N951CC flies in formation

Yesterday, N951CC and I flew down to Apple Valley for our first formation flight. We will be flying home again this summer and attending the EAA in addition to visiting family. Instead of flying the Ripon Arrival this time where everybody enters a holding pattern flying around a lake and entering the OSH pattern 1 at a time, we plan on flying the Cessnas 2 Oshkosh mass arrival. The mass arrival involves meeting at Juneau WI on the morning of the flight for a briefing then taking off in groups of 3 flying in formation to Oshkosh. The groups of 3 follow each other roughly 1/2 mile behind the group. You can check out the Cessnas 2 Oshkosh website at www.cessnas2oshkosh.com/default2010.aspx.

We had a training clinic in the morning that was very informative and there were quite a few experienced formation pilots that were available to fly as safety pilots. The lead representative of the Bonanzas to Oshkosh was also there as an additional resource and was my safety pilot. I think it was great to have a very experienced formation flight pilot fly with me and help me learn the ropes.

Since I was busy flying I don't have any pictures or videos. When we actually fly into Oshkosh, Michelle will probably do some filming and pictures since it is pretty cool to see.

Granted flying close to another airplane is more dangerous than not flying close to another airplane, I don't consider it to be dangerous due to all of the communication. You know exactly what you'll be doing so you are never surprised about where the other airplane is or what it is doing. I think flying formation into Oshkosh will be much safer than the Ripon arrival we flew in 2006.

I was amazed at how much I needed to adjust my power in turns. I understand that the inside turn is a smaller radius, but I figured it would be negligible compare to the size of circle an airplane flies in a shallow bank. A fairly large power reduction was required on the inside to prevent passing the lead plane and almost full power was required on the outside turn to avoid falling too far behind. I think that the magnitude of these power changes will go down as I become more proficient and am able to judge relative motion between the aircraft more quickly. Slow response requires large changes than a faster response.

Overall, we don't fly in tight formation as you'd see in a airshow, but we are close enough that you have to continuously be watching your lead airplane to make sure to maintain the proper separation and position. Cruising enroute we are spaced about 150-200 feet apart.

Hopefully I can get some more practice between now and Airventure, the SoCal AOPA fly-ins might be a good opportunity, several pilots that attend these lunches were at the training clinic.

After the training flight we had lunch at the BBQ restaurant on the field. This is my second time there and they have EXCELLENT BBQ. I had the pulled pork sandwich, but others were also raving about their ribs and tri-tip sandwiches. We'll be back there again. You can no longer sign the walls there, but they now have a visitor book you can sign. I just added a second date to my original signature from last time down. Check out some other comments on the restaurant here www.airnav.com/airport/KAPV/SKIDMARKS_CAFE.