Formation Flying Trikes - How?

[MILO]

With the magic weather the last couple of days most of the guys are trying to fly at the same time, we nearly had a flight of 4 on Sunday morning planning to go to Middelburg (the wind came up).
Whats best practice for formation flying?
One guy on the radio.
Radio "microlight trike XYZ & 3 others?"
Leader at point with the other aircraft on the right, behind & above?
Acceptable separation distances & altitude?
Who watches who?
How do the guys link up after take off? considering there is at least a minute between take offs how do you link up overhead.
Worse, on approach at destination who is in first in and how is it done, I presume the circuit (downwind leg) gets longer from first to last. (not leap frog like the snake formation guys!)
Any accepted hand signals out there?
Its all guesswork at the moment, but a pre flight brief to the pilots before departure is essential so knowing what the rules are will help.

[Bugwar]

Cobra on this forum wrote a whole "book" about it on the ERMF forum a while ago. Maybe he is willing to share

[MILO]

Thanks, I would dig it out myself if I could figure out what the ERMF was. Maybe its getting close to winter & Cobra is hibernating already...

[Bugwar]

East Rand Micro Flyers on http://www.ermf.co.za or try sending a pm to Cobra

[cobra]

Cobra on this forum wrote a whole "book" about it on the ERMF forum a while ago. Maybe he is willing to share

not a book, Paul

Milo, I have placed it on the wiki a while back, it is our club cruise procedures at ERMF and not a practical formation flying "book" Jade of the "Snakes Team" has complied a manual for formation flying.

Hereby the link for the Microlighters Wiki

wiki/index.php/CLUB_CRUISE_PROCEDURES_( ... PRACTICES)

GAGGLE: An undisciplined group of aircraft, milling about in roughly the same piece of sky, sometimes attempting to impersonate a FORMATION.

FORMATION: A disciplined flight of two or more aircraft under the command of a fight leader using a standardized set of commands to direct the wingmen.

With the ever-increasing size of the experimental aircraft fleet it's only natural to want to fly places with your pals in their aircraft also. Flying together is fun, and can have practical benefits: mutual support during long cross-countries, and more efficient ingress/egress from airports for example. But is it really a good idea to "join up" without any training or practice information flying techniques? In the air this often leads to a form of casual formation flight known as the dreaded "gaggle".

Whenever you fly in close proximity to another airplane there is the potential for greater risk. It only makes sense that safety will be enhanced if we learn and practice a standard set of procedures before engaging in such activity. Only by doing this can we honestly say we're flying in a formation, not a gaggle. With that in mind, the Home Wing encourages its members to learn the basics of structured formation flight.

Be safe, have fun, learn from each other, practice often, keep your attitude and discipline in check, and you will be rewarded with one of the most fun and challenging experiences of flying; You and your buds flying around the patch, looking good, feeling great.

Enjoy and be safe! .

[MILO]

Thanks Cobra, I will read on the weekend & digest. I am not sure of when the last Mico midair incident was & I don't want us to be the first/next. Appreciated.