West Coast Formation Clinic 2014

Folks,

I'm happy to announce that the WCFC will once again be held in lovely Madera California. As usual, the dates will be the last weekend of April. April 25-27 2014.

We've set up a web page that has all of the information regarding the clinic with links to all the required reading materials, location, schedule, preparation, and application process, as well as hotel and contact info. Find details and apply to attend the clinic at:

http://rvformation.com/WCFC2014/

This clinic has been oversubscribed every year for the past several years and the roster fills up quickly. The application window closes on February 16th and attendees will be contacted the following week.

We are once again focusing on safely introducing newcomers to the art of formation flying. The training is tailored to each individual attendee's skill level. We usually have a large enough cadre of safety pilots and leads to insure that everyone benefits newcomers as well as old hands.

The camaraderie crescendos on Saturday evening when we all fly to my house at Sierra Sky Park (E79) for BBQ Tri-Tip and fixins.

There will likely be at least 3 FFI Check Pilots in attendance for those who are ready to test for an FFI card or need a re-qual ride.

George (Cipher) Ford put together a great video of last year's clinic: Thank you Cipher...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaAXLF9T6LQ


I look forward to seeing everyone.

Slick

Hope to see some new faces at the clinic.

I'm in! The BBQ at Slick's truly is the highlight. Looking forward to it!

IN - Rotor

Wonderful experience.

Great group of people.

Fun skill building exercises.

All around fun.

"Bad Sheila" is coming

Missed last year because of new engine in my RV6 so really looking forward to it.

Papi

Weeble up

Hoping there's room for me at MAE. I feel a ck ride coming on.

Signed up, standing by smartly

When do you-all expect to confirm seats?

I'm interested, started reading the references, and I've signed up online; if there's anything else to do, let me know.

("put me in, coach!")

thx

esco said:

if there's anything else to do.

Click to expand...

Just be patient. We have to look at all the applications and select the participants. Every year we receive more and more applications. As soon as we know, all the applicants will know. Thank you for your interest. BTW, what is your name

AX-O said:

Just be patient. We have to look at all the applications and select the participants. Every year we receive more and more applications. As soon as we know, all the applicants will know. Thank you for your interest. BTW, what is your name

Click to expand...

Axel: pm sent

Thanks for the PM

Break

The cut off for application is Feb 16th (after that the names go directly to the waiting list). We will then start our selection process. Many of us will be participating in a VERY LARGE formation soon, so that may push our decision time line a little later.

Hey Guys, I signed up as a first year rookie. Hope there is room, that's a perfect spring weekend to get out of Seattle !

Once again, my 21 years in a row and still going golf trip to Mesquite with the same group of buddies falls on this same time.
Slick, Nasty, and AC, sorry... I have to let you down again this year and will not be able to help.
Don't give up on me yet. Half of our golf group is almost dead.....next year?

JJ

JJ,

At least stop by on your way down...

Deadline for application submission is tomorrow.

West coast?

Hey I signed up, and haven't heard anything yet. Any news?

Stand by. We are sending the email soon.

Remember, we do this for fun, not our jobs. And many of us were involved in one way or another with the 50 ship formation. We are going as fast as we can.

Thank you for your understanding.

Thanks for the Show at Madera 4/26

Saturday 4/26 Julie and I flew our glider out of Avenal (CA69) and headed north up into the valley. I decided to use Chowchilla as a turn point before heading back.

Approaching Chowchilla we started hearing a few groups referring to themselves as various "flights" on 123.3 and then hopping off freq to another channel when hearing the glider chatter.

South of Chowchilla we saw our first formation of 3 chasing each other around. Looked like good fun. Turning Chowchilla and following a nice line of clouds towards Madera we saw a few more flights of 2 and 3 playing and started to suspect something was up.

Approaching Madera at a little below 3000 I had switched to Madera CT in case we got closer to traffic pattern. Within minutes the radio lit up. Flight of 3 from the west, flight of 4 from the south, flight of 3 from the east. Constant radio calls for a few minutes. I finally slipped in a call that I was west of the field 3000, maneuvering. We spend the next 10 minutes or so in a soft thermal climbing away and enjoying the show going on below us.

Must have been nearly 25 or more RVs returning from every possible direction in tight formation. Was a thing of beauty to watch from our high cover position as each team approached and performed their overhead break before returning to land.

Was a definite bonus for us on top of a good soaring day. I was very glad that we didn't sink out and need to joint the fray landing. Hopefully we could have at least bummed a ride back to Avenal if we had landed there.

Morgan

morhall said:

Saturday 4/26 Julie and I flew our glider out of Avenal (CA69) and headed north up into the valley. I decided to use Chowchilla as a turn point before heading back.

Approaching Chowchilla we started hearing a few groups referring to themselves as various "flights" on 123.3 and then hopping off freq to another channel when hearing the glider chatter.


--- snip ---

Must have been nearly 25 or more RVs returning from every possible direction in tight formation. Was a thing of beauty to watch from our high cover position as each team approached and performed their overhead break before returning to land.

Was a definite bonus for us on top of a good soaring day. I was very glad that we didn't sink out and need to joint the fray landing. Hopefully we could have at least bummed a ride back to Avenal if we had landed there.

Morgan

Click to expand...

There was also the "All Red Star" clinic at Porterville with a lot of airplanes.

Both clinic organizers coordinated A2A frequency use before the event so to increase safety for all participants.

Yes, we could hear the Porterville flights returning as well. Porterville CTAF is 122.8, same as Madera.

We fly pretty much exclusively on 123.3 for A2A. Occasionally 123.5. Mid summer the problem is that we've got guys in the Sierra at 17500 with line of sight to just about everywhere in hundreds of miles. It can get pretty chatty.