PLT OF A SMT SEL DSNDED WHILE IN FORMATION FLT BELOW THE MINIMUM REQUIRED ALT OVER A POPULATED AREA.

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ON SEP/SUN/94; AFTER THE GREELEY/WELD AIRSHOW; ANOTHER PLT FROM COLORADO SPRINGS ASKED MYSELF AND ANOTHER FORMATION QUALIFIED PLT TO ACCOMPANY HIM ON A FORMATION FLYOVER OF HIS PARENTS' HOUSE ON OUR RETURN TO OUR HOME ARPT. THE PLT IS A COMMERCIAL RATED PLT AND WE HAD FLOWN WITH HIM NUMEROUS TIMES BEFORE; ALTHOUGH HIS FORMATION EXPERIENCE IS LIMITED. WE AGREED TO THE FLYOVER AND CONDUCTED A PRE-FLT BRIEFING. AT THE BRIEFING; WE DISCUSSED RADIO FREQS; FORMATION SIGNALS; AND FORMATION POSITIONS FOR ALL ACFT. THE PLT WHO REQUESTED THE FLT WOULD BE THE FLT LEADER. I WOULD BE HIS WINGMAN AND WOULD FLY ON HIS L WING. THE THIRD PLT WOULD BE THE SECOND ELEMENT LEAD AND FLY ON HIS R WING. (THE SECOND ELEMENT CONSISTED OF ONLY THE ELEMENT LEAD.) ON THE WAY TO COLORADO SPRINGS; WE FLEW 'ENRTE' FORMATION POSITIONS WHICH IS A LOOSER FORMATION WITH GREATER SPACING BTWN ACFT AND ALLOWS ALL PLTS TO FLY MORE RELAXED AND DIVIDE THEIR ATTN BTWN MAINTAINING POS ON THE FLT LEADER AND PERFORMING NORMAL COCKPIT DUTIES. AFTER LEAVING DENVER'S CLASS B AIRSPACE; THE FLT LEADER CLBED TO 9500 FT TO CLR THE HIGH TERRAIN N OF COLORADO SPRINGS. I NORMALLY FLY AT 8000 FT OVER THIS AREA AND WAS CONCERNED THAT THE FLT LEADER MIGHT NOT DSND BELOW 8500 FT IN TIME TO BE BELOW THE COLORADO SPRINGS CLASS C AIRSPACE. FINALLY; HE BEGAN A DSCNT AND ABOUT THE SAME TIME; GAVE THE SIGNAL TO MOVE INTO A CLOSE 'FINGER TIP' FORMATION. I MOVED INTO THE FINGER TIP POS AND MY CONCENTRATION FROM THAT POINT ON WAS FOCUSED ON MAINTAINING THAT POS WHICH PLACED ME BELOW TO THE L; AND SLIGHTLY BEHIND THE LEADER. SPACING BTWN ACFT WAS APPROX 15 FT. FROM THIS POS; I WAS LOOKING SLIGHTLY UPWARD AND AT 45 DEGS TO MY R. I WAS AWARE THAT WE WERE DSNDING; BUT MY ATTN WAS HIGHLY FOCUSED ON MAINTAINING POS ON THE LEAD ACFT. (WHEN FLYING THIS CLOSE; ONE NEVER TAKES HIS EYES OFF HIS LEADER.) SINCE WE HAD STARTED AT AROUND 9500 FT AND I EXPECTED THAT WE WOULD DSND TO AROUND 7300 FT FOR THE FLYOVER; I WAS UNCONCERNED WITH THE CONTINUING DSCNT. FROM CUES IN MY PERIPHERAL VISION; HOWEVER; I SUDDENLY REALIZED THAT WE WERE WELL BELOW WHAT I CONSIDERED A NORMAL ALT FOR A FORMATION FLYOVER AND THE FLT LEADER WAS STILL DSNDING. I BROKE FROM THE FORMATION AND BEGAN AN IMMEDIATE CLB. AS I CLBED AWAY FROM THE FLT LEADER; I LOOKED TOWARD THE THIRD ACFT AND SAW THAT HE HAD ALSO BROKEN OFF FROM THE FLT AT THE SAME TIME. THE THIRD PLT HAD BEGUN A R CLBING TURN AND I TURNED AND CLBED WITH HIM. THE THIRD ACFT AND I THEN RETURNED TO OUR HOME ARPT AND LANDED. IN ANALYZING THE INCIDENT; I'VE CONCLUDED THAT WE PROBABLY DSNDED BELOW THE MINIMUM REQUIRED ALT OVER A POPULATED AREA AND THE SIT WAS CAUSED BY POOR JUDGEMENT ON THE PART OF THE LEAD PLT. IN THE FUTURE; BEFORE TAKING PART IN A FORMATION FLT; I WILL BE SURE THAT FLYOVER ALTS ARE DISCUSSED AND UNDERSTOOD DURING THE PRE-FLT BRIEFING.