Formation Flying Clinic

[Rick Junkin]

10 minutes ago, rocketman said:

I have checked with Origin management and the best weekend to have the formation clinic will be the from Feb 23-25. So I am holding all my rooms at this point. Hopefully we can get an accurate headcount on the people attending before those dates

Understand February 23-25 vice March 23-25?

[Bob_Belville]

24 minutes ago, rocketman said:

I have checked with Origin management and the best weekend to have the formation clinic will be the from Feb 23-25. So I am holding all my rooms at this point. Hopefully we can get an accurate headcount on the people attending before those dates

Ron, I sent you a PM. Jim Rigoulot will have to weigh in on whether a date change is possible...

Thanks for all you do to "Better the Breed".

[kaba]

Count KABA in.......


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[BillBarton]

"2"

 

Ya know there are only 3 rules....sound cool on the radio, look cool on initial and don't hit lead....

[Bob_Belville]

@kaba et al, to register for the clinicyou need to visit www.mooneycaravan.com/ where registration info will be up in the next day or 2. ,

• There is a good bit more to read at the website including downloadable training manuals etc. 
• Jim Rigoulot @gyrene, is the MAG coordinator for the clinic. 
• The clinic dates are changed to 3/16-18  (The initially suggested date conflicted with our Texas Caravan Group's Clinic. By moving the date we hope to get help with safety pilots from there.)
• A huge thanks to @rocketman Ron Dubin for being so generous and accommodating. 

[Bob_Belville]

This is to bump this thread at the request of @gyrene, Jim Rigoulot, who advises that we'd like to have 2 or 3 more newbies for the March 16-18 ECP Formation Clinic. This clinic is will qualify you for flying the Mooney Caravan into AirVenture in July! Take your flying experience up a notch or two, and great fun. (You cannot fly in the Caravan KOSH arrival without a sign off earned at an approved clinic.)

Florida and Southeast pilots have priority... there a Caravan Clinic in TX a week later and our MAG (Mid Atlantic Group) Caravan Clinic in VA June 22-24. 

Space is limited by the number of safety pilots available so act ASAP. You're not in the clinic until you go to http://www.mooneycaravan.com/training scroll down to the KECP clinic and click on the register link. Here's the relevant info: 

 Clinic Fee: $150. Your clinic fee includes 2-night lodging, clinic overhead, lunches on Friday and Saturday, briefing cards, a MAG T-Shirt, patch, and Zap Stickers. Tips for the FBO ground crews and transportation crews are also included.

 Registration: Click here to register for the KECP Mooney Caravan Clinic

 Payment: Please complete your registration by mailing a check or money order to the following address:

Jim Rigoulot
109 Lazenby Dr,
Ft Mill, SC 29715

 

[kenyale]

I am pretty sure I can be there.

[Raptor05121]

I'm going to do my damnedest to be there, but this just happens to be on the alternating weekend I work, and would eat a massive amount of my vacation hours. :/

[Bob_Belville]

Go ahead and register! There's a refund policy for cancellation but I'll direct you to Jim for cut off info.

[Raptor05121]

Reading the details, there are minimum hour qualifications of 500 total time. Is this hard-pressed? I'm at 300TT with 200 in Mooney

Edited January 17, 2018 by Raptor05121

[gsxrpilot]

7 hours ago, Raptor05121 said:

Reading the details, there are minimum hour qualifications of 500 total time. Is this hard-pressed? I'm at 300TT with 200 in Mooney

No, that's not a hard requirement. I qualified for the Caravan my first year with less than 300 TT and about 20 in the Mooney.

[MIm20c]

42 minutes ago, gsxrpilot said:

No, that's not a hard requirement. I qualified for the Caravan my first year with less than 300 TT and about 20 in the Mooney.

What about for the TX clinic?  I’ll only have 210tt with 130 in the mooney. I did not see a requirement on the page but I don’t want to be a burden on the process either. 

[gsxrpilot]

2 minutes ago, MIm20c said:

What about for the TX clinic?  I’ll only have 210tt with 130 in the mooney. I did not see a requirement on the page but I don’t want to be a burden on the process either. 

Come on down. You'll be fine.

The clinics always start with ground school which is very detailed and all questions are answered. You'll be impressed with how detailed our preparation is every time before we fly formation. Then there will be an opportunity for new formation pilots to ride right seat with an experienced formation pilot for a flight. Then the rest of the formation sorties will be with you in the left seat and an experienced formation pilot riding in your right seat. That way you have constant feed back, and someone who can demonstrate the position for you if need be.

