Rafale, BBMF, OFMC Pair, Frecce and the RAF Tonkas were sensational today! The Tonkas in particular caught us all by surprise on their first pass!
The two F-16 displays happened to be the worst two out of the four that were originally scheduled to fly; both were too far away and the Dutch doesn't seem to be as fluent as it used to be. BAe Tiff was alright, a bit high and a bit distant, the Italian Tiff needs to whip the RAF Tiff and BAe Tiff demos to shape and show what a Typhoon can actually do!
Breitling Wingwalkers and Breitling Jet Team finale?! Are you kidding me? The finale to the supposed 'World's Largest Airshow' and it goes to two civilian participants, who aren't the most popular acts in enthusiasts' eyes. Fair enough, they're sponsors for the show but why couldn't they go up at lunchtime? Oh and their 'formation' pass was fantastic...
RAF solo displays bar the Chinook are a complete waste of time and effort. Chinook was impressive as the solo demo always is! AAC Apache is awful compared to the Dutch. ERJ-195 was a waste of time too.
Traffic was slow but moving on the Green Route this morning. I also happened to want the toilet badly in Meysey Hampton so I was furious with the police officers couldn't tell me how to get to Rhymes Farm (it was my first time there)
Overall, RIAT 2011 wasn't a good RIAT at all, and that wasn't the weather's fault. I only really wanted to see two items today and they were the A-10 and RSV Tonka. There were too many 'non-RIAT' slots in the flying programme, such as the RAF training solos, AAC Apache, BJT, Wingwalkers, ERJ 195 which makes one think how desperate things are! I'll be back in 2012 for sure but it'll be the banter and the Chinese Air Force!
Oh, and the thing that made my month? The Air Cadet Flypast being scrubbed! Happy days!
Commentary team, from the little I heard, well Ben Dunnell was on the ball as ever! And Spiv, where was the SoloTurk demo you said was your highlight of the day? Next year, keep Ben on the mic please!