Quote:
Originally Posted by Snowflake
That flight should have been scrubbed at the sighting of the flat tire. Scary stuff indeed.
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And this is one of the advantages of flying formation. The second-last pilot looks over the last airplane after he completes his run up, mostly for any evidence of oil or fuel under or on the fuselage, pitot cover removed, tires properly inflated, no shoulder harness loose ends flapping outside, etc.
The last pilot does this for the second-last pilot, then gives a thumbs up. The second-last guy then looks to the third-last airplane and the process is repeated, all the way back up the line to Lead.
Having enjoyed many trips flying with the Snowflakes, this is a hard habit to not employ even when not flying with them. Several times, I have jumped onto the ATC freq to advise pilots taxiing onto the runway that they still had a pitot cover on, that their flaps were fully down or that their elevator-trim tab appeared to be fully deflected.