Formation Clinic and Fly-in Logistics Primer

By Craig Payne

With additional information from the event staff of All Red Star.

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Background:

Each formation clinic takes on it's own character, defined by the experiences of those who participate in them. Based on previous collective experiences, both good and bad, certain “lessons” can be generalized. This document reflects Craig Paynes extensive experience over several years of NATA, Yak Pilots Club and YPA event attendance and active organizing.  The staff from All Red Star has added points that were gained from this experience over the last three years.  Combined, this is an excellent primer for those who have taken on the job of Event Director, Air Boss, Ground Boss, or volunteer at any one of our clinics, fly-in and conventions in the RPA. This guide does NOT include a training syllabus, only organizing. You will find accompanying site survey checklists, area operations diagrams and other useful information in the events section of the RPA website.

The Mission:

The main scope of this document is toward a 3 or 4 day formation training seminar aimed at introducing new trainees as well as maintaining and upgrading the skills of rated pilots. One's formation skills DO get rusty from lack of practice. Everything about the event's shared experience should be focused on building skills and the necessary camaraderie for flying together in very close quarters. This means elimination of outside distractions, such as major airshows, crowded airspace, and competing agendas of all sorts. A little front-end planning and preparation will go a long way towards ensuring that the above goals are met.

Site Requirements:

Environment:

Rural, uncontrolled fields with light traffic work best. For busier urban areas, tower control has its advantages for deconfliction of aircraft.  However, coordination with the tower chief is just about mandatory to explain the SOP we use for training flights, and to understand the traffic patterns that ATC is comfortable with. Nearby restricted airspace and giant tower clusters are good reasons to look elsewhere. At least 2 quadrants from the airport should be “clear”. In all cases, a willing airport administration is the basic requirement.

Runways:

Look for an airport with paved multiple (crosswind) runways. The “main” runway should be capable of landing 2 elements in formation, or 4 airplanes recovering from a mission. Generally for props, 5000’ x 100' with a parallel taxiway will work, especially for formation take-off practice. A crosswind runway is advisable. At least 3500' x 75' will allow single ship operations but another 5000' x 100' plus runway is desirable. Both runways should have parallel taxiways so back-taxi operations are not required. Published IFR approaches are also desirable. Sufficient ramp space, with tiedowns, together as a group for formation starts and shutdown are another “must have”.

FBO:

A willing FBO with adequate facilities is yet another must. A fuel truck is also an absolute requirement for quick turn-around when 8 airplanes need fuel at the same time. Taxi up and wait in line in front of the pump will only burn precious flying time. Another must is a dedicated conference room large enough to accommodate the group, whether it be at the FBO office or local facility, such as the EAA Chapter office or hanger. Tables, chairs and whiteboard will be needed for ground school, a projector is a plus but one can usually be rented locally. Additional small rooms for briefing and de-brief of flights in privacy is important to maximize the learning experience without the distractions of an FBO's lobby. Another bonus is availability of a courtesy car or rental vehicles at reasonable rates. “Always”ask for a fuel discount. High fuel prices are reason enough to eliminate a site when other airports nearby fill the bill.

Area Logistics:

 I look for a hotel and restaurant strip typical of “highway” towns in rural areas. Clean, cheap rooms and franchise restaurants are basic, but the presence of a banquet room at a local pub is a real plus. Count on at least one attendee bringing a spouse who is accustomed to a better hotel. Look for one near the cheap sleep. Having these amenities close to the airport is also required since multiple trips always seem to be required. Too much time can get burned up in transportation over long distances between hotels, restaurants and the airport.

The Key Planning and Operations Staff:

 The work load of running the clinic should be spread out among several people, but with well defined roles to avoid stepping on each other. The following support roles have to be filled by someone.

Regional Coordinator:

The regional coordinator is an RPA position established in 2004 to facilitate local management of the association.  The RC is tasked with insuring his/her region is successful in such endeavors as event development.  While this person may not be the event director, he/she should be called upon by the staff of a regional event to assist where able.  RC contact information is available on the web site – The RPA Staff, now back to our regularly scheduled program…

Event Director:

 “Superlead”, “Grand Dragon”, or maybe “CAG”? He is the over-all event director.  He may be an RPA Officer, Regional Coordinator or any member who has leadership ability and good organizational skills.  His job is to supervise pre-event planning, meet deadlines, establish web and direct e-mail marketing of the event, staffing and contracting. He sets the general look and feel of the event.  In-show efforts include assisting his staff in preparation of the daily agenda, morning briefing, local editing of the training syllabus to suit the situation, and ultimately the final decision maker.  He does not necessarily perform every function, but he insures someone does.

Air Boss:

Actually Operations Officer would be a better term. The Air Boss puts together training flights, assigns operating areas so flights don't crowd the same airspace. Air Boss should know Who is ready to fly, Who needs to fly and which IP's are available. Air Boss also hounds Leads for their formation reports and maintains a database of missions flown. Air Boss keeps operations moving. The absence of an Air Boss has resulted in fewer missions flown and more B.S. sessions during prime flying hours.

Ground Boss:

 “Admin” is also a good descriptor. Someone needs to register the attendees, chase the paperwork, take monies, and let Air Boss know who’s in and who's out. Ground Boss also orders carryouts if required for lunches, coordinates with the FBO, and arranges dinner reservations, runs for supplies, performs duty driver chores, etc.

Other Operations:

Often, maintenance seminars and aerobatic training occurs during the clinic.  We have seen Press flights, VIP hops, and old buddies drop in during the schedule and disrupt operations. Superlead, and Air Boss need to know Whom is doing What and When. These activities should be included in the daily schedule for visibility. The daily schedule should be posted on the briefing board and maintained up to date.

Scheduling:

Most clinics, not associated with a major fly-in, usually start on Thursday, with arrivals in the morning and ground school in the afternoon. First timers should be there on time for the ground school. Rated pilots can arrive by Friday morning or use Thursday to knock the rust off their formation skills or conduct standardization meetings, scheduling meetings or RPA instructor upgrade training. Friday and Saturday are work days; try and minimize down time then. Schedule seminars late on Saturday, or right after lunch.  Try and get the activity performed and back to flying on schedule.

Community Support and Gastronomy.

Armies travel on their stomachs; the clinic or fly-in is no different. Except for major events like ARS, attendees staying at local hotels should be made aware of where to grab breakfast (normally places attached to the hotel, but check) so they should roll in fed with a cup in hand to the brief.  On-ramp catered, boxed, or deli lunches keep the flow going for your operations. For larger functions, you may want to contact the Chamber of Commerce, local boy scouts, JROTC or CAP to invite them out for a fundraiser burger-burn and wiener roast ramp lunch. Check with the airfield manager about set up logistics beforehand (or let the organization do it). The Friday night group BBQ, weather permitting, makes a great event for Esprit de Corps. Other options include a mass car-pool to a steak house of other local establishment.  Saturday night is the best time for a banquet, as everyone should still be there. Expect some Sunday morning departures early but this time can also be used for recommendation and check rides, especially if there was a weather delay on Friday or Saturday. Beware of holidays, most folks have family and social obligations.

The Banquet.

The banquet can be a major effort that sets your event in the memories of the attendees, or something smaller, but less labor intensive for all; the decision is yours.  Either way, the prep required should be done before the clinic and day of set-up will need a dedicated soul or crew (wives come to mind here!).  At All Red Star we put a lot of effort in to the social aspect of these events outside a pact training schedule to good effect, but the pre-event work-load is much larger, thus more staffing is required.  Here are just a few suggestions. The Superlead should put some thought in to recognizing attendees and volunteers in several areas during the banquet.  Such awards for “Best in Show” aircraft, based on ramp inspections and staff vote, “Top Volunteer” recognizing someone you couldn’t do without, and perhaps a few humorous categories are always nice. The RPA has a trophy company on contract, so if you would like to use logo’d trophies, contact the association. Use the PC projector and laptop provided for the ground school presentation and project a slide show of all the digital pictures or video taken during the event while folks are mingling and talking before the dinner and presentations start, restart it again for after dinner drinks. Use the same PC projection equipment and have a short power point slide show to go with your awards presentations. For the larger events (50+), you may want to consider such things as raffles, silent auctions and other activities that might help start a seed fund for next years event, which, if this one was a hit, will probably be even larger.

