RIAT 2017 (Discussion & Participation Thread)

[sopwithflyer]

You forgot several paragraphs on the FRIAT experience

Yup and the bit at the end that says "The Value of FRIAT gets worse and worse every year - we have lost this and lost that and RIAT are going to have to do something about it or I won't book the Mach 3 package that I have already booked for next year.

Ok, I'm biting.

People could believe your BS or, people could read the reviews - reviews based on the personal experience that year of the author.

In 2014 the packages future financial viability was queried in light of the increasing cost of a ticket and (spiralling out of control) local accommodation costs - at no time did the review state the package had got worse.
The 2015 review did criticise the package due to the enclosure being closed for the first time early on a Thursday to allow for display validations - quite validly criticising the cost of the package when 25% of flying on one day was missed.
The 2016 review criticised the grandstand - it did not criticise the package - the opposite in fact, it praised a number of the new items bought in that year. At no time was the value even called in to question.
At no time do any of the reviews claim or end with a statement that DBH need to "do something about it" or "I won't book but have already booked".

Am I reviewing this year's show? No I'm not - a combination of an existing commitment to author the Flying Legends review and for other reasons which will become clear later this year. You'll just have to wait and see who is.

Andy

Andy! I live near the base. I really don't care - it is a joke - missed obviously. I know several FRIATer's, I met up with one last year and he said the Grandstand is crap I won't be doing it again next year. I said you will, you've already renewed, you told me. You know that full well. Smile Andy - I don't stay at Totterdown (another joke BTW)

[boff180]

Sorry, been a long few days - suffering a sense of humour malfunction

[sopwithflyer]

Sorry, been a long few days - suffering a sense of humour malfunction

No worries Mate. ribbing a few friends that's all....

[MikeCooper1990]

Sorry if this is the wrong thread but did anybody get the serial for the Army Air Corps Apache that displayed on Saturday and Sunday. Can't seem to find what it is anywhere. Thanks.

[MetMan]

According to the checklist it was ZJ230 - but I too cannot see that anywhere on the airframe in my photos to confirm

[MetMan]

Had another look and can confirm ZJ230 halfway up the tail fin

[JANNER77]

Fairford Airshow has been for numerous years now been the highlight of the year for us. We have
always been use to having a relaxing enjoyable day out there. But this year on the Saturday and Monday we were literally overwhelmed by photographers hell bent on getting their photos regardless of who else was around them. One for example with all his gear, though politely asked, refused to move to let my wife in her wheelchair out. Really made to feel 2nd class by him.
What on earth takes over guys like that with his cameras .
What was this self-centered attitude by so many of them.
The Fairford air show was a relaxing entertaining family day out for all! But are those days now gone - it appears so.
Terry

[Xray833]

What on earth takes over guys like that with his cameras .
What was this self-centered attitude by so many of them.
The Fairford air show was a relaxing entertaining family day out for all! But are those days now gone - it appears so.
Terry[/quote]


Whilst I agree with most of the comments re bad mannered photographers and was on the receiving end of this on an occasion on Saturday near the SU27, there were also many instances of good manners evident over the weekend. I was in the photographer`s enclosure at the Cotswold Club on Sunday and without exception everyone there was good natured and considerate to others. On one occasion I jokingly mentioned to a gentleman that if he wanted a good picture of the back of his head I could supply one. He apologised for getting in my shots even though it was my own fault for putting myself in the wrong position for crossover shots of the Red Arrows and the Thunderbirds. We all had an excellent day and came away with at least a few “good shots”.

[sismore]

Thanks for the update re the Christmas Shop, very good news!

The shop is directly opposite the old one, they only moved across the road

[Big Eric]

Whilst I agree with most of the comments re bad mannered photographers and was on the receiving end of this on an occasion on Saturday near the SU27, there were also many instances of good manners evident over the weekend. I was in the photographer`s enclosure at the Cotswold Club on Sunday and without exception everyone there was good natured and considerate to others. On one occasion I jokingly mentioned to a gentleman that if he wanted a good picture of the back of his head I could supply one. He apologised for getting in my shots even though it was my own fault for putting myself in the wrong position for crossover shots of the Red Arrows and the Thunderbirds. We all had an excellent day and came away with at least a few “good shots”.

