The 37-ship formation at Oshkosh was quite a lovely site for those of us on the ground. But it appears we've forgotten something: Reminding the people on the ground that formation flight isn't stunt flying.
In fact, we really haven't seen much in the way of explanation for the masses about what formation flying is and how professional -- in particular -- these flights are.
A blog in my neck of the woods today shows the danger of this lapse:
We can't help thinking about planes falling from the sky when we watch these stunt air shows, but we have to admit these incredibly close and perfected formations in the sky are beautiful. Thanks Wisconsin!
Sure, we can lapse into the tried and true "oh, there goes the stupid media" nonsense again. But formations are intended to look thrilling and a little scary to the people on the ground. That's why we want them to look up.
As a non-formation flyer, I've done what I can to educate that particular blog, including showing them what it looks like from the air and explaining the training that goes into it. Fortunately, I had these pictures to help;.
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