heavy their right foot is
I suppose heavy handed may conjure up pictures of unnecessary slams or perhaps Bodies if you are trying to discover some shortcoming of the engine/installation.
However, necessary jerky throttle movements were quantified with the introduction of EUMS recorders. I remember, about 1977, processing tapes from 2 Red Arrows Gnats. The shaft speed/time histories were converted into accumulated LCF damage and useage of fatigue life. The revelation was that the wingman accumulated damage at 25X the rate of the leader. In fact, the leader didn't even, for the whole display flight including TO, get in one reference stress cycle, whatever that was.
In the context of this post I wonder whether the wingman's fuel used correlated in any way with the mass of throttle excursions required to maintain position 3 planes removed from the smooth leader.
Any ideas?