AMB wrote:boff180 wrote:Thunderfoot wrote:I know it's been done at Yeovilton, but why not at RIAT? Many of the foreign displays use flares that we never get to see
But on topic, lots of overseas display teams would be great, especially as many of them take a great deal of inspiration from the Reds.
Éclat.
Been done to death.
Fairford in RIAT showground configuration cannot and does not comply with the Explosive regulations that now govern aircraft loaded with flares in the UK during peace time. They have to be treated as armed aircraft and kept isolated from all other display acts.etc.
The only way you will see flares at RIAT is if an act operates from a nearby base that can handle them such as Mildenhall or Yeovilton (Brize cannot). Obviously with such a prestigious show acts do not want to operate from other airfields.
The result, no flares at RIAT.
So what about the RAF's Role Demo that has been staged at Fairford several times with huge pyrotechnic explosions? Have these regulations been implemented since then?
The pyros used in the role demos weren't fired from the aircraft themselves, they are detonated on the ground as a simulation, hence the aircraft weren't considered to be bearing live ammunition and therefore didn't have to have the required exclusion zone around them when they were on the ground.