Pre-Flight Briefing
The Lead must brief all pilots taking part. The flight members must assemble for the debrief at the appointed time and place. Briefing must be comprehensive and above all, must have no room for doubt or ambiguity regarding the entire exercise. The briefing should include:
- call-signs, aircraft numbers, crews, weather and times
- radio and visual signal procedures
- general formation procedures (spacing, power settings)
- the air exercise (Airex) to be undertaken
- any change of lead procedure
- the return and landing
- Joker and Bingo fuel
- the handling of emergencies.
Note: In some formation flights, there will be an extra role of
Airboss. The Airboss is not necessarily the Lead in the formation (and may not
even fly in the formation), but is someone who is very experienced and is familiar with the
formation pilots. The Airboss may decide who flies what position and what sequence is to be
flown. The Airboss may conduct the briefing or debriefing, or may elect for the Lead pilot to
do so.
There must be no side-conversations or discussions during the briefing. One person talks at a time, and that will be the lead (or air boss) until time for questions. If you have a question while the lead is talking, raise your hand. Non-participating pilots and passengers must not talk, and should not expect to ask questions, during the briefing. Leadership, teamwork, and formation discipline start here.