So what is the wingman looking at? His ILS needles, or the leader?
- oldman
The wingman is flying in reference to specific points on lead’s aircraft and only takes very quick glances at his instrument panel. The thicker the weather, the less the wingman’s eyes come off the lead aircraft. Ideally, the wingman has his radios/nav gear set as a backup in case of losing sight of lead. Lead flys the approach and the wingman is holding on in formation.
The risk, is losing sight of lead and going lost wingman in the weather. There are specific procedures for each member of the flight if that should happen, to ensure no one bumps into another jet. So, it imperative to hold on to the references, even in bumpy air. Each aircraft has specified reference points for flying in fingertip position. In the F-4, forward nav light in the center of the fuselage star emblem. In the T-33, nav light on the star. In thick clouds, we would slide back and use the aft point of the tip tank in the star. This allowed us to tuck in even tighter without bumping lead. This tight, the tip tanks were overlapping laterally but, had fore/aft clearance.
Being proficient in formation was critical in case there was an aircraft malfunction that disabled instruments or radios. I flew a T-33 from K.I. Sawyer AFB to Colorado Springs on my flight commander’s wing one winter night in the weather enroute and for an instrument approach due to a failed inverter that couldn’t be repaired. My jet had no navigation instruments and only the UHF radio operable.
