Thoughts on the show.

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lynothehammer
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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by lynothehammer »

Left the blue car park at 7.30 and was back in Farnborough by 10 past 9.

Quite impressed with the car parks and getting in and out.

The airshow itself was terrific, I have to admit to having my reservations after attending Yeovilton last weekend and I was proved completely wrong. Would have loved to have seen the SU27 and IL76 fly today, but I understand the reasons.

For me the stars of the show were the A10, C27 & Rafale. The Saudi Hawks were pretty good too....

As for all the people knocking RIAT saying this could be the end, well not for me as I'll be returning next year.

The only downside to it was dropping my lens first thing this morning before i'd even taken a photo, still worse things happen at sea.

parabola50
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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by parabola50 »

Thought I'd share my thoughts too. This was the first airshow I've attended and we went for the Saturday. I've been really interested in mainly military aircraft since I was really young. I'm 25 now and a bit disappointed that I left it so long to make the time to go to a big show. A bit of confusion when we arrived at 7:30. Got asked for a parking pass. I had no idea this was required, this was the first I've ever heard of it. A guard told me to go over the reception so I did, and we got shouted at by a miserable man on a motorbike. I'm not sure how I was supposed to speak to someone in there without leaving my car..? Anyway, we got parked eventually and joined the back of the longest queue I've ever seen.

My first thought was the same complaint that most people have already made... Isn't this supposed to be an airshow? Even I could tell that the focus had been moved away from the displays and they were trying to cater to a wider audience, so I can only imagine how frustrating it must be for those of you that attend every year. I know that for the organisers it's all about the revenue, but if I want to go on a family day out I'll go to Alton Towers. If I want to go to an airshow I'll go to the 'biggest and best military airshow in the world' and that's what I'll expect to find there. Did A. Burke really sell many more tickets? I can't understand why someone would make the effort to go if it wasn't because of an interest in Aviation. As other people have mentioned, I was sat no more than 10m away from a speaker and I could barely hear the commentary over the awful cover bands and fare ground music. Most people have covered all this already so I wont go in to it again.

The whole thing didn't seem very organised either. People have said that they couldn't change the afternoon schedule because it would disappoint the pilots that got cancelled. IMO they should have some kind of contingency schedule. For example, they choose half of the participants that are more popular and if for whatever reason the flying time gets cut, these are the ones that still fly. That way these less popular participants would be fully aware when they agree to go there, they're only on the full day schedule and not the backup schedule.

Does anyone know where these rumours about next year originated? Why is the next one apparently supposed to be so much better? Could it just be something the organisers have said because they know that the dedicated enthusiasts are becoming less enthusiastic about attending?

Despite the few things that disappointed me and the awful rain, I had a really good day. The Rafale was amazing, definitely the best part for me. Was disappointed about the A-10. I've always wanted to see one, but at least I got to see it airborne despite the issues. For some reason I thought the B-52 was flying which I was looking forward to. I have no idea what made me think that. I had to convince my girlfriend to come because she's not interested at all, but by the end she was already talking about going back next year and even getting tickets for both days. I'd really like to go for an arrival day too, but the arrivals seem so spread out, I'm not sure if we'll see much in one day.

Overall I had a good day, really enjoyed myself and will go again but I just expected a bit more from such a huge event.

parabola50
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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by parabola50 »

Few questions too, thought this would be the best place to ask.

I know a lot of people were disappointed that the Saudi Hawks didn't fly on Saturday. Are they usually better than the Red Arrows, or were people so interested in them because it's rarer to see them?

Same goes for the Turk F-16. Do they usually put on a better show so people would have preferred this instead of the ones that actually flew?

Is it normal for the barriers to be so far away from the aircraft? It was disappointing to not be able to get anywhere near them.

I saw quite a few people being allowed inside various planes. What does it take to be able to do this? Special access tickets, or is it more exclusive than that?

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Ian G
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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by Ian G »

parabola50 wrote:I saw quite a few people being allowed inside various planes. What does it take to be able to do this? Special access tickets, or is it more exclusive than that?


Speak nicely to the aircrew! I noticed a VERY large queue to go in the Il-76 and even sit in the Flanker! I've been in all sorts over the years, there's no special ticket, just usually a queue by the barrier to go inside, although mainly only the larger aircraft.
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TomTwin
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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by TomTwin »

parabola50 wrote:I saw quite a few people being allowed inside various planes. What does it take to be able to do this? Special access tickets, or is it more exclusive than that?


