FAA regulations governing formation flight are minimal.
There are no requirements for special training, logbook endorsements,
limitations to similar aircraft types, or operational
restrictions (e.g., day-VFR, no Class Bravo, etc.).
The regulations do require that the flight be pre-arranged by
the participants and that flight separation be adequate at all times.
What is “adequate” is left to the judgment (and skill) of the pilots.
Be assured – if you have a collision, your spacing was not
adequate and you are in violation of the FARs (and worse!).
Formation flight can be a high workload environment.
Uncertainty in any aspect
of the flight dramatically increases the potential for errors, and
can result in a collision, runway incursion, penetration of restricted
airspace, etc. It is
critically important that every member of a flight know exactly what is
expected at all times. If there is
any doubt about what is happening (or about to happen), the situation
absolutely must be clarified before it deteriorates into an unsafe
condition. The need for radio
discipline always is secondary to flight safety!
A thorough preflight briefing is the first line of defense against
mix-ups in the air. Do
use a formal checklist in this preflight briefing to ensure that all
points are covered. Also, be sure
that you discuss the experience level and limitations of every pilot
and every aircraft in your formation.
One all too common problem is for radio frequency screw-ups.
When to switch and what frequency to use are critical items to brief
because the safety of the flight is seriously compromised
when communications are lost! Hand
signals, while useful, generally do
not provide a reliable form of backup communications for civilian
formation pilots.
Putting an inexperienced
(or poor) pilot in the lead is a common error.
While flying lead may look easy, it requires in-depth knowledge and
experience! A poor
lead places the entire formation in jeopardy.
Besides, if the guy really is so green that you can’t trust him to
fly wing, then he clearly needs more experience before it is safe for him to
fly in formation.