well, flying at a lower power is wise, you don't want to floor it the entire time. It's bad for the engine, and you won't be able to keep up. Another thing, keep at a stable altitude. It's a lot easier to keep track of two dimensions instead of three.

FS formation flying is trickier than the real world - it's a lot easier with the depth perception you get in a real aeroplane. Chuck has the key though; stay relaxed, don't tense on the controls (easier in FS the RW!), and apply smooth and gentle inputs. The final tip is to only change one thing at a time. If you are out of position adjust one parameter at a time.

The secret to good formation is knowing your "references", ie the things you can see on the lead aircraft that you are trying to keep steady in your windscreen. Once you've established these you can work on maintaining them.

To maintain them, think in 3-planes:

Forward/Back - controlled using throttle (usually defined by lining up something on the wing, for example the inner edge of the aileron, with something on the fuselage, such as window, door etc)

Up/down - elevator, normally defined by how much of the upper/lower surface of the leader's wing you can see - about one third of the upper/two thirds lower is fairly typical. You try to maintain this split.

In/Out (ailerons) is normally the hardest to define. Often it helps to be established on the other two before judging the lateral spacing from the lead.

That's a very simplistic explanation, but covers the basics. Personally I find formation the most satisfying form of RW flying, even over aerobatics.

nthn1 wrote on Oct 13^th, 2012 at 12:44pm:


If you want I will do some formation flying with you on the simv server 

It's one of my favorite things to do while flying.

C wrote on Oct 14^th, 2012 at 5:01pm:


Allow me to repeat and maybe to clarify what I meant in the other post. The weather MUST be the same between the various airplanes taking part to the formation, just like in real life. All right some planes in real life can be kicked about by the the slipstream or the wake of another plane they try to close in in the incorrect way. But these cases notwithstanding, if the formation is executed correctly there's little to no difference of weather from an end to another of the formation itself.

And here we crash against a serious limitation of FS. If you load REAL weather, you CANNOT be sure the FS in your PC interprets the data it got in the same way of your next wingman... or the rest of the formation for thaty. It may just happen (and it had) that to your wingman the weather was smooth and pleasant, while for you there's the mother of all contrasting gales somewhere around your plane making a mess of your flight path.

And with more people using real weather in the formation, the probabilities of a disaster happening increase exponentially.

This is why when asked I suggest to aspiring formation fliers to turn off real weather and choose a standard theme. Clear Blue Skies and no wind for the beginners or those who go: "today I just don't want to work too much", all the other for those more expert or that would like more of a challenge... but all the planes MUST use the same theme and COMPLETELY FORGET REAL WEATHER, you'll only increase the probabilities of making a hash out of your flight if you do differently. Experience talking here.

Strategic Retreat wrote on Oct 14^th, 2012 at 10:25pm:


Yeah, that's what I meant. No weather at all (ie, SKC, nil wind etc), for everyone taking part. Keeps it simple.

Pick two points on the aircraft you're forming up on and make certain they align with things in your cockpit. Then advance slowly on them, no sudden moves. Remember if you're coming in on them diagonally you'll need more speed to cover the same ground. Matching airspeed will get you no where.
Also it helps if whoever is flying the lead plane is slightly more steady than the Rock of Gibraltar

In the real world, unless you are the Blues or some other demonstration team, you don't usually take off in formation.  Usually its a staggered takeoff, with join up in the air.  If you do a formation takeoff, then the lead aircraft has to use a slightly reduced power setting to give the wingman a speed advantage to maintain his position, assuming identical aircraft.