Last Sunday, me, Jonky, Nicole and Jeff were supposed to fly to Lubang. Jeff was supposed to be my passenger, while Nicole's passenger was Jonky. Due to some unforseen events, Jeff had to go home early. Out of the blue Nicole suggested suddenly suggested Baler and borrowed my camera. I obliged and soon found myself looking for a passenger. It was sunday, all the students that were there have their own flight schedules and didn't want to go. Good thing Capt Rey didn't have a schedule and asked him if he wanted to join us.
Nicole, flying 1053 with Jonky, took off ahead of us. After 5 minutes, me and Capt. Rey aboard 8831, took-off. RP-C1053 received a new engine, and couldn't climb further than 3000'. We opted to go higher since our TAS will be faster on higher altitudes. It was a routine flight en-route to Baler. Since the other aircraft didn't climb at higher altitudes, they were forced to follow the valley en-route to Dingalan allowing us to catch up with them. From 6000' we were able to see them below us.
I radioed Nicole that I'll go closer to her and asked her to maintain altitude, heading and airspeed. Formation flight is very demanding to pilots involved, constant communication is required whilst flying the plane as precise as possible. Altitude, heading, airspeed and power setting should be nailed on the desired spot. Visibility should be excellent when trying to fly in formation. After 20 minutes of fun and pretending to be a cast in Fly Boys or Top Gun, we soon saw the beach of Baler and broke our formation.
We allowed Nicole to land first whilst we circled over the city. In less than 30 minutes we were in Bay's Inn enjoying the nice sea breeze whilst eating our lunch :)
Nicole, flying 1053 with Jonky, took off ahead of us. After 5 minutes, me and Capt. Rey aboard 8831, took-off. RP-C1053 received a new engine, and couldn't climb further than 3000'. We opted to go higher since our TAS will be faster on higher altitudes. It was a routine flight en-route to Baler. Since the other aircraft didn't climb at higher altitudes, they were forced to follow the valley en-route to Dingalan allowing us to catch up with them. From 6000' we were able to see them below us.
I radioed Nicole that I'll go closer to her and asked her to maintain altitude, heading and airspeed. Formation flight is very demanding to pilots involved, constant communication is required whilst flying the plane as precise as possible. Altitude, heading, airspeed and power setting should be nailed on the desired spot. Visibility should be excellent when trying to fly in formation. After 20 minutes of fun and pretending to be a cast in Fly Boys or Top Gun, we soon saw the beach of Baler and broke our formation.
We allowed Nicole to land first whilst we circled over the city. In less than 30 minutes we were in Bay's Inn enjoying the nice sea breeze whilst eating our lunch :)
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