In his professional life, Vernon commercial pilot Rob McDicken handles the flying.
He's the captain of a private jet for a Vernon-based company.
On Saturday, Aug. 30, McDicken got the chance to see things from the back seat, so to speak.
McDicken flew along as a passenger with the Snow Flakes, Vernon's formation flying team, and recorded the experience on video and in photos.
"What a treat! I got to go for a ride with the famous Snow Flakes formation team yesterday and it was an amazing experience," said McDicken. "These guys really know what they're doing...Detailed briefings before and after to capture any lessons learned."
"I've tried formation flying before, and it requires a good deal of skill and practice to fly like these guys do. So amazing to witness firsthand."
The Snow Flakes are a group of 11 members – 10 of which have their own planes, the 11th is in the process of building a new one. There are eight pilots from Vernon, two from Penticton, and one from Salmon Arm.
It was a group building home-made planes from a kit from an Oregon company that the Snow Flakes got their start. The current leader of the group is retired engineer Steve Foord, 71. He was introduced to the Snow Flake by a man named John Swallow, who retired to Vernon. Swallow was an ex-military pilot and had been on the precursor of Canada's legendary formation team, the Snowbirds.
"The Canadian government wanted to commemorate the Centennial in 1967, so the air force put together a first-ever formation flying team," said Foord. "One of those guys on that team was John, who retired to Vernon, and he's the one who helped get us (Snow Flakes) started.
"Some people had dabbled in flying in formation before. It's not for everybody, but if you enjoy that thing, formation flying takes focus, teamwork, and concentration. It's pretty fascinating."
When Swallow finished building his kit plane, he got involved with people learning to fly in formation, and Foord said Swallow brought his military formation training into play.
"He pretty much taught everybody the right way to do it," said Foord. "We have a way of doing things that we learned from John Swallow. He changed the game. Before John was here, and before I was involved, they would get three or four planes together and fly in formation.
"Once John got involved, he knew how to manage things and we've expanded it. Our largest flight has actually been 10 planes in formation. We did that down to Oliver about a year ago."
Swallow died in 2023 at the age of 84. Prior to his death, when he realized he couldn't fly anymore, he asked Foord to take over the Snow Flakes.
The group gets together a minimum of one day a week, sometimes gathering two or three times, and will usually go on a flight for coffee.
The Salmon Arm Flying Club has coffee days on Wednesday. Similar events happen on Monday in Oliver and Thursday in Penticton.
Of the Snow Flakes' pilots, one has maybe 200 hours of flying to their name. Foord estimates he has 1,600 or 1,700 hours at the helm. Another person has tens of thousands of hours.
"When you look at us flying in formation, you can't tell the experience levels of the pilots," said Foord. "We've got the right personality and attitude to do that kind of flying. You need patience and perseverance. You need to be calm, and have good listening skills.
"What's nice about the way we fly is, when a person is fully trained, they'll fly in any position. In our ground briefing, I describe what we're doing and who will be doing what. We don't have designated positions. If it's a nine-plane formation, for that particular flight, the pilot knows where they're flying, what their role is, what we're doing, and then goes out and enjoys it. It's a fascinating experience."
Reaction to when the Snow Flakes do fly-overs, or fly-bys, has been heartwarming for pilots, and they do get plenty of requests.
"The challenge, in a way, is we are not and don't want to be an airshow type of thing," said Foord. "We're doing this for the fun of it, for the enjoyment of the pilots getting together, learning new manoeuvres, practicing, and we love flying.
"We fly very safe, very organized. We will, if we can, do a flyover if we get a request for a particular reason. Many times, the answer will be yes. But we try to tie it to a flight we're going to do anyway."