Flying individually always takes a bit of planning but flying as part of a group of aircraft takes even more planning and preparation. Hence and if you are planning to fly as part of a group, a short General Aviation News article about group flying is well worth reading. The article offers some tips from Steve MacCabe of the Sunday Morning Breakfast Club – a group of 60 pilots from the Chicago area who go out every week for breakfast plus have an annual long trip (“Sun ‘n Fun”) to someplace warm and sunny.
MacCabe noted that one great aspect of group flying is that the pilots of faster planes can give weather updates to the pilots of slower planes so that they can enjoy smoother flights and take advantage of the best winds. In addition, he offered the following tips for group flyers:
- Be flexible with your schedule and try to keep the trip VFR. In other words, don’t let the weather completely dictate your trip.
- Always have extra days built into your travel schedule’
- On the return trip, be sure to consider the weather and if the weather is flyable, you need to be in the air.
- Always plan to have multiple routes.
Keeping the above tips in mind will make your next group flying trip go as smoothly as possible.