Hi all. I got to see two EA18g Growlers do an evening fly-by on the weekend of our city. 5 minutes prior to the flyby, I managed to spot a faint read flashing dot, around 15kms away, towards where the aircraft departed from. It seemed to be holding, as the flyby had to happen at a specific time. Then, the red flashing light turned into a white light, and I could see it was travelling towards us now, as the time got close to the flyby. But seconds before it it arrived, the sigle white light split into two, and it was two aircraft flying (what seemed to be) close formation, splitting into two, as one did a flyby down one side of a river, and the other, the other side. Here's might high quality map indicating what happened. Note my good pattern, indicating where they were holding.
What I'd like to know is: How do the pilots flight close formation, in the dark? Would they have night vision, so that the 2nd aircraft follows the lead? Or is there some other way they do this? Following a dark aircraft closly in the night seems - tricky. And if they do have night vision, would they have the ability to see their instruments? Wouldn't they be too bright? Or is it a bit anaolog up there so they simple keep the lights off in the cockpit?
Just for reference, the day before they did a practice run, and I managed to capture this:
I'm kinda proud of that shot.
That's the Royal Australian Airforce Boeing EA18g "Growler" doing a little flyby.