Tag Archives: formation

We had a saying in the Fighter Weapons School at Nellis AFB, Nevada. “There are two kinds of pilots you don’t meet very often: those who have hit the ground unintentionally, or those who have collided with another airplane in flight.” Hard reality supports the statement, and we used it as an attention-getter to begin both the low-altitude and air-to-air combat training portions of the syllabus. With the exception of airshow formation flying, civilian airplanes generally stay away from each other. And when they don’t, it’s usually a tragic event. What follows is an example of how bad it could … Continue reading →