Striving to Fly Formation Like the Thunderbirds (& Blue Angels)!

[FPVAirCombat]

I have been flying head-tracking HD FPV going on for 3 years now. Since the start, I have dreamed of flying aerobatic formations like the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds one day. Over the last few months, 4 of my like-minded RC friends have coalesced to form an FPV aerobatic formation team. And we have now put together 4 identical high-performance EDF jets with head-tracking HD FPV to start training seriously toward our common goal. I will use this thread to document our progress. I invite you to follow us on our journey! Enjoy!

Here are our first training flights together:

Just getting acclimated with our new equipment

All four together with our new mounts for the first time!

#FPVformation #FPVjet #FPVdemoteam #BlackstarFPVdemoTeam

 

[PsyBorg]

Me thinks someone got a sponsor!!!! Not a bad first round. I did notice how much smoother they roll and not only that its seems there is no play in linkages to give the wobbles when flying straight and control rods are not under tension. Looking forward to seeing more.

Do you guys have a ground crew as well or just random clips from the ground? Would be cool seeing both in plane and ground or even chase plane footage of these maneuvers to see how tight you are able to keep things.

 

[FPVAirCombat]

You are right PsyBorg! One of our team members is the sponsor at this point. He supplies everything except FPV system which are supplied each team member. I supply the pan & tilt gimbals.

We do have spotter(s) and they would shoot ground videos. No body is paid. Just friends having fun together. It’s early in our training yet. So we are not very close yet. Hopefully we will see progress in a couple of weeks.

 

[FPVAirCombat]

A little diversion from formation, acting out a small storyline…

A hooligan runs afoul the law…
Viper says: “Do you feel lucky, punk?”
Fulcrum responds: “I gots to know…”

 

[PsyBorg]

A little diversion from formation, acting out a small storyline…

A hooligan runs afoul the law…
Viper says: “Do you feel lucky, punk?”
Fulcrum responds: “I gots to know…”

That was an awesome edit mate. The shots comin in low and fast with the sunset were money shots. Well done.

 

[FPVAirCombat]

Thanks PsyBorg. The edit on this one was done by m teammate. I just fly as the hooligan in the MiG-29…

 

[randyrls]

Find some one who owns an Oculus and watch some of the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels videos! Just like being there. Saw a PBS program about the "Exhibition Teams". One of the questions to the maintenance crew chief, "how close do the planes fly to each other?" Ans: "Sometimes we have to touch up the paint!"

 

[FPVAirCombat]

Find some one who owns an Oculus and watch some of the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels videos! Just like being there. Saw a PBS program about the "Exhibition Teams". One of the questions to the maintenance crew chief, "how close do the planes fly to each other?" Ans: "Sometimes we have to touch up the paint!"

Must be really exhilarating to see that in VR. One can “live” it though flying almost like the Blue Angels with VR goggles and DCS, like AndyRC does (not my video):

 

[FPVAirCombat]

We tried to fly FPV diamond formation, still not very close. And a near mid-air shook me up! More importantly, we show you how to build a FPV plane like ours, step by step. Check it out!

 

[PsyBorg]

Wow the videography in these has really stepped up. those evening shots with the lights are money. Wont be long and you guys will be tight as the real deal keep up the great work. As a team there are improvements all around.

 

[FPVAirCombat]

Thanks PsyBorg! Team sponsor invested in good camera equipment and even enlisted the help of pro-YouTuber to shoot the ground footage. Spare no expense… (not my money😂)

 

[PsyBorg]

Thanks PsyBorg! Team sponsor invested in good camera equipment and even enlisted the help of pro-YouTuber to shoot the ground footage. Spare no expense… (not my money😂)

Well that effort has shown in big improvements of what you guys are doing. I half expect to see you all on a television network interview at some flying event where you did an exhibition sometime in the future.

 

[FPVAirCombat]

We are still training rigorously to tighten up the diamond! Some pics to share:

 

[FPVAirCombat]

Here’s the video where the above stills are taken from: