AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2014 - 16

WAYPOINTS

Collect your reward

BY THOMAS B. HAINES
Editor in Chief

Accepting the challenge of new challenges

EDITOR IN CHIEF

Thomas B. Haines
flies his Bonanza
A36 for business
and pleasure.

THE SLEEK RV-4 quickly grew in the Bonanza's windscreen. I kicked in a little left rudder and backed off on
the throttle as we slipped into position just a few feet
below and to the right of the Experimental airplane.
"Remember, each power adjustment is really three
adjustments," reminded George Perry from the right
seat. Perry is the new senior vice president of the AOPA
Air Safety Institute and a former Navy F/A-18 squadron commander ( see "Safety Spotlight: In the Interest
of Safety," page 26). "One to catch up, one to slow down,
and one to stay with him." Perry, with his military precision formation experience, was there to coach me back
into formation flying, the flying AOPA editors do routinely to capture the air-to-air images on these pages.
I took myself off the list of those flying wing more than
five years ago because I didn't have time to maintain proficiency. I have regularly been flying lead, or platform as
we call it-the airplane that carries the photographer.
That position requires less formation proficiency.
But I missed the challenge of flying wing and felt less
than challenged flying lead. When I expressed an interest in getting back into it, Senior Editor Dave Hirschman
quickly volunteered his RV as lead and Perry got volunteered to fly with me-which was fitting, as I originally
learned formation flying from a naval aviator.
I was surprised at how quickly the basics came back,
and I felt comfortable and confident throughout that
flight when doing our normal photo routines. Perry
encouraged me to push the envelope slightly and with
his close supervision had me doing some military-style
intercepts and an overhead arrival back at the airport,
fun and challenging exercises.
One difference that makes photo formation more
challenging than military formation is that the person
flying wing-or subject-is expected to follow the photographer's commands for positioning the airplane in
the frame. During photo missions, we move around-
up, down, forward, aft, left, and right-while doing
360-degree turns and climbs and descents in formation,
all to provide different angles and backgrounds to the
photographer. "Move down three feet," is not an unusual
request relayed via radio from the photographer. That's
not difficult, even when you're flying only 20 feet from
the photo platform. "Hold it right there." Now, that's difficult on a bumpy day.
Another difference is that military formations typically are flown with similar aircraft. Frequently, for

16 | AOPA PILOT December 2014

photos we're flying very dissimilar aircraft with different
speed ranges. I recently flew formation in an Eclipse jet
on a Bonanza platform, which was challenging given the
speed differences. The most challenging one I can recall
was flying a Cessna Citation business jet behind a tired
old Cessna 206 over the desert near Sedona, Arizona, on
a bumpy morning. Fortunately I had a great co-pilot who
continually reminded me of the airspeed as we struggled
to stay slow enough to safely fly behind the Stationair.
The rewarding return to formation flying reminded
me how important it is to continually challenge ourselves to expand our aviation horizons, both to increase
proficiency and to increase aviation's value equation.
Learning new skills keeps us sharp and reminds us why
we learned to fly in the first place-to experience things
that the vast majority will never get to do.
Earlier this year I earned a seaplane rating, which
I found more challenging than I had anticipated, but
also more rewarding than I expected. It takes a lot of
skill to safely maneuver an airplane on and near the
water. Today, no matter what airplane I'm in, I can't
fly over a lake without looking down and estimating
the wind speed and direction based on cues that previously I didn't know existed. Another on my bucket
list is tailwheel flying. I've been checked out in a couple of different tailwheel airplanes over the years, but
have never had the opportunity to spend enough time
in any of them to become what I would consider proficient. I was trading emails recently with a celebrity
pilot who has recently gotten into general aviation. He
quickly moved into flying an Eclipse jet, but now he's
also learning tailwheel flying.
When I told him I also was attempting to master
tailwheel flying, he wrote back, "Master! I'm looking to
keep my first bounce under eight feet!"
Sounds like he and I are in about the same place.
One of the wonders of flying is that there is never
any part of it that is truly mastered. You're only as good
as the landing you're about to make, and there's always
some part of aviation yet to be explored. As we move into
the new year, I hope you are planning to stretch your
wings a bit and broaden your aviation horizon. You will
find it rewarding. See you at the airport.
AOPA
EMAIL thomas.haines@aopa.org

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2014

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