Photo by Ron Olson
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Formation Flying

Flying in the 300-Way World Record Formation

"Traffic 6 o'clock and closing"--part of the 12-aircraft formation of the 1998 246-way world record at Skydive Chicago (seen from the lead CASA). Photo by Aerial Dynamics: Dan Villano.

Planning. Planning. Planning. It's the best way to describe formation flying. Whether you are flying two C-182s in formation or doing a 12-aircraft formation for a world record makes no difference. The same rules apply.

 Planning. Planning. Planning.

First, determine what aircraft is going to be in the lead and who is going to fly it. I recommend that if this is your first formation flight that you fly lead. Your wingman should have several formation loads under their belt. They can coach you if necessary, but all planning should be done on the ground.

Ground Planning should include:

1. Altitude for jump run.
2. Direction of jump run.
3. Climb and descent pattern.
4. Rally point (if it's not together by this point it's an abort).
5. Radio frequencies and communications.
6. ATC notification of multi-plane formation.
7. Squawk.
8. Extra fueling (it will take longer to do a formation load so you better have the fuel).
9. Aircraft positioning.
10. Lead assignment.
11. Transfer of Lead procedure should it become necessary.
12. Emergency procedures (how to break formation quickly).
13. Tight procedures. (How tight? When?).
14. Power settings, airspeeds, and climb out procedures.
15. Countdown calls to jumpers.
16. Oxygen if required.
17. Loading areas (with multiple whirling propellers you want jumpers to know exactly where to go, and you should know exactly how to park to prevent someone from accidentally walking into a prop going to another aircraft).

Just to name a few things to plan for. Plan everything and then stick to the plan. When you go off the plan you will create radio chatter. You want to reduce that as much as possible.

The best formation load I've ever flown on was the final load during the World Record 246-way in 1998. We had one aircraft way out of position with 5 minutes to drop and there was no radio chatter other than what was necessary to get that one aircraft in. There have been loads where everything that wasn't important was being talked about. There were a lot of "Can you see me?" "You got me?" calls. This should never happen unless absolutely necessary. Each aircraft should be ready to take off in an order so that they can keep the aircraft ahead in sight at all times.

Now, if you are using aircraft of different climb performance you will need a rally point to get the formation together in the air. What is the number one guarantee to avoid a collision? Answer: Altitude separation. Make sure that you have at least 500 feet between you until you have the other aircraft positively identified. Be specific with position reports. And I can't stress enough to have a climb pattern that will allow all aircraft to easily join in without a lot of radio chatter. You really should be able to do this without any calls other than your take off call and the calls for countdown to drop. If you are flying lead it is best to fly a wide box pattern so that the trailing aircraft can cut the corners and catch up as necessary.

Flying Lead

You are the base. Without the base there is no formation. You need to be smooth on the controls because any little deviation you have will ripple across the formation. You will be the one in charge of radios. You don't want closely trailing aircraft looking down at radios switches, taking their attention away from your actions. It is your job to spot the load and it is your job to have clear communication with the jumpers on board as the countdown starts. I recommend a five-minute, two-minute, door open, 3-2-1 climb out call to the jumpers and over the radio to the other aircraft. You will need two radios to do this. The others can all have one tuned to company frequency. Keep the radio chatter to a minimum so that others can tell you if they are having a problem. Don't talk about how pretty it is until you're on the ground with the engines turned off. Be professional.

On jump run: Be very, very smooth. Can I say that enough? Anticipate the pitch up or pitch down tendencies associated with climb out. Maintain your flying speed but for God's sake DO NOT DESCEND TO MAINTAIN SPEED!!!! You will need too much of a descent to maintain speed. Once the first jumper is out they will be blocking the wind for the others. So put the power in and hold altitude. If you blow one off…oh well. You can talk about it later. But if you make a radical move in formation and the trail aircraft lose sight of you, there could be great carnage. This is serious. If you have an engine failure, that's different. You should initiate the emergency escape procedure and transmit to the fleet that it is an abort due to...whatever. You might want to use a term other than "Abort" because people might try to keep the jumpers in. Work it out with your group. It will be situational and I cannot go through every scenario here.

If you are flying lead with different types of aircraft, you will need to understand the flight characteristics of the other planes during jump run. A Twin Otter in the lead has the ability to slow down tremendously without stalling while a Casa does not. Plus, a Casa doesn't have anyone hanging on the outside providing drag. They could go shooting by. If this situation occurs, there needs to be a radio transmission that a transfer of lead has taken place and the old lead needs to make sure they pick up the new lead aircraft. If you don't, you could drift right into the path of the exiting jumpers. This would be bad.

Flying Trail

Flying trail can be pretty easy and at the same time very challenging to do it right. It's easy in the respect that you have only one thing to do--hold position relative to the lead aircraft. It is hard in that it will take all of your concentration to keep very "still" in position. Your job is to never, ever let your lead aircraft out of your sight.

If you ever lose sight and can't figure out how it happened, you should be grounded. There are no excuses like, "The sun was in my eyes." So what, you should have planned for that. If jump run is in such a way that the sun is a factor, I like to fly in a slot using the lead aircraft as a sunscreen. Be careful to not fly so far out of position that you become a collision hazard, but it's a little trick you can use.

Be very keen about power adjustments from the lead aircraft. If the lead is not flying smoothly, then it is your job to tell them so. Let them know what you need especially if your aircraft is a different type than the lead aircraft. Don't just sit there and be a bump on a log. If you are new to formation flying, then you will certainly want to give yourself a little extra room, but don't be so far away that you can't tell if the lead aircraft is slowing down or speeding up. I find it much easier to fly formation once I've gotten within 100 feet of the other aircraft. When the other aircraft is filling much of my windscreen I know that I will see the smallest speed or altitude changes. Small, smooth power adjustments will keep you parked. On a twin-engine aircraft I just use one engine lever at a time. This will smooth out the power changes and you won't be chasing the airspeed.

As the saying goes "Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast. So hit it with da Smoove." Be conservative. Plan everything out. Be safe.

Notify ATC

Let ATC know that you are a multi-plane group. If you are using more than three aircraft in one formation, you might want to make a phone call to the controlling agency before you take off and let them know that you will have reduced maneuverability when it comes to track calls. Usually they will have no trouble giving you a wider margin, but as a courtesy it's nice to give them a heads up with a phone call. Make sure that when you take off you fly in formation and do not spread out across the countryside. ATC will usually have only one aircraft squawking a code--that means the others will be invisible to RADAR. This will make the controller's job more difficult and you will have created a greater hazard. Give longer calls to ATC than you normally would. Unless they are extremely busy, it is a good thing to give them a five-minute call so they can check for conflicts early. Prevent as many chances for an abort as you can. Check that all jumpers have left before descending. Then stay as a group as you descend. It's the same theory as during the initial climb. Don't spread out miles apart. After ATC has cleared you off frequency there will be time to get separation. Not to mention it looks sharp to stay in formation all the way up and down. This will show great discipline.