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Eurasian cranes in a V formation (video) Birds flying in V formation. A V formation is a symmetric V- or chevron-shaped flight formation.In nature, it occurs among geese, swans, ducks, and other migratory birds, improving their energy efficiency, while in human aviation, it is used mostly in military aviation, air shows, and occasionally commercial aviation.
Formation flying is the flight of multiple objects in coordination. Formation flying occurs in nature among flying and gliding animals , and is also conducted in human aviation , often in military aviation and air shows .
A flying wedge (also called flying V or wedge formation, or simply wedge) is a configuration created from a body moving forward in a triangular formation. This V-shaped arrangement began as a successful military strategy in ancient times when infantry units would move forward in wedge formations to smash through an enemy's lines. This principle ...
F-22A Raptors in Vic formation. The Vic formation is a formation devised for military aircraft and first used during the First World War.It has three or sometimes more aircraft fly in close formation with the leader at the apex and the rest of the flight en echelon to the left and the right, the whole resembling the letter "V".
The formation consists of a flight of four aircraft, consisting of a "lead element" and a "second element", each of two aircraft. When viewing the formation from above, the positions of the planes resemble the tips of the four fingers of a human right hand (without the thumb), giving the formation its name.
Those flight patterns may look like boxes or stars, but they serve specific purposes for each individual storm. Hurricane hunters don’t fly away from these storms like commercial airlines do.
A common pattern in North America is clockwise migration, where birds flying North tend to be further West, and flying South tend to shift Eastwards. Many, if not most, birds migrate in flocks. For larger birds, flying in flocks reduces the energy cost. Geese in a V formation may conserve 12–20% of the energy they would need to fly alone.
Canada geese in V formation. One theory on migrating bird flight states that many larger bird species fly in a V formation so that all but the leader bird can take advantage of the upwash part of the wingtip vortex of the bird ahead. [8] [9]