By STAN KASPRZYK

FlightLog Archive

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Aircraft Flown

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!