Rules of Thumb:

• Expect 8-12 hours flight time for active trainees during a fair weather clinic. That means the FBO should expect to pump 120-180 gallons 100LL per Yak/CJ and 1 case of oil. Set up a “prop tag” or other system to insure the aircraft get fueled.
• The average mission is an hour, startup to shutdown. Yaks have 31 gallon tanks standard so plan accordingly.  The refueler should be told to expect each flight back within an hour of their departure.
• While the average flight time is an hour, at least another hour of brief/debrief should be expected. One proven trick for maximizing missions is for Air Boss to keep a given 4-ship together for 2 missions, with appropriate position changes between hops. Thus each flight re-uses their assigned flight area and frequencies for 2 missions, cutting down on brief and assembly time.
• Estimate requiring as many rated pilots as trainees and at least half as many Instructor-Pilots. One Check Pilot should be sufficient, unless a number of Check Rides are expected. Not all clinics will require a Check Pilot, especially Newbie Clinics.
• Insure all attendees know and understand that attendance does not insure a check ride will be given. Clinics are training functions, not check ride factories – folks arriving at the clinic with a check ride recommendation in hand are the only ones who should reasonably expect to receive a check ride.  For the rest, it’s up to their progression and the schedule.
• A well run clinic, with good weather, should expect 4-5 hops per day per trainee, with allowance for 4 hours of ground school on the first day.

Planning Checklist

Airport:

• Location, location, location.  Far enough from congested airspace, close enough to a commercial airport for staff pilots to fly in, not too far for the attending pilots to fly their military trainers to. For smaller clinics, being within two hours flight time is ideal.
• Main runway at least 5000' x 100' or greater. Must have for our props.  Jets, think 7000 ft+.
• At least one crosswind runway 3500' x 75' or greater for props. Must have, unless prevailing winds are predictable at the time of year the clinic is held.
• Parallel taxiway on main runway. Must have; even better if all runways have.
• IFR approaches. Usually not a problem.
• Large ramp tie down space adequate for group formation startup/shutdown. Must have.
• Sparsely populated and minimum congestion in at least two quadrants from the airport for smaller clinics. (see airspace)
• ATC operation briefing if required.
• Airport administration approval. A letter may be required before approval.
• Check the Airfields Managers policy on airport event fees, facility rental fees and owner liability insurance or event insurance early. Don’t get caught by surprise well down the road. Some Airfield Managers may request/need copies of proof of liability insurance for attending aircraft.

FAA:

• The Event Director of a small clinic may elect not to brief the local FSDO. However, for larger operations, or for a FAR waiver for an aerobatics box (45 day MINIMUM lead time is required for such a waiver) contact the local FSDO early.
• Waivers: If you want to have an aerobatics box, you will need to send in a FAA Form 7711-2 Application to apply for a FAA Form 7711-1 Waiver. Contact the RPA if you need help in this process as we have sent folks to ICAS (International Council of Airshows) to gain hands on training in box set up and the waiver process. Consult these documents first: 
• AC 91-45C is dated but good knowledge on events and the waiver process
• FAA 8700.1 Chapter 48: Issue of Waiver for Aerobatics Box
• FAA 8700.1 Chapter 49: Issue of Waiver for Event (public events only)
• FAA 8700.1 Chapter 50: FAA Surveillance of an aviation event. Read this if you are issued a FAA Form 7711-1 Waiver, it explains the FAA Inspectors rights, and restrictions on inspecting your event.
• Even small events should have a local NOTAM published; contact the FSS serving that area.
• Insure all attendees at RPA clinics are aware of the required, and highly recommended, documents to bring (see “airshow kit” on the web).  Due to the number of accidents outside our association, this is a HOT ITEM and we all want to protect the good name of this association. If there is an incident on the field and the FAA, FSDO or NTSB determines that several attendees did not have required documents, all our operations may feel the consequences.

