Well I thought I'd try and reply to some of the comments on here without getting too irritated...
Flare Path wrote:Big changes required next year, in my opinion.
Such as?
Adamwilliams132 wrote:Well that was a bit of an anti climax. The Buff wasn't even visible. Very poor show this year.
The captain of ICER02 went as low as he was authorised to do so, unfortunately he was still in the cloud so had to return to RAF Fairford. Not much we can do about the weather sadly...
HeyfordDave111 wrote:What puzzles me is that there was no 'plan b' when things started to unravel.
'Plan B' is to re-orgainse the flying display as well as possible to get as many displays as possible, which the Flying Display Director did admirably. What would you suggest?
HeyfordDave111 wrote:Maybe Cosford needs a rest, a new team, a rethink, plan b's, a new direction?
A new orgainising team who can control the weather perhaps?
Dan O'Hagan wrote:Whether that was budgetary, down to targeting the wrong acts or as a result of date clashes is unknown.
We had the budget ready to buy in the SwAFHF to add some noise to the show when it became apparent that most of Europe's fast jet displays were heading to Denmark, however the CAA put the brakes on that plan. We did try and get the acts everyone wants but we don't always get what we want...
Wes_Howes wrote:The placement of the Fairey Delta and Avro 707 left much to be desired too.
Where would you have suggested they were parked?
Adamwilliams132 wrote:What happens to the fees due to be paid to display items that didn't turn up?
They don't get paid...
RS2 wrote:Flare Path wrote:I think the culmination of how terrible this show was, is deeply rooted in the inclusion of the Rans S-6 Coyote II in the flying programme at a major military air event - the only RAF show.
Very sad for you maybe but very proud for many from the local communities and local pupils from Telford who helped build this plane under a Boeing sponsored education initiative. A plane that is also dedicated to a local girl who worked on the project and was tragically murdered, I think its significance certainly warranted the few minutes it took up in the flying display.
Hit the nail on the head. The UK has a massive shortage of engineers, hence why the air show puts such a huge focus on STEM. Given the detailed listed above, such as the fact it was built locally and named in honour of Georgia Williams (who was also an Air Cadet) and the fact it displayed at no cost to the Air Show, why wouldn't we include it in the flying programme?!
not_the_dj wrote:The commentry was poor and didn't give us any news about what was cancelled. Didn't hear a thing about the Sea Vixen, Gnats or Mustang. If that information was being given out on Facebook/Twitter then it really should have been announced to the crowd sat there waiting for them.
Dan O'Hagan wrote:There isn't (or shouldn't) be an airshow commentary position that doesn't have direct communication with the tower and display director. I'm certain Cosford will have made sure their team had the same, and will have been arranged for them well in advance.
I totally agree with you. I'm not exaggerating when I say I ran between the air traffic control tower and commentary tower at least 20 times with updated timings and news of cancellations to pass to the commentary team. They also have the Tower frequency to listen to and a landline to both the FDD and myself. I'm not sure why the updates that we were giving them weren't passed on by the commentators but it will be noted in the wash-up meetings.
jason82wells wrote:Buff was going to do two passes but both RAF heavies did one didn't they? What does that say about the effort the RAF put in?
Adamwilliams132 wrote:The RAF heavies doing one straight pass each is a bit poor, the Dutch herc did a better pass as it arrived for static.
The B-52 was authorised to conduct three flypasts, and we were planning for it to do so. The authorisation for the A400M & C-130J flypasts dictated that they were only permitted to perform a single flypast, out of our control sadly. I too would have liked them to do a couple of passes in differing configurations.
classicaviation wrote: If that is indicative of the budget they are given; then scrap Scampton now cause the RAF clearly aren't interested!
The RAF Cosford Air Show doesn't get issued any kind of budget from the MoD, and no public money is spent in the delivery of the event. We infact have to pay for UK military aircraft to participate...
classicaviation wrote:You do need some imagination with formations, set pieces, demos etc, and this year lacked any imagination what so ever.
So putting the Army Historic Flight's Scout and Soiux in formation with the Apache for a unique formation, which took a bloody lot of paperwork, lacks imagination? Likewise the unique Anson/Harvard pairing? Seen many Tutor threeships at other air shows recently too?
TYPHOON3 wrote:Before choosing a date for 2017 make sure it doesn't clash with any major overseas shows.
We have already liaised with a large number of European military partners to let them know our date, and discussed keeping our weekend free and avoiding clashes.
aknott68 wrote:It was disappointing to not see either the hercules or chinook as anniversary colour schemes.
We did ask, but there were serviceability and tasking issues that conspired against us.
Pat Murphy wrote:Bit surprised to hear the home team didn't taxi any of the Jags though. I thought that was very popular item last year, given the reaction around me when they started up
The lack of Jaguar taxi demonstration was outside of our control sadly.
[rgmw]largie wrote:Atlas @ 11:35? Wtf. Really looking forward to that and just saw a small speck leaving.
The aircraft was on an operational tasking and 1135L was as late as they could slip the flypast without impacting on the mission. Ops come first!
st24 wrote:Seriously?! penned in by cones with (IIRC) a "RAF" Bentley coupe on one side and a tent on the other. Dreadful positioning- as was pretty much everything else really...
This pissed me off too, I had a number of discussions with ground staff in the RAF Village who moved the cones closer to the aircraft on three occasions across the weekend after I had our cone team re-postioned them back further away. However, which others statics did you consider 'dreadfully positioned'?
Luke28 wrote:I'm not jumping on something else to knock the show for here just for the sake of it but there was an Italian H-101 down for static display in the programme, I know discussions were on going with Italy, the organisers must have been pretty confident of it attending too include it in the programme and do a featured piece on it, shame that it didn't come to fruition.
Was on the cards for a while, coming up from Westlands at Yeovil, but sadly fell through in the weeks prior after the programme had gone to print. Had hoped no-one would notice!
strangelookingalien wrote:Although I feel the airshow team at Cosford *do* put in the effort to get a good flying display it is an unfortunate consequence of having fewer shows that virtually every UK airshow is close to selling out regardless of what is booked, which may instigate a 'race to the bottom'.
I can assure you that as long as I'm employed at RAF Cosford, the show will not adopt this mindset. All of us in the Air Show Office (and that's only 3 full time and 2 part time staff!) want to deliver the best show possible.