Nan Chang CJ-6A mid-air LA County

The accident also highlights the specious nature of manual bailout on these contraptions as a plan B, when it comes to trading paint/shredding control surfaces. Even what I do at work is lined with a safety net (well other than the fiat the seat has been maintained properly, which isn't a given). This whole flying close formation (fingertip, close trail, et al) without a hot seat is more of a squid game affair.

3 feet spacing huh? In an exposed-blade lawnmower? that's T-38 spacing, a century series rickety rocket with "wings" about the size of an F-15 stab. In the Texan2 we used 10 feet wingtip sep, and even with that allowance I got plenty of time looking at my nugget's reflection on the other guy's chrome spinner than I care to recollect (student PIO). 3 feet in a prop as a min transition window allowance is fine, but as the default target? That's just asking for munch-munch cookie monster time of the planks that keep thing aloft and balanced.

Too soon to tell, maybe that's irrelevant here. Could have been a botched rejoin (closure control), someone going blind playing I've got a secret; many possibilities in this space. The damage on the survivor aircraft already gives some clues as to how they traded paint, and why one fared much better than the other.
 
I may be mistaken but I think they were headed home from a weekend event in northern CA where more “dynamic” things were done/taught/practiced. I’m pretty sure this was a 2-ship en route home, meaning it was very unlikely they were “playing aggressively”. All the more curious how this happened.

Since the other pilot survived apparently uninjured, I suspect the NTSB prelim will be informative.
 
I have been dabbling for a year or so. I got an initial class from a friend who was a military instructor, and practice whenever we go somewhere. I mostly just work on station keeping in cruise, closing in to fingertip and moving out to route. That is relatively benign as long as both pilots are on the same page. I had hoped to begin working on maneuvering and rejoins soon, but with recent personal events I am unlikely to fly for the foreseeable future.
 
I’m no expert and I may be misrepresenting this, but it’s my understanding that the separation distance is specifically chosen to match the size and shape of the planes. Any further away and it’s too difficult to align, see the other aircraft, and see the relative distances to tell what’s going on.
 
For context, here’s a vid I took awhile back. this accident makes me think particularly about close trail at 3:30 mark in the vid.

 
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hindsight2020 said:
The accident also highlights the specious nature of manual bailout on these contraptions as a plan B, when it comes to trading paint/shredding control surfaces. Even what I do at work is lined with a safety net (well other than the fiat the seat has been maintained properly, which isn't a given). This whole flying close formation (fingertip, close trail, et al) without a hot seat is more of a squid game affair.

3 feet spacing huh? In an exposed-blade lawnmower? that's T-38 spacing, a century series rickety rocket with "wings" about the size of an F-15 stab. In the Texan2 we used 10 feet wingtip sep, and even with that allowance I got plenty of time looking at my nugget's reflection on the other guy's chrome spinner than I care to recollect (student PIO). 3 feet in a prop as a min transition window allowance is fine, but as the default target? That's just asking for munch-munch cookie monster time of the planks that keep thing aloft and balanced.

Too soon to tell, maybe that's irrelevant here. Could have been a botched rejoin (closure control), someone going blind playing I've got a secret; many possibilities in this space. The damage on the survivor aircraft already gives some clues as to how they traded paint, and why one fared much better than the other.
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Hmmm, wing span about 35 feet. 3 foot wing tip separation is 38 feet center of fuselage to center of fuselage. 6 foot prop is still 35 feet from prop tip to wing tip.
 
Pinecone said:
Hmmm, wing span about 35 feet. 3 foot wing tip separation is 38 feet center of fuselage to center of fuselage. 6 foot prop is still 35 feet from prop tip to wing tip.
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I think you mean "6 foot prop is still (35ft wingspan/2=17.5 plus 3ft separation wingtip to wingtip minus 3ft (half the prop length=) 17.5 feet from prop tip to wing tip"?

I have a fair amount of formation time (and am actually a carded Lead with RPA). Three feet wingtip to wingtip is close but the bearing line also matters (as does stack-down, for that matter). I personally don't feel comfortable getting ahead of about 30 degrees, which is to say I prefer the safety of my prop being behind the stab most of the time. And even then there are only certain Leads I trust enough to fly off of that closely. There are a good number of guys in RPA who fly often enough and with a plane more nimble than my Warrior who fly more acute than 30 degrees. Personally, I'm too chicken to even back-seat in those.
 
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