2010 Abingdon Charity Air & Country Show

[Oldtower]

If you wish to write to the MPs, please be my guest.

I have already had a letter gone to David Cameron.

Hawk - no an infringement within the RA(T)...

[Benson Boy]

If you wish to write to the MPs, please be my guest.

I have already had a letter gone to David Cameron.

Hawk - no an infringement within the RA(T)...

Sorry for not knowing this, but would that be the Ram Air Turbine?

[Ben H]

Erm, Restrictred Airspace (Temporary)? I reckon an infringement into the RAT would be a bit close for comfort!

[DamienB]

RA(T) = Restricted Area (Temporary)

as opposed to the obsolete

TRA = Temporary Restricted Area.

I understand there was a surplus of brackets and the CAA had to ensure more use was made of them before they became a bracket mountain.

[Ben H]

RA(T) = Restricted Area (Temporary)

as opposed to the obsolete

TRA = Temporary Restricted Area.

You do wonder how much it cost them for that 'rebrand'.

[vintage ATCO]

I called the intruder to the Hawk which we could see so he waited until it had gone and then started again. Wasn't that close but an infringement nonetheless. We know who it was.

[vintage ATCO]

TRAs became Temporary Reserved Airspace with the introduction of Class C airspace above FL195 in 2007. I bet you really wanted to know that . . . .

[Manonthefence]

If you wish to write to the MPs, please be my guest.

I have already had a letter gone to David Cameron.

Cheers mate, I'll be in touch in the next week for details.

[AndEmanuel]

Sorry to hear the news however it's not going to stop me, my family and friends coming along and having a fantastic time. After all the flying display is looking great and there is so much else to see. Have got some soup prepared just incase the weather isn't 20degC and bright sunshine.

Well done to all involved in the organisation.

[marshalmartin]

It may have been where we were stood but it looked like the Hawk went to have a look at the guilty aircraft. The aircraft must have had a shock to see a Hawk belt past at 300 knots.

[Tomahawk]

Before going on the attack, would it not be better to find out what the reasons are for the ban? Ok, you still probably wont agree with them whatever the reason is, but it means you can put forward a logical argument, instead of petulant foot stamping.

Never thought I would hear myself say it but I fully agree with BJCC, no point in just having a go along the lines of "typical civil service, blah, blah" better to deal with whatever reason was put up by DE.

[boff180]

Well just about to set-off, multiple layers and waterproofs being the order of the day.

The "feels like" with the wind this morning is 0! It's an on-crowd wind aswell so an umbrella is going to be pretty useless!

See you on the field!

Andy

[chill51]

It may have been where we were stood but it looked like the Hawk went to have a look at the guilty aircraft. The aircraft must have had a shock to see a Hawk belt past at 300 knots.

Yeah i saw him do that. I would imagine he wanted to get an i d on it to help air traffic find the guilty pilot and hand out the bo*******g.

Mike

[boff180]

Well arrived a little early. Gates were open so have driven in expecting to be marshalled to a waiting car park, only to be stopped at the exhibitor entrance and told off for driving in.

There was no-one about!

I think security must be asleep lol!

Andy

[Abingdonman]

I probably wont be there till around 1pm,by then it should be reasonable weather in The Abingdon area,in fact if all visitors think positive the clouds will disperse to reveal a welcome sun throughout the afternoon.....hope so,but then I could have been watching 'Deal or no Deal' far too often

[RickIngham]

Was also turned away, I was under the impression it was the ticket gates that opened at 10 not the carpark...

[RickIngham]

2 mins after being told no entry until 10 they let everyone in! Now we're in a queue!

[boff180]

They have opened the car parks and taken your money. Still not allowed in till 10 though. I was at the front of the queue in the blue stilo.

Andy

[Iwishiwasapilot]

Maybe you could get the C17 to do a touch and go, lower the ramp and the organisers can be stood there giving their own display to the DE jokers!!

Looking forward to today, BBC weather interactive thingy indicates the rain should have passed over come display time. Leaving shortly to take in some of the ground attractions.

[boff180]

Well shows over, and a good job at running the show in very very difficult conditions. In the end, the JP, Harvard and BBMF had to cancel and it was a shame that the C-17 did just a single pass but what a pass!

Good Points:-

• Plenty of Toilets, never saw a queue all day!
• Nice unobscured crowd line.
• Tours around the static aircraft.
• Plenty to see and do!
• Very Good Value
• Traffic management, not a single traffic jam getting out, very quick and smooth.
• Tucano and Tutor displays are a must see this year (yes you read that right the TUTOR display is superb).
• Vampire display was extremely photographer biased, superb angles!

Could do better

• Marshaller/Security briefing - as explained earlier, got passed from pillar to post on entry. Also overheard that the marshall on the entrance was doing the complete opposite of what they were supposed to do initially!
• Did the commentators have any more music on them? They repeated the same songs over and over and over!
• Felt the Hawk display was far too high and far too far away, the Tucano and Tutor were much better displays.
• Commentators should have been saying what was going on in the display ring aswell as the crowd line in the morning.

My Two Cents

Andy

[Tangoringo]

I take my hat off to to Neil and the rest of the organisers today.

To keep the show on the road despite Mother Natures worst and MOD Estates must have taken a Herculaean effort and I was very grateful they did.Seems ironic that as I type this there is sunshine on my lawn and the wind is now a mere zephyr!
What 'small' show could attract such a wealth of performers esp a VC10 and C17!!!? The flying today was top notch from all but the standouts for me were the excellent Swift team, the C47, the tutor and of course the F16...wow! I hope this is not the last time the cloggies grace the skies over S.Oxfordshire.

I sincerely hope that the reduced numbers havent stifled the expansion of this fantastic gem of a show.

So, well done to all today despite all the setbacks. I hope you still manage a sizeable cheque to the Air Ambulance and I hope you all have a few well deserved cold ones waiting for you tonight ( or maybe a warm one to keep hypothermia at bay!!) You certainly won over my three sprogs today who came back with huge but chilly grins!!

Sincere thanks to all involved.

[Benson Boy]

Well done to the organisers today!

It was certainly cold, hepling with the Cadets and walking the line from 9:30!!!

Sorry to any of the photographers at the Southern end during the F-16 , we tried to get out of the way!

C-17's pass was superb, but that VC-10 missed approach, even better!

The F-16 was something else!!!

Well done to all under difficult circumstances. Full review later!

[PeterR]

(yes you read that right the TUTOR display is superb).

Well when me and my friends (also cadets) gave a big round of applause and cheered after the Tutor display loads of people gave us funny looks.

[Bronco]

I have to agree with you there, the Tutor display is the best one ever, and certainly one of the highlights for me from today

Other highlights included the F16 of course, the VC10 climbout, which should be seen more often and the Vampire gave a nice display

[Bjcc]

I thought, given the circumstances, if was very good.
Apart from the Hawk, which seemed to think the display was in Reading. I hope that was a one off, and the rest of the displays will take place somewhere near the venue.