| ISSUE 732 - March 29, 2022 • Over 9,000 Total Ads Listed • 1,000+ NEW Ads Per Week |
| Pine Bluff, Formation Clinic - Part 2 |
| Dana Brejakova, Contributing Writer & Photographer |
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After the first day of training, Jimmy the Squirrel was super stoked. He has never done this before and his eyes were sparkling.
"Golly, these guys are the top!", Jimmy was waving after he landed and got out of his RV-8. His very first trip up was with an experienced pilot whose nick name was Digger. No newbie (or shall I say RED SCARY) goes up in their own aircraft at first. Only after undergoing a ride with skilled aviator and receiving a dose of safety briefings, the Red Scaries could join the elements in their own airplanes with a safety pilot instructor to practice and learn from the Bulldogs. On Day one Jimmy completed both parts of the training and was looking forward to Day two.
Day 2 Training
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| Slats' RV leading the row of airplanes on Day two. |
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| And here we had Jimmy the Squirrel's aircraft, ready to join. |
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| Following the same routine from previous day - attend safety briefings, fly, debrief, repeat - the pilots were up and buzzin'. |
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| Slats leading an overhead break. |
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| Here we had another wonderful break |
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| For some reason I just loved capturing that 2G turn. |
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| Another pair of elements was about to break when suddenly - smoke release! Thank you, guys. I like that feature a lot. |
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| After the flight of four airplanes with the smoke performed a 2G break, I let my lens follow one of those guys as he was flying right into a beautiful cloud ambiance. Perspective is everything. |
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Day two was slowly coming to an end and we all found each other in the meeting room again to run a safety briefing for the next day - the day when the formation of 26 RVs was performed. "Wow", my jaw dropped in awe again, "those will be some awesome shots." As I was drifting away plotting spots on the ground around the airport to acquire the best pictures possible, significant words echoed across the meeting room: "Slats, you take Dana up." Life changing moment right there, let me tell you, folks!
The ground-bound (two photographers and Red Scaries) were offered a seat in aircraft with experienced aviators to be a part of something so amazing I could hardly describe by words. However, I have been trying since.
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| The BIG day arrived and all looked great. We were a go. As we took off with Slats, I was trying to spot the first row of the formation we needed to join. Thanks to the position Slats had in the formation I had a fabulous view! |
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| And there they were! The formation was lining up. I must admit I have never seen nor experienced something so fantastic. While I was fighting with the glare and shadows projected on the canopy to eliminate them in the photos, I was super excited to be right in the middle of the 26 RVs formation! |
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| Pretty cool perspective that lasted only a moment. I was happy I got a clear shot of it. |
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| Looked like the lead released the smoke. Awesome! |
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| Slats positioned us in a slightly different spot where a different angle opened for me. Wow, all that precise maneuvering and synchronicity was happening right above my nose! |
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| Zooming in, zooming out, I was playing with my camera while being completely stunned with what was happening around us. I do not think I will be able to get a better shot of an airplane that is releasing smoke. I could not believe my luck. Thank you, Mighty Universe! |
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| Looking to my right. The pilot of white and orange RV had Jimmy the Squirrel as a passenger. Hi Jimmy, we could not start the day better, huh? |
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| Golly, those views! "This beats everything, even my swimming with whale sharks!", I shared with Slats. Jimmy later reminded me that many pilots are sharks too. |
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| Before the formation was lined up in the desired shape, there were all kinds of position changes. The strangest and yet beautiful maneuvers in the air. It almost looked like the birds were connected to some invisible sticks that made them either advance or pull back while moving slightly upwards and downwards. To wrap it up - the formation was alive and its heart was beating. |
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| I zoomed my lens to another flight in the formation where "Armed and Dangerous" together with other two RVs were aligning. Looking great, guys! |
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This is how the whole marvel looked in the sky. The beautiful photo was taken by talented Sara Works who stayed on the ground and covered the final shot of the fly-over. Look at that breath taking formation of 26 RVs! Great job, everyone! |
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The fly-over was complete. It was time to break the formation and go back to the airport to celebrate. As the elements were getting distant from each other in 2G left turns, I started bracing for dear life as my tolerance to G-force was practically non-existent. Haha. One after another, the airplanes in front of us were climbing in the break turn which looked super cool in the air. Mesmerized by the views I got all confident and I stopped being afraid. It looked so cool, no way it could generate that uncomfortable push. It was not 4G nor 7G, so come on, Dana, this was going to be fun! Well, it was our turn, Slats moved us to the left and uh-oh there it went. The mean invisible hand of G started pushing me into the deepest depths of the seat. Apart from others who do not even feel 2G, I switched to HICK mode and survived just fine. In fact, I would go and do it again and again and again!
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By Dana Brejakova, Contributing Writer & Photographer
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