By STAN KASPRZYK

FlightLog Archive

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Aircraft Flown

Richland NATA Formation - May 2026

After hosting an outstanding informal formation clinic at the Richland, WA airport in 2025, Scott Urban and the Richland team decided to host a formal NATA formation clinic in 2026. Joining on the Richland ramp in late May were seven T-6s, four T-28s, two Nanchang CJ-6s and a YAK-18T. Scott and Desiree Urban, with great support from Bill O'Neil and the Richland airport team, provided an outstanding venue, with two large hangers for briefings and meals, ample ramp space and multiple working areas in the nearby airspace.

Arrival day on Thursday had the hottest temperatures of the clinic, with highs in the low 90s, and a storm system that parted just as it approached the airfield after the evening flying was over. Friday through Sunday had pleasant temperatures in the high 70s, with breezy but very flyable conditions. Ben 'Evil' Cook provided formation and safety briefings before the formal NATA formation flying began, and 'Smokey' Johnson passed on lessons learned from his recent Florida NATA clinic.

I had flown a number of formation instruction flights from T-28 backseats both at Bremerton and Richland, and happily joined the T-28 group again, getting five enjoyable flights with Charlie Goldback and Pete Blood in their T-28B N2207Y, working first on getting the rust out, flying two- and three-ship T-28 formations, then four-ships after those. After normal airwork of station keeping, fingertip, route, echelon turns and diamond formation, we spent most of our efforts on pitchouts and rejoins, getting a lot of great exercise, especially in the sometimes demanding afternoon turbulent conditions.

I was also able to score a flight with Ben 'Evil' Cook in his SNJ-4, then a flight with Jeff 'Spank' Hanoff in his Nanchang CJ-6 in a fun dissimilar formation of two Nanchang CJ-6s, Tom 'Chox' Spreen's YAK-18T and Miguel 'Ozzie' Nelson's T-6.

Great food and war stories at the bar capped off an outstanding formation clinic, with all attendees looking forward to Richland 2027!

Winter Sling Formation - Feb 2026

After a very rainy early winter in the Great Northwest, we entered a period of foggy mornings and sunny afternoons in early February. I had been able to fly some impromptu formation flights with local Auburn pilots, and wanted to continue some formation training with Sling TSi pilots that we started last October. I was able to get three Sling TSi's available for a Friday afternoon flight, and canvassed my local instructor cadre for availability to help with formation training support. Unfortunately, two of my instructors were busy with 'work', flying in T-38s and 747s, so we were only able to accommodate a two-ship instead of our first Sling TSi three-ship.

The weather on Friday was amazing for February in Seattle, with sunny and clear conditions and afternoon temps up to 63 degrees! Chris flew his Sling TSi from Harvey Field (S43) to Auburn, and Rob flew his TSi from Boeing Field (KBFI). Our timing was perfect, not only for the weather, but also to take advantage of the Auburn airport's generous 'Aloha Friday' lunch, with pulled pork, chicken and pizza. Brian and fellow instructor Steve are based at Auburn, and the weather was so nice, we briefed over lunch on the outdoor picnic benches in front of the Auburn airport office.

I had flown a Sling formation flight with Chris and Rob in October, but this was Brian's first exposure to formation flying, so I covered the basics in a fairly thorough initial briefing, after passing on links to a FAST formation manual earlier in the week. With only two available instructors, we decided that safety took priority, so even though Rob sat through the entire briefing, we only launched a two-ship. You'll be up again next time, Rob.

Although I've flown three other sling TSI's, this was my first flight in Brian's beautiful new Sling TSi, first flown last summer. Brian and his wife Margo, both pilots, had completed their TSi in time to fly to Oshkosh 2025, and were flying it often in the Northwest skies. Brian and Margo's hangar is adjacent to mine at Auburn, so I had been checking out their bird locally. When Brian expressed interest in joining our formation group, I also noted that he could get some good in-flight air-to-air photos of his new bird.

Conditions were perfect with clear skies and light winds as we departed in trail from Auburn's runway 17, with Chris and Steve leading to the southeast while Brian and I joined from trail. I demonstrated close fingertip formation, showing the visual references for a crisp 45 degree line, then flew route, cross-unders and echelon formation. After swapping leads, Chris got practice on the wing in close fingertip, route formation and cross-unders. We swapped the lead again, allowing Chris to lead a pitchout so that I could demonstrate a rejoin for Brian, then giving the controls back to Brian to practice fingertip and route positioning on the descent back to the Auburn airport. We split the flight on our entry to downwind and accomplished single ship landings.

Our debrief back in the Auburn airport also allowed us to sample the remaining food from the 'Aloha Friday' lunch, where we reviewed lessons learned and techniques for the future. All enjoyed a great flight on a warm and glorious February Friday in the Great Northwest!

Flying the RV-9A - Nov 2025

I have really enjoyed flying many of the Van's Aircraft designs, including the RV-6, RV-7, RV-8, RV-10, RV-12 and RV-14. Having never flown the RV-9 series, I was intrigued when I saw an article in the May 2025 EAA Sport Aviation magazine about an RV-9A built and flying here in the Puget Sound area. I contacted the owner, Steve, and found out he was flying out of nearby Paine Field, and wouldn't mind showing me his RV-9A. I mentioned to Steve that I enjoyed flying RVs, and also teaching formation flying. Steve mentioned that he was looking to get some good air-to-air photos of his bird, so we coordinated to try to fly a formation photo shoot when our pilot schedules, compatible aircraft availability and weather allowed.