Xray833, if you're going to quote part of a previous post then leave the [quote="xxxxxx"] at the beginning, then it'll appear on the forum as a quote !

[Xray833]

Whilst I agree with most of the comments re bad mannered photographers and was on the receiving end of this on an occasion on Saturday near the SU27, there were also many instances of good manners evident over the weekend. I was in the photographer`s enclosure at the Cotswold Club on Sunday and without exception everyone there was good natured and considerate to others. On one occasion I jokingly mentioned to a gentleman that if he wanted a good picture of the back of his head I could supply one. He apologised for getting in my shots even though it was my own fault for putting myself in the wrong position for crossover shots of the Red Arrows and the Thunderbirds. We all had an excellent day and came away with at least a few “good shots”.

Xray833, if you're going to quote part of a previous post then leave the

at the beginning, then it'll appear on the forum as a quote !

My mistake, thank you

[aviodromefriend]

OK, my take on RIAT 2017, the good, bad and ugly.

Good:
Walking up to the static on Friday from yellow thinking “where is that aircraft from. All I can think of that roundel is from is Israel, but they weren´t announced AFAIK". Great job, more of those surprises in the future please, Mr. Gibbons.
B-52 crew for allowing the public that close to the aircraft on Friday.
U-2 people for (although technically being in Green) just being available to the public at the fence between blue and green.
Seeing a lot of air arms having their aircraft parked together. Saved a lot of overturning my checklist.
The long awaited return of a Spirit, although from all the times I´ve seen it at a UK show, the F-15s were far from as rocksolid in their formation as I´ve been used to (read: it looked like a mess).
Mark Mainwaring at the commentary team. I have really started to like him even more than Ben Dunnel.

Bad:
Having to get up early to catch the train to the airport, as Schiphol was scaring passengers about very long waiting times.
Not having more than 5 minutes to wait at any part of the security at AMS. Could have been sleeping for at least one hour longer that night.
National Express changing their timetable. Ended up waiting for the coach they put me on as a result with two earlier coaches leaving for Swindon.
The hotel having problems finding my reservation.
Weather, no explanation needed, I hope.
Raptor for not flying on Saturday. Are the minima for the Heritage Flight really over 1500 ft of cloudbase? If not, it could have dropped its demo and only do the HF IMO.
Seeing a big lot of unused concrete west of the BUFF. Looked like it was more than enough to put the Bone in, and being more than the area in which the Bone was at ILA last year. Not only a nice photo-opportunity, but also a possibility for comparison of aircraft from a different era for the general public lost.

Ugly
The Dutch coachdriver from Kupers Weert/Eindhoven that drove the Royal Netherlands Air Force Association on Saturday for breaking the one-direction system effectively blocking the route of the shuttle busses, then when being told by two police motorists he had to turn back going mad as his satnav told him to continue. (It took quite some effort to get that coach to clear the road it never should have entered, then it showed a sign on the back if we would be their new colleague. No thanks, I will only work for companies that I have a little bit of confidence in that they deliver at least a bit of quality.)
All the about sell-out spin we got from DBH. According to Andy Armstrong Sunday night on the BBC, there were 165,000 visitors over the three days. There were times that one day had more visitors than that number. How did those numbers break-down over the three days? I can´t imagine Sunday was close to the number of visitors that were there on Saturday, going by both the difference in queue lines for the shuttle busses at comparable times and hearing people telling about the static being almost empty of public on Sunday, and a far less crowded grass area between the static and crowdline.

[Pringles]

Raptor for not flying on Saturday. Are the minima for the Heritage Flight really over 1500 ft of cloudbase? If not, it could have dropped its demo and only do the HF IMO.

It sounds like the policy is to fly the demo first, as this allows the Raptor to burn enough fuel to enable it to formate safely on the P51 - this would explain the no-show for the HF

[henk99]

Does anyone know which music Coteau Delta is using during their display?

