L-39 Formation Video

Associates of the Cold War Air Museum enjoy getting together to fly their aircraft. It's a special treat when our friend Scott comes along and shares his videos with the blog.

Bord 107 plays to the camera during formation practice.



And makes a nice roll-off.



Thanks Scott! We are hoping to be able to schedule a formation clinic with our friends at the Red Star Pilot's Association soon. Stay tuned for further information

F.A.S.T. Formation

With midnight, December 31st fast approaching it was time to double-check F.A.S.T. (Formation And Safety Training) credentials for everybody. It wasn't enough to have flown during the prior year, paperwork needed to be completed. Which, of course, it hadn't been. So it was necessary for Mustang, Crash, Duck, and Pig Pen to take to the sky to keep their F.A.S.T. cards from turning into pumpkins when the New Years ball drops in Times Square.

F.A.S.T. is a committee, recognized by the FAA to ensure that a certain level of training and proficiency is maintained by all pilots wishing to fly in formation in the waivered airspace at at an airshow. F.A.S.T. member organizations, such as the Red Star Pilot's Association (RPA) manage their own training programs to F.A.S.T. standards and maintain records on training and proficiency through the "Wingman", "Lead Pilot", "Instructor", and "Check Airman" levels.

At least once a year a Lead Pilot must sign off paperwork saying that another lead or wingman has flown in or conducted a four-ship formation.

Communication is accomplished in formation with minimum radio traffic; in fact, an entire flight can be flown — beginning to end — without a single radio call.


Shown here is what the "cross under" signal looks like from the lead pilot...


And what it looks like from the wingman's point of view.


The RPA manual's guidelines on accomplishing the cross-under.


An echelon turn, where all aircraft remain at the same altitude (vice "stacking up").


The beginning of a "B&R" — breakup and rendezvous.

What started off as an overcast day (ceilings less than 100 feet) turned into a great day for some of our Cold War Air Museum associates to go flying and take pictures. Thanks to the RPA for the formation graphics and thanks to Miguel for the pictures, more can be found on his page on Flikr.

Cold War Air Flight, with Yaks and Changs

Jon and Miguel took the Cold War Air Museum CJ-6 out for some exercise last weekend. Jon needed to keep his formation skills current and Miguel needed an excuse to fly and take pictures.

Yaks often fly with CJ's but there are some distinctive differences on view. The rounded tail is noticeable on the ground or in the air as different from the CJ's more squared tail. In flight the nose gear of the Yaks hangs lower and the main gear comes forward rather than folding into the wing as the CJ's does. No matter the differences, aircraft in flight are lovely to behold. Miguell's picture of a red and white plane against a blue sky is beautiful and the colors are appropriate whether you think of them as belonging to its original home in Russia or its current home in the U.S.

The Yaks in the exercise are seen here in formation. Our next post will feature more pictures and Jon talking about formation flying and the pilots and ships involved.

Another well restored, painted and maintained CJ was part of this flight. We all look forward to the times we can fly together.

No matter how much fun you are having, at the end of the day coming in for a landing is a welcome sight.

Credit and thanks for the pictures in this post go to our friend and associate, Miguel Relayze. For more pictures of this flight, visit Miguel's latest postings on Flikr