to fly in, and simply see what looks easy to line up.

As for actually keeping in position, you must use a good crosscheck. Check your fore-aft lineup, and make a small throttle correction. While you do that, check your in-out correction on your second reference, and correct that by flying closer to or farther away than the other plane. Your up-down reference should be easy to fix, it's just pitch movement and should be part of your natural flying. Just remember what your vertical reference is and check it each cross-check cycle to force yourself to be in a good position.

After you check all 3 references, check your fore-aft reference again and see if it's changed. If you're moving forward towards the correct lineup again, take out half of the throttle correction you made This helps prevent an overshoot and PIO with the throttles. If you're still aft and not moving, or moving farther aft, push the throttles up again. While your speed changes, do another cross-check cycle of all your position references.

If you start moving ahead of the line, make an aggressive enough throttle reduction to arrest the forward movement, but then almost immediately push the throttle back up to almost where they were before to keep from falling aft requiring excess throttle to get back up to position.

It is important to not become focused on only one part of the other plane.

It's common to focus too much on the fore-aft reference, which can lead (and has led) to the other references going totally haywire. For example, it's not entirely unheard of pilots doing barrel rolls around their flight leads in bad weather or at night because they become fixated on one reference and forget about their vertical position.

If you're not going for a fixed position, your best option is to fly in a loose "route" or "fluid" position. This position can be anywhere from fingertip to a few thousand ft away, and is most comfortable at least 30 degrees aft of line abreast but not farther aft than about 60 degrees. To stay in a comfortable loose position, it's fairly important that the flight lead just sets his throttle and leaves it in one position. Otherwise the wingman is forced to throttle up and down constantly to stay in formation.

If the flight lead is doing this right, the wingman can also pick a throttle position that is at least close, and stick with it. If after time you notice your lead moving forward on the canopy (fwd line of sight), you must add some throttle. If the lead moves aft (aft line of sight) on the canopy, reduce throttle a bit. If you're rapidly overtaking the lead for some reason, the wingman can also weave out then back in a bit, or climb a bit.

When changing formation positions from one side to another, there are 3 things to remember. First, it's a very good idea to pass aft of the flight lead. It is disorienting to fly directly underneath the flight lead. Next, make sure you're below his prop or jetwash. Last, since you're flying a longer distance than he is since you're crossing sides, after your initial throttle reduction to get aft of his plane, you will need to push the throttles up beyond what they were at to maintain position in order to keep from falling further behind.

Ummm assorted tips: I don't use rudders much to slide in or out of ormation because that makes it somewhat harder to judge relative positions and movement IMHO. The biggest tip of course, is to always leave yourself a way out. What do I mean by that? Well, for example, when rejoining on another plane, stay a bit lower than he is so that if you misjudge your closure and can't slow down enough, you can just push forward on the stick and pass underneath him. Always know which way you can roll and pull to in order to get away from the flight lead. In multiplane formations, you just can't roll and pull away from the leader because there will be someone flying off of you too, so you have to brief a standard way of getting out of the formation. That way is normally down or under, since if you pull up and away, then the rest of the formation is under you and you can't see it to continue avoiding everyone else. Worst case, if you lose sight of the flight lead, you MUST immediately fly away from his last position into a place where you KNOW his plane isn't.

Thats all I can think of right now... Hope this helps.

-eagl-

F'ing Pigs, BYA