Don't get too batey, g-okay. The advice that has been given has been given for good reasons. I certainly don't mean to imply that you just went up and had a gash hack at it without any preparation, however there is a big difference between reading about it and being taught how to do it. After all, would you have attempted taking off and landing an aircraft having only read about it? Flying lose formation with another aircraft at a distance of 100 yards or so is not particularly dangerous and can be great fun but what happens if for example you lose sight of your leader? If you've briefed all the eventualities then good, but what then happens when your confidence grows and you want to move in a bit closer? What happens if you misjudge your closure rate? We train students to fly close formation in 3 hours and then fly them solo on the wing (although only of the instructor that trained them!) so it doesn't take too long. THEN you can start to REALLY enjoy it
.
Also remember that a lot of these posts don't always come out as their authors had intended - I know mine don't always, especially after a snifter or two
- so it's as well not to take it all too seriously.
Oh yeah, best flight? Probably Oban to Dundee, lose formation in two Fireflies, up Glencoe one on each side at 500 feet then across Rannoch moor (no persons, vessels, vehicles or structures
) a little lower
. On a weekend so no sharp pointy very fast things up our backsides. Utterly breathtaking.