Working Area and Frequencies:

• If you need frequencies, contact the FCC early on to apply for temporary event frequencies (the local FSDO may be able to help). The local EAA chapter might also have known frequencies they use. Never use your CTAF frequencies!
• Set up a Training Area wall Chart and/or provide some briefing charts. At ARS we use a simple cardinal direction pie-in the sky. (see adjoining event planners documents)
• Clear, lightly used airspace in at least 2 quadrants from the airport so 2 flights can operate simultaneously for smaller events.  Altitude blocks can be used in operating areas, but deconflict entry and exit corridors where flights are climbing and descending.
• No TFR's, Restricted areas, Victor Airways or no densely populated areas in flight areas.
• For larger events, establish holding procedures outside the airport and always show, and brief, abort bases on your area chart – have a plan!  The pilots will take care of the decisions on the fly, but provide the big picture.

Emergency Actions Plan:

• Contact the on-field fire department and discuss the operation; have a plan, phone numbers and driving directions for emergency actions running from a twisted ankle being driven to the local hospital to on or off airport aircraft incident. Think: what would you do if your friend and attendee suffered a heart attack during your Friday on-ramp Burger Burn?
• Brief all attendees on these emergency actions and to never speak to the press if an accident occurs during your event. The only person making any comment is the Superlead and it’s “no comment”.
• Have a weather recall plan. If you have thunderstorms heading in, estimate their arrival and get the aircraft tied-down; and it’s time for a ground seminar!

FBO:

• Refueler truck available for 100LL. Absolutely must have.
• Establish a Fuel Tracking and payment system: Provide “PROP TAGs”
• Competitive fuel prices. Always ask for a discount up front.
• Willing to order sufficient oil and have available.
• Repair shop available, with mechanic. Nitrogen bottle filled.
• Hanger space for wounded birds and maintenance seminar.
• Meeting room(s) available for a “war room”, brief/debrief cubbyholes, tables, chairs and whiteboard.  EAA may be able to provide some facilities.
• DUATS/NEXRAD and FSS Briefing phone available in Pilot Lounge.
• Transportation courtesy car and rentals available.

Local Community Area:

• Affordable hotel strip with restaurants nearby.
• Located in lightly populated area, near major highways for drive-ins.
• No major competing events in the area during the clinic, ie: spring break at Daytona Beach.

Ops:

• Daily weather FSS briefing and TFR check before the morning brief.
• Schedule a standard morning start time for a briefing, folks will be fussing with their airplanes or sleeping off last night's Crud match otherwise.
• You may have (and advertise) muffins, doughnuts, juice & coffee; late sleepers won’t miss it! It insures no one heads to the aircraft on empty.
• Air Boss does a morning head count at the end of the brief and schedules the first hops with whomever is available. Don't waste time waiting on someone to get started.
• Schedule 2 back-to-back hops per 4-ship for starters, using an assigned airspace quadrant.
• Lunches are best done on premises with carryouts to minimize downtime and lost trainees.
• Communicate a clear stop time at day's end so all birds are put away refueled, oiled up and tied down before dark (and dinner).
• Try and keep the group together and not splinter into cliques, each going their own way. However, this is impossible for larger groups and communications DO suffer.
• Focus on getting the training mission done, but have fun too!
• If this is the first time at setting up a clinic: smaller is better. Don't stuff too many aircraft and pilots into a one clinic, two to four 4-ships is plenty.
• Staffing is critical; insure you remain in contact with your instructors and check pilots to be the first to know, not the last, that a work schedule change or family issue has affected their attendance.  More clinics and fly-ins have folded at the 11^th hour for staffing than weather related issues.

