2012 Mooney Caravan - ALL FORMATION

[Dave Marten]

Fellow Mooney Drivers,

The Mooney Caravan will fly formation for the 2012 flight to Oshkosh! We've been working with our B2OSH Bonanza counterparts and are incorporating many of their lessons-learned and training methods with the goal of increasing safety and FUN for Caravan XV. Details will be posted on www.mooneycaravan.com in the coming weeks. Please spread the word and get ready for 2012! You may contact me with questions or if you'd like more info dandtmarten@hotmail.com or add to this post. Fly Safe, Dave Marten, Mooney Caravan XV Board of Directors

[Royski]

I would be interested in organized formation flying training.  I know George Perry was working on setting up something on the east coast before he got deployed overseas.

[xftrplt]

[jasonwojo]

I can't wait to fly the Caravan, again!  I should be back from this deployment in time.  Last year's formation flying made for a very safe flight to Oshkosh.  See you there!

[Dave Marten]

Great to hear you guys are interested! We'll have the Caravan website up soon. We're piggybacking off the B2OSH training clinics and then springboarding into our own Mooney specifc clinics. The Bo drivers have been instrumental and our shared clinics will benefit both orgs. You can check out www.b2osh.org for their training schedule and we'll have ours up shortly. For you guys that haven't flown formation, don't worry its a very similar skillset to instrument flying, keep a good cross-check and make small corrections. If you're interest we'll get you to a clinic or have you work with a Caravan/Bonanza guy in your area to get you up to speed. Its a blast and is the most fun you can legally have in your Mooney!

[knute]

I'd love to go through the formation flying clinic, but I don't think I'll be able to fly to OSH this year (maybe another year);  are the clinics open to all interested?  Looking at the calendar and locations, I'm interested in joining the B2OSH session at MCC (Sacramento).

Thanks for posting the info!

[Dave Marten]

Knute,

You are more than welcome to attend a clinic. We'll register with the Bonanza guys for the MCC clinic. There will be Mooney safety pilots and other Mooneys attending. Please keep in contact. Working on bringing up the www.mooneycaravan.com site to full capacity. For questions and more info dandtmarten@hotmail.com

[Becca]

Quote: davidmarten

Great to hear you guys are interested! We'll have the Caravan website up soon. We're piggybacking off the B2OSH training clinics and then springboarding into our own Mooney specifc clinics. The Bo drivers have been instrumental and our shared clinics will benefit both orgs. You can check out www.b2osh.org for their training schedule and we'll have ours up shortly. For you guys that haven't flown formation, don't worry its a very similar skillset to instrument flying, keep a good cross-check and make small corrections. If you're interest we'll get you to a clinic or have you work with a Caravan/Bonanza guy in your area to get you up to speed. Its a blast and is the most fun you can legally have in your Mooney!

[Dave Marten]

Becca,

While we don't have our own Caravan tent (yet) we do have a group photo, catered BBQ/beer/wine, and hats/shirts/patches. Are you interested?

 The Carvan guys have been doing this for 15 years. This year is the first formation flight (no more gaggles), that's why I'm here...teaching formation training. Wanna go to the clinic in Grayson, TX this spring and try your hand at it?

[Becca]

Quote: davidmarten

Becca,

While we don't have our own Caravan tent (yet) we do have a group photo, catered BBQ/beer/wine, and hats/shirts/patches. Are you interested?

 The Carvan guys have been doing this for 15 years. This year is the first formation flight (no more gaggles), that's why I'm here...teaching formation training. Wanna go to the clinic in Grayson, TX this spring and try your hand at it?

[Ned Gravel]

Quote: davidmarten

Becca,

While we don't have our own Caravan tent (yet) we do have a group photo, catered BBQ/beer/wine, and hats/shirts/patches. Are you interested?

 The Carvan guys have been doing this for 15 years. This year is the first formation flight (no more gaggles), that's why I'm here...teaching formation training. Wanna go to the clinic in Grayson, TX this spring and try your hand at it?

[Dave Marten]

Ned, SURE! There is no formation endorsement required by FAA unless operating in waivered airspace (IE, airshow) and we are not. So yes, we'd be happy to have you back in '12. Zap me an e-mail if you've got more specific questions or to discuss. dandtmarten@hotmail.com

[KSMooniac]

Dave, will there be any clinics in the center of the country?  You mentioned something in Grayson, TX to Becca.... is that Grayson County (Sherman, TX) by chance?  If so, that is close enough to me and very near my hometown and thus a great excuse to fly south.

Different topic... do you know Bryan Duke in the USAF test pilot community?

[Dave Marten]

Quote: KSMooniac

Dave, will there be any clinics in the center of the country?  You mentioned something in Grayson, TX to Becca.... is that Grayson County (Sherman, TX) by chance?  If so, that is close enough to me and very near my hometown and thus a great excuse to fly south.

Different topic... do you know Bryan Duke in the USAF test pilot community?

[orangemtl]

I would be very interested in formation flying to Oshkosh. If I can schedule the timeslot for training, and then the time for the trip itself, I will do so. Thank you for posting this!

[Dave Marten]

Quote: orangemtl

I would be very interested in formation flying to Oshkosh. If I can schedule the timeslot for training, and then the time for the trip itself, I will do so. Thank you for posting this!

[KSMooniac]

Dave, thanks for the details.  I'll check out the Bo folks in TX and see if I can swing it this year.  I have no plans for OSH yet this year, but I may end up going pending work commitments.

Groucho + wife just had premie twins a couple months ago and all is now well with them.  They sold the RV-6 recently too.  We were college classmates and he took the flying career path that I would have loved to go down, but my bad eyes have me engineering planes instead of testing them.  

[Royski]

Thanks, Dave.  I've signed up for formation training with the North East Bonanza Group.