Thanks for looking over that course outline, and for your observations,
spacemansteve.
"wingovers up to 3G"
The pulls don't give me any trouble, but sometimes yawing over in zero-g gets me particularly focused. You know, that sudden sweat on the forehead, or (worse) the standing-hairs-on-the-back-of-the-neck annunciator- I don't like that one. I'm assuming that lead calls the maneuvers throughout your procedures. Wingovers bring to mind what I usually emphasize in the briefing about bad corners we get into when attempting any yawing maneuvers with dissimilar aircraft: Differing lateral response available can become an issue if the rates get too high. Smooth pulls by lead don't seem such a big deal for me on wing, especially with some lullaby prompting like "standby..., and, Pull". But weightlessly floating there, yawing to hold station still weirds me out, especially with airspeed slipping away, or with power getting near limits. I like feeling some firm sky to hold onto. Am I ever jealous of you, having a PT-6 with all those perfectly-rigged (no doubt) linkages keeping things perfectly governed, pulling you along, or even holding you back so smoothly, you lucky dog. You must try it with a piston engine and fixed propeller sometime.
"formation leadership"
In the civilian formations I've participated in, so long as Lead can smoothly fly just what was briefed, no worries- Keep the plan simple, and fly the plan. Obviously in civilian flying we can keep things simpler than is possible when there are tactical and aircraft-complexity issues.
"having to think about wing causes many errors in [Lead's] flying"
Brief the flight, fly the briefing (including rate limits- fly smoooooth): What else is there to think about?
"circling rejoins"
We say "circling" rejoins, and also "overhead" rejoins (in the context of the airport pattern) just to differentiate from rejoining on a constant heading. Nothing tricky about it.
"going blind whilst IMC"
I'm not familiar with this- Did someone lose contact and break in the flight you described? I've never flown in anything so thick, that visibility became a problem from close formation- but then again, my only formation IMC has been intermittent- like moving up or down through a cloud layer. I'm sure that flying wing through a full instrument approach, or any standard instrument procedure (so long as Lead is situationally-aware and stabilized) wouldn't bother me. Am I missing something?
"I'm essentially assuming that its for the more experienced pilot out there, not your regular joe bloggs who just passed his PPL after only 50 hours."
I've introduced a few students to formation before they have earned PPLs, and with excellent results. When students that otherwise have high natural potential start to get sloppy, bored, or when they just hit a learning plateau, a taste of formation flying works wonders. Pilots naturally understand why formation flight demands discipline, accept it, and learn fast. I think that any good post-solo student (who has been taught good stick & rudder) can take to formation.
I do take precautions. Most importantly, thorough briefings. Lots of clear admonishment about what has and does go wrong with amatuers who get in over their heads (fatally) because of a too-casual approach. Provided structured training, carefully built on the safe practices that evolved over the past century, I believe that the many rewards far outweigh well-managed risks.
Aviation Performance Solutions (the company I linked) is one leading example. I believe that formation training can be made even more approachable, both financially and culturally- I'm envisioning using simple, affordable machines (Aeronca Champs or other basic trainers) along with a no-bullshit approach (militaristic ego-trip type personalities need not apply) to bring more aviators into the fold. I would like to see more flights of boredom-, complacency-, and elitism-fighters joining up in civilian circles. My own formation training experience has been varied and spread out over the years, because affordable, professional civilian formation training is very hard to find. Which is also an exciting opportunity, that I hope to pursue as an instructor.
It sometimes gets tiresome being gawked at arriving in formation with students and friends, as if we're doing something tremendously risky or difficult. Done right, I know that it needn't be either. I always get a kick out of flying formation, but I don't find it stressful or "super-pilot" anymore. I must admit, when tower controllers and military aircrews compliment our formation (I've gotten that upon occasion at
military airfields) it does go to my head, just a little
I want to get a flight school going that can take and reflect the glory: "Look- it's ________ coming in! Looks like fun! Let's sign up for a lesson!"
Anyway, your insights are really valuable to me
spacemansteve. So thanks, and keep them coming when you can.