One of my favorite things about Oshkosh is camp cooking. Please send me email if you would be interested in collaborating: mike@mwilt.org . With >100 people in this community there is even a pretty good chance of finding some people who need to avoid gluten. Please don't post follow-ups to this post just yet; I will summarize the responses.
Mike
Michael Wilt
C210B N9648X
Friday, April 30, 2010
Formation Flying Clinic - from a non-pilot's view
I recently attended the formation flying clinic at Wings Airport, April 24, 2010 with my significant other, Rod Reeves. As a non-pilot I wasn't too sure what to expect and then, would I even understand what is being taught? I encourage anyone that will be in the plane during the formation flying to attend the clinic. Below is a copy of the letter I sent to Gil Velez, our clinic instructor.
Hi, Gil -
It was great meeting you!
I am glad I went to the clinic with Rod. Even as a non-pilot, I was able to understand the morning portion of the clinic - positioning of the planes to eliminate prop wash, downwind, route formation, close formation, trail formation, etc. Where I got a little lost was on the briefing right before the actual flight portion of the clinic but I get a little lost when it comes to talk on the headings, and such anyways. I do understand the concept of it all though.
I did not think the length was too long as I was learning new things - I don't know how I would feel if I've done it before. But, it's always good to refresh if it's something that's not done all the time.
I feel safer doing the formation flying now that I've attened the clinic and feel I can be another set of eyes for Rod. I can watch the instruments checking altitude, speed and even our position while he is watching the lead, or checking the chalk positions if we are the lead. Having attended the clinic it will help me when Rod asked me to watch or do a specific thing - I will know what he's talking about.
Craig Johnston was great as our safety pilot. Calm and when giving instructions he explained the why part of it - which Rod liked. It helped me too.
I was glad to be included in the debriefing. You all were encouraging and gave the pilots a positive attitude even knowing that improvement is needed! Rod and I had our own debriefing after we got back (which I recommend) and we've already watched the video a couple of times!
All-in-all, it gave me a greater appreciation and understanding of formation flying. It's not as easy as the Blue Angels or Thunderbirds make it out to be! We are glad we are going to be a part of it at Oshkosh.
My recommendation to anyone that is going to be a passenger in a plane that is doing the formation flying, attend the clinic. Sitting in the back seat observing having a hands on experience prior to the actual fly-in will make the formation fly-in that much safer and fun!
Bobbi Donley
Hi, Gil -
It was great meeting you!
I am glad I went to the clinic with Rod. Even as a non-pilot, I was able to understand the morning portion of the clinic - positioning of the planes to eliminate prop wash, downwind, route formation, close formation, trail formation, etc. Where I got a little lost was on the briefing right before the actual flight portion of the clinic but I get a little lost when it comes to talk on the headings, and such anyways. I do understand the concept of it all though.
I did not think the length was too long as I was learning new things - I don't know how I would feel if I've done it before. But, it's always good to refresh if it's something that's not done all the time.
I feel safer doing the formation flying now that I've attened the clinic and feel I can be another set of eyes for Rod. I can watch the instruments checking altitude, speed and even our position while he is watching the lead, or checking the chalk positions if we are the lead. Having attended the clinic it will help me when Rod asked me to watch or do a specific thing - I will know what he's talking about.
Craig Johnston was great as our safety pilot. Calm and when giving instructions he explained the why part of it - which Rod liked. It helped me too.
I was glad to be included in the debriefing. You all were encouraging and gave the pilots a positive attitude even knowing that improvement is needed! Rod and I had our own debriefing after we got back (which I recommend) and we've already watched the video a couple of times!
All-in-all, it gave me a greater appreciation and understanding of formation flying. It's not as easy as the Blue Angels or Thunderbirds make it out to be! We are glad we are going to be a part of it at Oshkosh.
My recommendation to anyone that is going to be a passenger in a plane that is doing the formation flying, attend the clinic. Sitting in the back seat observing having a hands on experience prior to the actual fly-in will make the formation fly-in that much safer and fun!
Bobbi Donley
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Cessnas 2 Oshkosh Training Webinar
We are doing a webinar on Wednesday, April 14th at 8:00 PM EDT for formation flight training clinic host, lead and safety pilots. The main goal of this meeting is to reinforce the principle of standardization of the training of pilots participating in the Cessnas 2 Oshkosh Mass Arrival into AirVenture on Saturday, July 24th at 2:30 PM CDT. The webinar will last approximately 2 hours.
