Formation Challenge!
Formation Challege
The people that come to airshows love formation demonstrations. I realised that last year while we were doing the airshow circiut with the RTAF. Since one of the rules of formation flight is to have fun, I thought that the Formation Challenge would be a fun way to demonstrate your formation skills to the public with some good old competitive spirit thrown in to make it exciting.
The Formation Challenge is team based competition.
The objective is to demonstrate precision formation flight to the judges and the general public.
Each team will supply a routine to the judges in much the same way that aerobatic pilots do. A team provided announcer will describe for the public what is going on and should provide color commentary talking about the team members and their airplanes. If your team doesn't have an announcer, we can help you find one.
Each team will consist of at least 2 ships. Each team will have 20 minutes to execute their routine. The judges will base their scores on how well the teams execute their maneuvers (precision, crispness, timing) the complexity of the routine (configuration changes at airshow center) and spacing. At the end of each pass the announcer will ask for the crowd’s response through applause. (Yes, it’s subjective but it does get them involved.) And yes, how you brief and debrief is part of the scoring. Safety begins at the briefing so the judges will be there too!
Categories will be 1st place, 2nd place, and 3rd with a largest formation award. Handicaps will be used to level the competitive field. For example, a team comprised of pilots who all have their FFI Lead Cards will be judged on a stricter set of standards then a team consisting of one lead, one wing and two novices. (please see the rules page)
The Formation Challenge is team based competition.
The objective is to demonstrate precision formation flight to the judges and the general public.
Each team will supply a routine to the judges in much the same way that aerobatic pilots do. A team provided announcer will describe for the public what is going on and should provide color commentary talking about the team members and their airplanes. If your team doesn't have an announcer, we can help you find one. Each team will consist of at least 2 ships. Each team will have 20 minutes to execute their routine. The judges will base their scores on how well the teams execute their maneuvers (precision, crispness, timing) the complexity of the routine (configuration changes at airshow center) and spacing. At the end of each pass the announcer will ask for the crowd’s response through applause. (Yes, it’s subjective but it does get them involved.) And yes, how you brief and debrief is part of the scoring. Safety begins at the briefing so the judges will be there too!
Categories will be 1st place, 2nd place, and 3rd with a largest formation award. Handicaps will be used to level the competitive field. For example, a team comprised of pilots who all have their FFI Lead Cards will be judged on a stricter set of standards then a team consisting of one lead, one wing and two novices. (please see the rules page)
News
- The Merced airshow has been canceled but many of us are going to fly in anyway. We're still forming teams!
- 7/1/07 We've posted the winners! We've posted some pictures and we're working on a video.
- 5/29/07 Due to some last minute discussions we have modified the rules and the categories that pilots can participate in. We have eliminated the novice class. Check the updated rules page for details.
- The Rules and Registration pages have been updated.
- The information email address is now correct.
- Some rules have been posted along with some example routines.
- The competition schedule has been finalized!
Although FAST and FFI cards are not required to participate, all participants will have to adhere to the FAST (Formation And Safety Team) or FFI (Formation Flying Inc.) rules of formation flight. All participants must have some formation training. Although flights will be flown throughout the two day event, all participants that will be flying in wavered airspace must have either a FAST or FFI card and participating pilots must attend the fly-in briefings.
Visitors
The Formation Challenge name and all Formation Challenge Rules and Regulations are protected by copyright
Formation Challenge copyright 2007 All rights reserved.
The Formation Challenge name and all Formation Challenge Rules and Regulations are protected by copyright
Formation Challenge copyright 2007 All rights reserved.
