Cherokees in close formation

Not REAL close formation, but here are a few pix from a couple of weeks
ago, where we flew together with a friend's Cherokee 180:

Hard to tell his distance; did you shoot those with a 400 mm.
telephoto, or a 27 mm. wide angle?

Offhand, though, it reminds me of how we Naval Aviators (a conceited
bunch) used to define an Air Force formation: "Two or more airplanes
going the same direction on the same day."

vince norris

Jay Honeck wrote:

Not REAL close formation, but here are a few pix from a couple of weeks
ago, where we flew together with a friend's Cherokee 180:

http://www.alexisparkinn.com/flying_with_doug.htm

I see that and raise you:

http://www.stutzman.com/frank/flying/B2Osh/index2.htm

I shot those while riding left seat for one of the B2Osh practice
sessions. Cannon A70 camera with probably not all that much zoom. Some
of these B2Osh guys like to get a lot closer than I'm comfortable with.

(Not that these guys are unsafe, quite the contrary. Its just that I'm a
bit uncomfortable about another prop less than 10 feet from my tail
feathers while on the ground, much less than in the air)

--
Frank Stutzman
Bonanza N494B "Hula Girl"
Hood River, OR

Sorry,

I thought it was an insurance issue, but a new look indicates that the
prohibition against formation flying is a partnership agreement issue. We
also have a prohibition against night flying unless you're instrument rated.
This latter we're in the process of changing to "OK after recent
instruction". I'm sure we could also change the one against formation
flying with the same proviso, if someone really had a yearning to do it.
With only four partners, it's easy to change things like this.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)


"Dave Stadt" wrote in message
m...

"Bob Chilcoat" wrote in message
...
I heard what sounded like a twin with poorly sync'd props Sunday. Looked
up
and watched two Cherokees in close echelon formation flying over. Never
thought I'd see Cherokees doing that. Now I want to find someone to do
that
with. (Joking, our insurance won't allow formation flying).

What insurance company might that be? There can be very real safety
benefits to formation flying.


--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)

Hard to tell his distance; did you shoot those with a 400 mm.
telephoto, or a 27 mm. wide angle?

Just a Canon Elph digital, with a minimal zoom. (The main advantage of this
4 megapixel camera is that it is really SMALL -- and therefore really fits
in your pocket, and therefore is always handy. As a result, I actually
*use* it -- a lot -- as opposed to my old Nikon 35 mm SLR.)

Here's a pic of flying with Jack Allison to OSH this year:

http://makeashorterlink.com/?J553265BB

Without formation training, I wouldn't want to get too much closer to anyone
in flight.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

I can agree it's tiring.
I have just been doing formation flying training in two, three and
four-ship groups. One hour in the air with that, and I'm absolutely
shot. And that's with an instructor on board!
Next session, I'm due to fly formation solo; not sure if im looking
forward to it or dreading it.
We are using four Grumman AA-1C, but I understand that a club down south
uses three Cherokee.

Bob Chilcoat wrote:
I heard what sounded like a twin with poorly sync'd props Sunday. Looked up
and watched two Cherokees in close echelon formation flying over. Never
thought I'd see Cherokees doing that. Now I want to find someone to do that
with. (Joking, our insurance won't allow formation flying).

On 2005-08-30, Jay Honeck wrote:
And, of course, we flew up to OSH '05 in loose formation with Jack
Allison and his Arrow...

Flying that close to someone is very tiring, but it's tough to get
air-to-air photos any other way!

It is tiring, but I've done Houston to OSH and back again in formation
(C140 and C170). I've also flown a little bit of VERY close formation
with Debbie Rihn (which kind of made my pilot-rated passenger a little
bit nervous :-))

Our regular group in Houston progressed to making regular formation
takeoffs and landings. Possibly the most bizarre one was when we did a
flight of four (which did NOT include a formation takeoff and landing!)
which consisted of a Cessna 140, Grumman Tiger, Cessna 170...and a Beech
Bonanza. I was flying the Bonanza - gear up but with full flaps! It'll
fly fine with the 140 with the flaps down. (I have some photos of the
Bonanza on my website which were taken from the 140).

Sadly, I've not had the opportunity to do any for the last couple of
years (well, except if you count glider towing and being towed) since
it's something I enjoyed a lot.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"

Dylan Smith wrote:
Our regular group in Houston progressed to making regular formation
takeoffs and landings. Possibly the most bizarre one was when we did a
flight of four (which did NOT include a formation takeoff and landing!)
which consisted of a Cessna 140, Grumman Tiger, Cessna 170...and a Beech
Bonanza. I was flying the Bonanza - gear up but with full flaps! It'll
fly fine with the 140 with the flaps down. (I have some photos of the
Bonanza on my website which were taken from the 140).

WEW!!!
Grossly dissimilar aircraft!
The 140 is firewalled, the 170 is happy, the Tiger is in slow cruise,
and the Bo is just hanging on (well, not quite that bad :-)).
Sounds sporting!

Well, of course you need the rocket bras.

In article ,
flyernzl wrote:

I can agree it's tiring.
I have just been doing formation flying training in two, three and
four-ship groups. One hour in the air with that, and I'm absolutely
shot. And that's with an instructor on board!
Next session, I'm due to fly formation solo; not sure if im looking
forward to it or dreading it.
We are using four Grumman AA-1C, but I understand that a club down south
uses three Cherokee.

We do it all the time (especially Sat AM for breakfast) here at Spruce
Creek. Yes -- the FAST training IS exhausting -- but it makes the
operation a lot safer when everybody is on the same page!

I have found that regular spam cans are a lot of work (due to heavy
controls) to fly in a decent formation. Vernier throttles are a real
pain, as the throttle is tho most important control.

Yes -- the throttle does indeed control airspeed!

Our standard is 3' down, 3' out (wingtip to wingtip) and 45 deg back.

Some of the better groups fly with wingtip overlap (but still stacked
down and back).

On 2005-08-31, john smith wrote:
Grossly dissimilar aircraft!
The 140 is firewalled, the 170 is happy, the Tiger is in slow cruise,
and the Bo is just hanging on (well, not quite that bad :-)).
Sounds sporting!

Not too bad - I wouldn't really want to do it on a long cross country
(we were only going 35nm or so), but the Bonanza is very capable of slow
flight. It has very effective Fowler flaps, and using some kept the
plane flying without the nose sticking way up in the air. We were doing
about 90 knots.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"