FRIAT Forum

All you'll ever need to know about the UK's biggest airshow
AARDVARK
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FRIAT Forum

Post by AARDVARK »

Anyone else attending on 13th April?

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Re: FRIAT Forum

Post by GARYKING »

I will be

Gary

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Paul_Reflex
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Re: FRIAT Forum

Post by Paul_Reflex »

I'm planning on going too, haven't received any further emails since the original one though.

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boff180
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Re: FRIAT Forum

Post by boff180 »

An email went out Friday to those that are attending.

There will be a 'few' staffers there :smile:

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Paul_Reflex
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Re: FRIAT Forum

Post by Paul_Reflex »

boff180 wrote:An email went out Friday to those that are attending.

There will be a 'few' staffers there :smile:


Thanks for the info, all sorted now. Looking forward to the lunch!

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Re: FRIAT Forum

Post by AARDVARK »

Anyone traverlling from East Sussex / Gatwick way ?

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Re: FRIAT Forum

Post by capercaillie »

AARDVARK wrote:Anyone traverlling from East Sussex / Gatwick way ?


You.
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Re: FRIAT Forum

Post by AARDVARK »

Yes East Sussex

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Re: FRIAT Forum

Post by CJS »

Glad that's cleared up :up:
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Re: FRIAT Forum

Post by AARDVARK »

Was going to suggest car share if anyone was going from this part of the world .

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Re: FRIAT Forum

Post by edhunter »

what is the FRIAT forum, what does it do and what comes from it?

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Re: FRIAT Forum

Post by boff180 »

edhunter wrote:what is the FRIAT forum, what does it do and what comes from it?


FRIAT forum is a (usually but didn't occur last year) annual meeting/event hosted by the RAFCTE at DBH where FRIAT members are invited to attend and meet the team behind RIAT over lunch.

The invites go out a month or so before the event.

At the meeting the assembled FRIAT members are briefed on what to expect different/new over previous years and then there is usually a Q&A session following which has in the past included asking for suggestions on how to improve FRIAT/RIAT as a whole.

This years event is tomorrow, attendance confirmation emails were sent out by DBH last week.

Andy

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Re: FRIAT Forum

Post by edhunter »

Do you sometimes get aircraft announcements during the forum?

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Re: FRIAT Forum

Post by boff180 »

edhunter wrote:Do you sometimes get aircraft announcements during the forum?


Yes, sometimes. Last one iirc was the Wings of Storm

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rdchawk
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Re: FRIAT Forum

Post by rdchawk »

Was anything announced flying wise today??
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harkins
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Re: FRIAT Forum

Post by harkins »

Was there anything announced anything-wise? Particularly interested from the FRIAT perspective. Andy, I think you did a report following the 2016 forum didn't you?

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boff180
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Re: FRIAT Forum

Post by boff180 »

Won’t be doing a FRIAT forum feedback this year lads. Too many other things in “production” to devote time to it I’m afraid :-)

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harkins
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Re: FRIAT Forum

Post by harkins »

Not even a couple of bullet points? Please?

Oh well Andy, if you're too busy you're too busy. Fair enough. But my mind is racing now. Was it a damp squib or were AMAZING things revealed that you were all sworn to secrecy over? :heyhey:

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Re: FRIAT Forum

Post by G-CVIX »

Any other members care to let us know anything?

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Re: FRIAT Forum

Post by st24 »

boff180 wrote:Won’t be doing a FRIAT forum feedback this year lads. Too many other things in “production” to devote time to it I’m afraid :-)

So what was the point of bigging it up, telling us about it and attending on behalf of UKAR (as you have done for many years) and then not having the time to string a few bullet points together for those that are interested?? :confused:
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play it cool
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Re: FRIAT Forum

Post by play it cool »

Judging by comments posted to a certain FB group, nothing confirmed today, although it was reported that the next flying display to be announced will be a good one. Also, there have been talks with the SWAFHF but a reiteration that current rules preventing them from flying demos. reverting back to 2.5 days next year. The 3 display days this year will have different displays, but it hasn't been established to what extent.

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Re: FRIAT Forum

Post by boff180 »

st24 wrote:So what was the point of bigging it up, telling us about it and attending on behalf of UKAR (as you have done for many years) and then not having the time to string a few bullet points together for those that are interested?? :confused:


Hang on a second.

1. At no time did I or any other say that staffers were attending on behalf of UKAR.
2. At no time did I "big it up".

I said that there would be a few staffers there in response to a question asking if anyone else was attending (it was nice to meet you by the way Aardvark). Staffers attended the event as FRIAT members, just like everyone else.
I then answered the queries and questions from people who had never attended before, trying to help.

If you must know, we were also there today prior to the event on behalf of UKAR working on an unrelated project with DBH - but you'll see more of that when it's complete.

p.s. I've never attended on behalf of UKAR, only as a FRIAT member and then posted a summary (and asked questions on peoples behalf) off my own back - and no that isn't a plea for applause.etc before any more smart comments....

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Re: FRIAT Forum

Post by AARDVARK »

Yeah I was gutted I couldn’t make it ,bloody car was playing up ,hence the post about car sharing !

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Re: FRIAT Forum

Post by BossMann »

I know slightly off topic but did they mention anything about the cancelled/ postponed RAF Scampton show?

Has it gone for good or will it make a comeback for the Red Arrows 55th anniversary in 2019?

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Re: FRIAT Forum

Post by Tommy »

I didn't take notes or anything, and I'm currently nursing a raging hangover so my memory is in bits, buuut a couple of points I recall, which were of interest to me, at any rate.

