Formation Safety - Back to Basics

[banzaisgi]

I'm doing an article.
1. legal complaints about formation flight in congested areas (someone says that a formation/gaggle over the everglades is unsafe)
2. what is congested area defined
3. is a loose gaggle/formation truly a formation
4. are photos taken from the ground admissable

[Kahuna]

Originally Posted by banzaisgi

I'm doing an article.
1. legal complaints about formation flight in congested areas (someone says that a formation/gaggle over the everglades is unsafe)
2. what is congested area defined
3. is a loose gaggle/formation truly a formation
4. are photos taken from the ground admissable

Ok Ill bite.
1. You have 3 different all unrelated items that can not be addressed together. Formation safety has nothing to do with whats under you. Legal complaints? I dont know what that is. Formation and congestion are not related either in a regulatory fashion, or in the formation flight it self.
2. A congested area is what ever the ruling FAA atty says it is and what ever you are willing to defend in a case. While there is much case law on the matter, the regs are weak and the case law is all over the place. It is what ever the inspector talks the atty into saying it is. And i can tell you from first hand experience, a remote uncontrolled airport with nothing for miles has been deemed congested in the cases. Some have won, some have lost.
3. In whos mind? The flights mind? The FAA's mind? While the FAA has used <500' as a litmus test for formation. Other circumstances are considered. There are countless times and circumstances you are <500' apart and are not considered a formation from the FAA. If a flight is acting like a formation and they are further apart than 500', then they are in fact in formation. In terms of acting, the circumstances of the flight, the intentions of the pilots, and other tangental information(squawks, briefings, communications, etc.) can be used to determine if the gaggle is in fact a flight or not.
4. Absolutely.

I would add that I could easily come up with lots of circumstances where a formation flight over any space, including the everglades, could be unsafe. The safely of the flight has nothing to do with the ground below. Ill bet there have been many unsafe gaggles over the everglades, and countless other locations. The question of safety has everthing to do with the training, attitude, and dicipline of the flight, and nothing to do with swamp below.

Best,