[Airshowhammer]

Was that the Italian Tornado's last display season? i seem to recall the commentator saying the 'the last Tornado display' alot

[Airshowhammer]

Does anyone know which music Coteau Delta is using during their display?

Ofenbach-Be mine
Kavinsky-Road Game
Jax Jones-You Don't Know Me

[henk99]

Awesome, thanks!

[boff180]

Seeing a big lot of unused concrete west of the BUFF. Looked like it was more than enough to put the Bone in, and being more than the area in which the Bone was at ILA last year. Not only a nice photo-opportunity, but also a possibility for comparison of aircraft from a different era for the general public lost.

*scratches head*What big lot of unused concrete west of the B-52?

Directly west of the B-52 was Blue Entrance then a row of aircraft consisting of Maggie, 2 Alpha Jets, 2 F-16, KC-135, 3x F-15. Directly opposite these, indeed slightly further east closer to the B-52 was the E-7 and P-8.

There was a slight gap between the B-52 and E-7 due to the location of Blue gate but it certainly wasn't B-1 sized. Far from it.

[Adie1980]

Seeing a big lot of unused concrete west of the BUFF. Looked like it was more than enough to put the Bone in, and being more than the area in which the Bone was at ILA last year. Not only a nice photo-opportunity, but also a possibility for comparison of aircraft from a different era for the general public lost.

*scratches head*What big lot of unused concrete west of the B-52?

Directly west of the B-52 was Blue Entrance then a row of aircraft consisting of Maggie, 2 Alpha Jets, 2 F-16, KC-135, 3x F-15. Directly opposite these, indeed slightly further east closer to the B-52 was the E-7 and P-8.

There was a slight gap between the B-52 and E-7 due to the location of Blue gate but it certainly wasn't B-1 sized. Far from it.

Have to disagree Andy, in 2012 they had the B-52, a C-17 in the centre pointing west and a C5 galaxy facing south around where the P8 was parked this year. Plenty of room imo

[planenuttoo]

Raptor for not flying on Saturday. Are the minima for the Heritage Flight really over 1500 ft of cloudbase? If not, it could have dropped its demo and only do the HF IMO.
Seeing a big lot of unused concrete west of the BUFF. Looked like it was more than enough to put the Bone in, and being more than the area in which the Bone was at ILA last year. Not only a nice photo-opportunity, but also a possibility for comparison of aircraft from a different era for the general public lost.

Nice write up.

The area you refer to I believe would have meant that anything parked would have had a line of toilets in the background and the organizers have had plenty of complaints from "enthusiasts" in the past about background clutter.

[Airshowhammer]

As if people are complaining because there was a gap near the B-52, next thing you know people will be saying why weren't any aircraft parked on the grass in the crowdline!

[DonaldGrump]

It was my 30th IAT/RIAT and on balance it was a pretty good one. It was,nt cold and wet, everything got to fly over the 5 days. The content of both the flying and static displays were pretty good given the times in which we live...Just for those few day I leave all the crap in life behind and indulge in a few beers and some fast jets. Sadly before the next one we have to endure huge helpings of Jeremy Corbyn, Dianne Abbott, Theresa May, Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Winter, Ant & Dec, Christmas, X Factor, Voice, Dan O Hagan, Britains got mutants, Strictly, Brexit, and Manchester United. Thats just scratching the surface on the amount of utter gruel we will have to wade through before we all head once again to RIAT.

So for those who have moaned, have a think about all of the above, and actually how good RIAT still is.

[aviodromefriend]

You forget Kim, Kim & Kim Dictators plc., Vladimir Putin and George Bacon (and probably a lot of others).

[Brevet Cable]

It was,nt cold and wet, everything got to fly over the 5 days.

Except for the days when it was wet ( and, on occasion, cold ) and the Saturday when things didn't get to fly.
Or by "everything got to fly" do you mean that everything flew, but just not on all the days it was supposed to fly ?

[spellow3010]

Does anyone know which music Coteau Delta is using during their display?

Ofenbach-Be mine
Kavinsky-Road Game
Jax Jones-You Don't Know Me

Don't forget the music they taxied out to and sat lining up on the runway...
Madcon - Don't Worry About A Thing