Equipment Checklist:

If you are flying in to the event, you can always ship equipment to the FBO. For many of these items, the RPA has an Event Box we can ship direct to your event. Event Directors are then responsible for sending it back!!

• PC Projector, Laptop and Pull Down Screen. Overhead projector makes for a back-up.
• Scheduling board:  White board with markers, chalk board or even an easel will work.
• Stapler, Two Hole Punch, Pens, Blank Paper, Note Pads.
• Multiple copies of the FAST Manual, Briefing Cards, Kneeboards, Registration and other documents passed out at the event.  We advise you have these on a CD and have a printer just in case you have to make more. (Kinkos is a big last minute help)
• Lock box or zipper pouch for registration checks and monies.
• Document holder for all administrative forms, registration documents and other collectibles.
• Recommended new item for RPA FAST clinics: Training Folders (see adjoining documents on the website)
• Chalks. Have Home Depot cut up a bunch of 6 inch 2X4 sections-cheap.
• Cooler for drinks – don’t let your aviators get dehydrated.

Maintenance:

Someone is going to have a problem with their aircraft. Having common spares, specialized tools and equipment helps. Don't try and cover those items that the FBO can fix, such as avionics, or electrical. At a minimum, have fittings for putting nitrogen into the oleo struts from a standard gooseneck the FBO will have and schrader valve adapter for the air system. An M-14 tool kit will work for both Russian and Chinese engines.

Public Relations:

It pays to personally visit the site to confirm what you find online and by telephone conversation. Visit with the locals, share some enthusiasm, it's catching. Take news clippings and magazine articles of other clinics.  Don't hesitate to call the Chamber of Commerce or Tourism Council and ask for some “muscle” to get good hotel, banquet, and transportation prices. If multiple spouses show up as GIBS, the Tourism Council  can provide tips on local attractions that will keep them away from their trainee spouses schedule.

If a site seems worth coming back to, arrange a few rides for key local decision makers on a Saturday or Sunday morning hop. Don't forget hardworking line boys either. If the local EAA provides some service such as lunch on the field, or their hanger, make a donation; money talks.

With pre-event coordination with the EAA, Chamber of Commerce and other local groups, you may find a source for donated equipment rentals and other services!  Getting the local beer and soft drink distributor to donate a case of soft drinks has been done before!

Money, Selling Merchandise and Accounting: 

Rules:

• Keep a record using excel or other system on the clinic laptop of who attended, who paid and you’re out-going expenditures. If nothing else pen and ink it on a form (see adjoining documents).

• If you are conducting an RPA Clinic or Fly-In, the fees collected are designed to offset the event directors costs.
• It’s your event; provide as necessary to insure you have the flight training staff needed. We suggest as a bear minimum that you cover billeting fees for the check pilot.  Let these folks know what you can provide upfront.  Don’t offer more than you can afford!
• Funds left over should be sent to the RPA Treasurer for deposit in the Associations account where they will be earmarked for your next event (seed money to grow your local operations).  We do not advise any surplus fees be deposited (co-mingled) with your personal accounts. The IRS recognizes the RPA as a Federal 501(c)(3) non-profit and we are not taxed.  Event Directors can then access their funds by contacting the treasurer.
• Clinics and events are excellent to provide our members’ access to RPA Logo Merchandise such as patches, hats, clothing, etc.  If you are given a merchandise box, please safeguard it’s contents and account for all sales. All records and funds should be sent to the Association Treasurer. Unsold items should be shipped back to the RPA. (at RPA expense)

Big Picture:

Have a plan, communicate often, think safety and make it fun – for everyone!

(That means you too boss)

Questions?  See the events section of the RPA website or contact us at: events@flyredstar.org