you haven't had to deal with the MAA recently I would guess - they have taken the term risk-averse to a whole new level.
Additionally, when so many military crews are bouncing off currency limits and civilian pilots (ex-mil or not) are unlikely to have anything but the bare minimum close form trg (or any other trg for that matter) paid for, I suspect that competency and currency might be a serious concern.
If you think close formation is safe, well briefed or not, you clearly were never party to the massed approach at Middle Wallop back in the day.
SND - yes, in a choice between the two I think you are correct
Been involved with many different variations of helicopter formation thanks Crab; day, night, mixed-type, mixed-nations, tactical, flypast, display, role-demo, Operational, instructional etc. I stand by my comment. I'm aware of the Wallop incident, it doesn't bear comparison to a 3-ship formation like the one in question. You seem, as ever, to be disdainful of anything remotely challenging involving civilian aviators. Maybe you could just give the guys some praise instead of taking a negative angle?