The growth of our roster of pilots and the geographic spread of our pilot base has made it impossible for our organizers and lead pilots to travel to every home base airport to organize and supervise every clinic. We are experiencing the natural growing pains that every successful organization goes through during the growth process. This webinar, and the ones that will follow, may not be the only and definitive solution, but it is a very good start. We want to convey to each one of you and to all our pilots that safety is our main concern and that we are serious about managing the intrinsic risk that formation flying carries. We want our formation flight and arrival to be a great fun-filled flying experience, free of worries for our pilots and their families.
We will start the meeting with a brief introduction of the program and the interactive process by Gil Velez, immediately followed by a presentation by our Director of Training and Operations. Rodney will review the most important points of the training slide presentation and provide tips on how best to communicate the information to the trainees during local clinics. Every few slides he will pause to take questions from the audience and for participants to share their own experience. Needless to say, we want this process to be as interactive as possible, and expect participants to prepare for the meeting ahead of time. We are not going to lecture the audience.
Some of the topics that participants in the meeting should expect are: organization and hosting of a clinic, recruitment of safety pilots, the practice flight briefing and debriefing, safety concerns such as runway width, communication among pilots in a formation flight and between flight leads and ATC, and whatever topic participants bring to the table.
The growth of our roster of pilots and the geographic spread of our pilot base has made it impossible for our organizers and lead pilots to travel to every home base airport to organize and supervise every clinic. We are experiencing the natural growing pains that every successful organization goes through during the growth process. This webinar, and the ones that will follow, may not be the only and definitive solution, but it is a very good start. We want to convey to each one of you and to all our pilots that safety is our main concern and that we are serious about managing the intrinsic risk that formation flying carries. We want our formation flight and arrival to be a great fun-filled flying experience, free of worries for our pilots and their families.
We will start the meeting with a brief introduction of the program and the interactive process by Gil Velez, immediately followed by a presentation by our Director of Training and Operations. Rodney will review the most important points of the training slide presentation and provide tips on how best to communicate the information to the trainees during local clinics. Every few slides he will pause to take questions from the audience and for participants to share their own experience. Needless to say, we want this process to be as interactive as possible, and expect participants to prepare for the meeting ahead of time. We are not going to lecture the audience.
Some of the topics that participants in the meeting should expect are: organization and hosting of a clinic, recruitment of safety pilots, the practice flight briefing and debriefing, safety concerns such as runway width, communication among pilots in a formation flight and between flight leads and ATC, and whatever topic participants bring to the table.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Fort Collins/Loveland, CO Clinic Shaping Up
I'm finalizing plans for the Rocky Mountain Clinic on May 8. I've created a map with locations on the KFNL airport here. We're using the Modular Building (that's its official name, really!) for our classroom, so we can only accomodate 100 participants or so... :-)
We'll start at 9am on Saturday, May 8. We'll import the food around lunchtime -- plan on about $10 for food.
The FNL Jet Center has graciously offered a $.50/gallon fuel discount for clinic participants.
Local Knowledge
When flying in, you'll hear many radio calls referencing Fort-Love Traffic. Please don't be pulled to the Dark Side -- the official radio designation is Fort Collins-Loveland Traffic. And when people report their position over Walmart, they're referring to the gargantuan warehouse about three miles southeast of the field.
If you have any questions about this clinic, you can contact me at eightdeltamike@gmail.com. I look forward to seeing you there!
We'll start at 9am on Saturday, May 8. We'll import the food around lunchtime -- plan on about $10 for food.
The FNL Jet Center has graciously offered a $.50/gallon fuel discount for clinic participants.
Local Knowledge
When flying in, you'll hear many radio calls referencing Fort-Love Traffic. Please don't be pulled to the Dark Side -- the official radio designation is Fort Collins-Loveland Traffic. And when people report their position over Walmart, they're referring to the gargantuan warehouse about three miles southeast of the field.
If you have any questions about this clinic, you can contact me at eightdeltamike@gmail.com. I look forward to seeing you there!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Oskosh Clinic Transportation finalized
I have arranged for our transportation from the Weeks hangar to EAA and back.
The maintenance manager at the Weeks hangar had said that EAA would probably have a vehicle, but EAA is already doing a lot for us (Those rental rates on the board room are the actual rates, but they aren't charging us for their use.) so I didn't want to ask for anymore.
Basler has a van and they are willing to transport us. Please plan on buying fuel from them. They have self-serve just a little ways down the ramp from the Weeks hangar or they can bring it to us in their truck. Their prices are very competitive, currently $4.09 Self-serve Guaranteed on Airnav. (Full service is $4.29)
They will plan on picking us up just before 9:00 a.m. and bring us back to the hangar when we call them.
Everything seems to be falling in place. This is going to be a great clinic.
I know we have three pilots including myself planning on attending, we could still use some safety pilots.
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