  • Scampton Airshow was briefly talked about. Couple of interesting titbits such as 50% of the volunteer force were RIAT volunteers. Andy Armstrong thought overall that the show was success and he was proud of it.
  • Of RIAT, TomG went through a couple of things to do with the aircraft invitation process, which we all roughly know, but was interesting to see it all mapped out on a powerpoint and learn things such as how they build an invite list and decide which nations are invited and which are not. And what sounds like a gruelling 40 embassy visits in 5 days trudging through London.
  • Particular aircraft preferences are specified to invited nations, including aircraft with special markings etc, obviously they don't always attend, but not for lack of asking.
  • I expect I may be slapped down if I get these figures wrong, but I *think* that about 30 air arms from 23 nations are currently in discussions of some form or another. Though, as I said, I wasn't taking notes, either mentally or physically, so please can people not take that figure as definite. At any rate, there are a lot of discussions going on at the moment.
  • Often it's quite difficult to obtain what we might consider to be older/classic/exotic aircraft in an inventory, because the air chiefs want to be showing off and watching their brand new supercoolawesome machines, rather than their old cronky ones.
  • The attendance of chiefs without aircraft really does assist in years down the line.
  • They reviewed the 2017 airshow briefly and, though some of the feedback seems to have been affected by those who attended on Saturday who were (understandably, imo) a bit miffed, it was overwhelmingly positive. They did say that they did have something else planned for Saturday, but either "technical" or "operational" (can't remember which word was used) snags happened. They didn't say what that something was.
  • Speaking broadly on the cancellation of the A-4 last year, which was so close to attending (Tom said that the maintenance crew had already arrived), given the prominence these days of companies like ATAC and Draaken International, which are almost air forces of themselves, they are often invited to attend with some of their (oft quite exotic) machines. Seems to be a bit of a mission of Tom's to get those A-4s to attend eventually. And something about champagne? Anyway, if an A-4 does eventually make it to RIAT, Tom might be the happiest out of all of us :grin:
  • An interesting point was asked about ground-based pyrotechnics (like those used last year by the Apache demo), and their position. Tom explained why they could not be on the display datum, and the principle issue is that underground infrastructure is located there (wiring or piping or both, I can't recall), and that's the main reason that ground-based pyros aren't located "on datum". And the Apache didn't alter its position from one day to the next when those pyros went off at the end of its display, so in a year where that happens, if you see the explosions in relation to the aircraft on, say, the Saturday, you should be able to position yourself accordingly on the Sunday.
  • Flares ( :hide: ) were discussed again. We all know the score, and Tom put a very logical and qualified case as to why it can't happen at RIAT, but to be fair to DBH, they ask themselves every year whether they can use flares again. It seems to me that it's not something they let die. Probably much to Tom's chagrin :grin:
  • As things stand, any aircraft attending Farnborough following RIAT will not be allowed to depart on Sunday and leave whopping great holes in the static. If they commit to RIAT, they will be asked to commit to the whole show, so those only attending on Sunday will have a chance to look at them, rather than potentially miss out.
  • Fun fact I didn't know - RIAT are not allowed to mow the grass on the airfield. It's kept at a particular length (it's quite long IIRC) as a deterrent to birds.
  • Re. the 10m exclusion zone for tents/windbreaks/ladders etc - a question was asked on whether they could be more stringently enforced, and an idea proposed to re-introduce a white line to delineate the 10m exclusion zone. DBH have taken it aboard to see whether it can be done. Andy recognised that it used to be done, and might just be something that was forgotten. In principle, and the reaction from those at DBH, it seemed like an easy enough idea to implement.
  • P&V Tuesday is not going to be usual, and at the moment is only in play for this year, to give themselves the flexibility. So for 2019 it should be back to normal
  • There have been talks with the SwAFHF, but as I'm sure everyone is aware, they're prevented from flying. But theoretically they could turn up for the static display, per Scampton.
  • FRIAT-wise, it sold out in October, as you all well know. This took everyone at DBH (& everyone else tbf) very pleasantly by surprise. There are a lot of loyal and long-time FRIATers who missed out, so they put them onto a waiting list, searched around, and are able to accommodate an extra 100 people. There'll be 1950 FRIAT spaces this year. However, there are still people on the waiting list who missed out, so even this hasn't managed to work for everyone.
  • Grandstand-wise, positioning and expansion is difficult because the control tower needs to see all of the runway, and taxiway charlie, and so any expansion upwards, or indeed re-positioning would have to be carefully done so that it doesn't compromise that.
  • The airshow closes at 7.00, not 8.00 these days because it used to be that the highly necessary ancillary stuff like bowsers being refilled and portaloos emptied and caterers restocked all took place during the end of the day whilst dribs and drabs of visitors were still on the airfield. I believe it was said that they are now required to vacate the showground of visitors before they start doing this, and given how much work has to take place at the end of each day (volunteers and DBH staff are routinely still pottering around the airfield past midnight), they had to move the airfield closing time an hour forward.
  • Edit, as the bacon does its work I remember more - photobus tours of the north side were brought up. They are very unlikely to return. They used to take place on active days, which now would be considered to result in putting people underneath an active display box. I guess post-Shoreham, that's the sad but true sign of the times.

There were other bits and bobs discussed, but most of those I think are in public knowledge already. For anything else, I can't fully remember now and don't want to repeat and get wrong. As much as anything else, it was just a really great opportunity to have a cup of coffee and chat RIAT with the people who matter, and to put a lot of names to faces. There was a lot of information given, and DBH were open and honest to all of the questions presented.

And, if it matters to anyone, they made some calendars available with the air to air photography of machines that attending the show last year. August is rather amusing. I might post a phone shot of it later.

Anyone else who went (or DBH people themselves) please do correct my hungover ramblings. I'm off to find and consume all of the bacon right now. :cuppa:

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