I had the same concerns about showing up and being the least experienced pilot and slowing down the process for everyone. But rather it was a wonderful experience and some of the most fun I'd ever had flying my airplane. I also discovered that thousands of hours and ratings through an ATP, doesn't automatically make you a quick learner with formation flying. All of us newbies were in the same boat so to speak and all learning at about the same pace. 

Just be warned, formation flying is addicting. It will ruin your $100 hamburger habit. You won't ever want to take off just to go land and talk about flying. It's much more fun to spend a very active hour or so with your pilot friends in the air!

[gsxrpilot]

Back in 2014 we had the first Caravan Clinic in San Marcos, TX. The guys put up a flyer at Randolph AFD asking for some formation qualified pilots to come ride along with our newbies as safety pilots. Two AF pilots, "Pops" and "Lois" showed up. They admittedly came to see what a complete disaster it would be watching a bunch of civilian wanna-be fighter pilots play around and try not to kill themselves. They were very pleasantly surprised at the level of professionalism and seriousness that we brought to formation flying. Pops has ridden with us to Oshkosh every year since and Lois now owns an M20K. Both have become fixtures in the Texas Mooney community. 

We're still amateurs, but as serious as we can be as amateurs. 

 

[Bob_Belville]

10 hours ago, Raptor05121 said:

Reading the details, there are minimum hour qualifications of 500 total time. Is this hard-pressed? I'm at 300TT with 200 in Mooney

I've seen that minimum waived. @Marcopolo, you'll be fine.

[Raptor05121]

Thanks all. Time to beg the boss for time off.

[mike_elliott]

7 hours ago, gsxrpilot said:

Back in 2014 we had the first Caravan Clinic in San Marcos, TX. The guys put up a flyer at Randolph AFD asking for some formation qualified pilots to come ride along with our newbies as safety pilots. Two AF pilots, "Pops" and "Lois" showed up. They admittedly came to see what a complete disaster it would be watching a bunch of civilian wanna-be fighter pilots play around and try not to kill themselves. They were very pleasantly surprised at the level of professionalism and seriousness that we brought to formation flying. Pops has ridden with us to Oshkosh every year since and Lois now owns an M20K. Both have become fixtures in the Texas Mooney community. 

We're still amateurs, but as serious as we can be as amateurs. 

 

It is a serious flight regime that requires the utmost professionalism the various Caravan clinic's demand and provide the training for. The people doing this really have their heads screwed on correctly. I applaud everyone involved.

[Hector]

I signed up. Looking forward to it


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[KSMooniac]

It is a challenging and fun weekend! I hope there is a great turnout that launches a new Florida group.

Sent from my LG-US996 using Tapatalk

[Raptor05121]

Last question-

Does Mr. Jim Rigoulot have any sort of digital payment method? I hate to show my age, but I've never owned a check. What's the deadline for payment?

[Bryan]

I just signed up for he TX clinic. I am a 300hr pilot with IFR and 200hr in the Mooney; I hope I can keep up.  Downloading the materials and starting to look at those now before March.

[gsxrpilot]

27 minutes ago, Raptor05121 said:

Last question-

Does Mr. Jim Rigoulot have any sort of digital payment method? I hate to show my age, but I've never owned a check. What's the deadline for payment?

I don't know about the MAG group, but here in Texas you can just show up with cash. Or you can PayPal the fee up front. I'm betting that as long as they know you're coming, you can just bring the cash with you.

[Rick Junkin]

Jim is asking for the money as part of registration to confirm commitment to attendance. Apparently there has been an issue with a fair number of late cancellations in the past. He has the details, along with his contact info I believe, on the Mooney Caravan web page, under training.

His email is jpr6353@comcast.net

Cheers,

Rick

Edited January 18, 2018 by Junkman
Added email

[Bob_Belville]

9 hours ago, Junkman said:

Jim is asking for the money as part of registration to confirm commitment to attendance. Apparently there has been an issue with a fair number of late cancellations in the past. He has the details, along with his contact info I believe, on the Mooney Caravan web page, under training.

His email is jpr6353@comcast.net

Cheers,

Rick

I rarely do paper checks or stamps either. But I do pay bills on line and Bank of America will cut a check and send it to my payee out debit my on line checking account. They even buy the stamp and envelope.

@gyrene

Jim Rigoulot
109 Lazenby Dr,
Ft Mill, SC 29715

[Amelia]

Check out this latest issue of General Aviation News for an idea of what-and who- to expect. Available free at fine FBO counters everywhere. Cover art features Mooneys wingtip to wingtip.