Originally Posted by
Saintsman
Simple question. Why are formation landings required. Is there an operational need that overtakes individual landings?
Well "back in the day" we used to do them:
1. Because of the aforementioned ASI failure case...( FWIW we lost an F-4, albeit at night, fortunately non-fatal, off a pairs approach with one going around at low level, so that isn't always the safe option)
https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/82599
2. If the weather was bad and GCAs ("talk downs") were needed pairs approaches meant ATC could get more aircraft back on the ground quicker vs. everybody doing singleton GCAs..
3. And shock horror, and I know it sounds somewhat old fashioned in the days of safety cases, they were regarded as worth doing because they were a bit of a challenge, but no more inherently dangerous than lots of other aspects of aviating.