Steve mentioned that his friend Mike owned an RV-14 that would be compatible with the RV-9A, so we set up a formation flight on a rare November day with a forecast break in the weather. I met Steve at his hangar at Paine Field, and checked out his gorgeous workmanship, paint job and avionics suite in his RV-9A. I'd recently been flying Sling TSi's, a Bristell and RV-12s that also had dual large G3X displays, Garmin 650xi navigators and a Garmin autopilot, so I felt right at home in the cockpit. When Mike arrived with his RV-14 from Frontier Airpark, I briefed him on the formation plan, and briefed his right-seater Dennis on the operation of my Canon R6 and my new anti-reflection hood to take crisp in-flight photos of the RV-9A.

Steve and I took off in trail in the RV-9A from runway 16R, with Mike leading and initially climbing away from us with the 210-HP IO-390 in his RV-14, so I used cut off geometry in the turn to close with our IO-320, then had Mike set up a 110-knot climb speed for us to rejoin. I rejoined straight ahead to close formation as we climbed toward the Cascade foothills and Mt. Pilchuck. I felt right at home with the very smooth flight controls, and easily set up in close fingertip on Mike's right side as we climbed to 6000 feet. As briefed, Mike flew three shallow-banked 360s for in-flight photos of the RV-9A between Mt. Pilchuck and Three Fingers mountain, while Steve took iPhone photos of Mike's RV-14 as I hung in close. We hit a bit of turbulence over the mountains, but I had enough control to easily stay in tight. After Dennis noted that he'd successfully taken a ton of shots, I flew in loose formation in the descent back to Paine Field. I had briefed Mike to request an overhead pattern with Paine tower, since they were quite familiar with formation flying from the numerous warbirds based at Paine, so we flew up initial, pitched out and landed on 16R, debriefed and viewed a few quick iPhone photos. The RV-9A, like all RV-series aircraft is a joy to fly, with smooth, responsive flight controls, great visibility, sticks vs yokes and impressive cockpit avionics. Thanks for the RV-9A flying opportunity, Steve, I'll gladly fly her anytime!

The close formation flying and great weather provided a perfect opportunity for excellent photos, both from the Canon and the iPhone Pros. Steve was so pleased with the photos, he updated the main image on the Aircraft For Sale website with one of the images from our photo shoot. He's actually selling his gorgeous RV-9A, with a plan to fly an RV-14 as he builds an RV-15, once the RV-9A is sold.

Sling TSI Formation - Oct 2025

I had been enjoying flying in both Rob Smith's and Chris Terrell's impressive Sling TSi's, and mentioned to them both that I was available to teach them in the fine art of formation flying if they were interested. They both responded with enthusiasm, and I was able to convince one of my other formation instructors, Troy 'T-Lar' Larson, to join the effort. However, trying to coordinate four pilots' schedules, two new Sling TSi's availability and the Northwest weather for formation training gets tough, but we pulled it off!

I drove to Boeing Field, met with Rob Smith at his Sling TSi in NE parking. 'T-Lar' Larson had a break in his busy schedule and showed up soon after, as we waited for Chris Terrell to takeoff from fog-shrouded Harvey Field. Chris filed IFR and was only slightly delayed, and then became one of the first aircraft to land on the newly opened runway 32R at KBFI. We briefed the formation flight details in T-Lar's car, and got to experience Rob jumping his Sling TSi battery after it ran down loading databases.

Chris and I took off as #2 in Sling TSi N828BW at noon from BFI’s runway 32L, in trail with Rob Smith and T-Lar instructing in Sling N2066T. Since this was the first Sling formation training for both Rob and Chris, we worked on the basics. Chris first flew fingertip, route and cross-unders with Rob/T-Lar leading, using Port Orchard as our reference airspace center. I emphasized smooth movements and slow corrections, then demonstrated a pitchout and rejoin to Chris, then swapped leads. We led fingertip, route, cross-under and trail practice for Rob, plus we led a pitchout and rejoin. We again swapped leads, and cruised back in close formation to Boeing Field, where Chris and I dropped back for a landing in trail on runway 32L, coordinating with tower as a flight, to both be on the runway at the same time.

We enjoyed great formation flying and lots of learning today for Chris and Rob, and they are both ready for more!

Epilog

A few days after our formation flight, Rob Smith took N2066T on a flight demostrating the impressive cross-country capabilities of the Sling TSi, non-stop from Seattle/Boeing Field (KBFI] to Canyonlands Regional airport in Moab, UT (KCNY). He was aided by impressive 107 knot quartering tailwinds, giving him a groundspeed of 218 knots at 21,000 feet burning only 7.4 GPH. Impressive!

Taller and Taller - Aug 2025

It was that fun time of the year when we get together to fly with my boys in their local southern Cal skies. While Alex had been flying 3DC in the great Northwest last year, Nathaniel had not had an opportunity to fly in over a year. Both grandsons had been really growing taller recently, with Alex now equal to his Dad at 6'1" tall, even taller than me! Instead of using seat cushions with the boys from their very early flying, I now had to move their seats fully down and back to provide comfortable access to the yoke and rudder pedals. They definitely have no problem seeing over the nose now! Although it had been awhile, David, Alex and Nathaniel all fell right into checklist use, clearing before turns and smoothly using their flight controls in all maneuvers. They all did a great job clearing for other aircraft in the busy southern California skies, while enjoying the great visibility and coastal views throughout our flights. All great pilots!