FWIW Wikipedia:
Formation flying is the disciplined flight of two or more aircraft under the command of a flight leader.
172driver wrote:
What isn’t all that clear to me is the definition of ‘formation’. Anyone ?
I don’t have the exact definition, but what’s important from an ATC perspective is that the aircraft are sufficiently close together to be treated as a single flight by ATC and that the the pilots do their own separation within the formation.
Own separation and only one plane does the radio.
Oh and don’t forget – only one transponder too, otherwise all manner of crash alarms will ring ^^
About 20 years ago I was flying in a Piper Archer with another Archer in a loose formation from Austria to Budapest per their request. One did the radio and we stayed close together but not like a military formation. It wasn’t anything special or complicated at all.
Airborne_Again wrote:
I don’t have the exact definition, but what’s important from an ATC perspective is that the aircraft are sufficiently close together to be treated as a single flight by ATC and that the the pilots do their own se
Thanks, that’s pretty much what I thought and also what we did on the two or three occasions I’ve used that for a single FP. Certainly not a military-style formation.