Me and JackyRIATWilson got to sit in the Flanker by asking. All it is. If you want a seat, ask. :smile: You never know.

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Fly_Boy_Rez
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Well that was another RIAT... roll on 2012

Post by Fly_Boy_Rez »

Hehehe, this is probably going to go down like a lead balloon on here given some of the other threads but I thought I'd share a few musings about this years airshow. :lol:

Commentary - yeah, we miss Sean's evocative commentary but you know what? I quite enjoyed the commentary from Dan and co. and as a plus, we got to hear Sean when the Vulcan flies so a win on both scores! Another plus was that the A-10 commentary was pleasantly restrained... for a US team! Compare and contrast this commentary with the T-Birds at Waddington!! :roll:

Static Display - No denying, a little thin in areas but on a positive note, I thought the static had actually been arranged really well with a thought to being able to get decent shots (when the sun finally poked it's head out). I kept thinking that the RIAT organisers might have got a shooter involved to contribute to the layout.

Flying Display - A good (not great) selection of aircraft and some stunning flying displays. Granted, the weather messed things up but you know what? We live in Britain and the best you can do is schedule the show for July and cross your fingers. Sometimes it all works out for you and sometimes it doesn't. At least we got a show, could have been much worse (2009!)

Traders - RIAT has and always will be a family event. If it didn't attract the significant others and the kiddies then I guarantee you it will be a much smaller event and you'll rue the day you asked for it! Sure, there's lots of tat on sale but you know what, you have free will, walk on by... don't go in, don't even look a them.

Food & Drink - Whoa! Overpriced and on the whole pretty nasty!

Right, I'll leave it there... I'm shattered after two days of fun. Hope some of you enjjoyed the show as much as I seem to have! :grin:

Rez

StevenH
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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by StevenH »

parabola50 wrote:Is it normal for the barriers to be so far away from the aircraft? It was disappointing to not be able to get anywhere near them.

:grin: That's something I never expected to read on here...

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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by G-CVIX »

Yep just ask!

Everyone I spoke to was really welcoming and friendly, particularly the US Herk crews. The Oman and Jordan Herk tents were lovely too! Such friendly pilots and crews.

On another note, do you think it is worth sending a link to this thread through to RIAT? I'm sure someone from there might/probably will have read it anyway. But I mean, could it do more harm than good, and just come across as moaning? I don't know. I'd like to think some sort of generalised statement from enthusiasts expressing the problems of the weekend would have potential to get a message across, but I'm not sure. Do they still have a feedback section that is up in the weeks after the airshow?

Today I just got the feeling that RIAT should know the concerns of the enthusiasts, because we are the ones that have supported the show in the past, that continue to spend hundreds and hundreds of pounds and travel extensive distances despite the increase in ticket prices each year, the ones that will come out whatever the weather for days on end, and the ones that I hope will support RIAT into the future. That being the case I feel that our voices need to be heard. I still enjoyed this weekend, but I think some of the issues raised in this thread need to be raised with the organisers. It would be nice to have some sort of statement from them, because I don't think I've ever seen a RIAT with as many problems as this one.

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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by UKTopgun »

Well well, looks like the Sunday punters got the juicier piece of the RIAT pie this time, I went on Sat and, like many, felt a little short-changed because of the cancellations. I feel sorry for Pat Ag, coming all that way to be scrubbed twice, can't be fun... Anyway, here are my learnings (apart from the one about never again wearing jeans to a show where it is forecast to pee down for 5 hours):

I felt it was an ok show this year. Nothing really stood out in the way the OVT did a few years back, but I guess the hog would have done if we had seen the demo in full (even the hog pilot sounded really peed off at the tech probs!) I was not sure what the Red Devils were all about, not really a RIAT act were they.
No idea what the Saudi's display was like... anyone like to tell.... just a green version of the reds?
Really rated the Rafale, such panache and flair (sorry not flair, those are, ahem, banned at Riat). Tooled up tiffie was not quite as it was hyped to be although it was better than the RAF example usually is. Danish Falcon, well, ok I guess. Dutch? Not what it was once, nice look in the blue sky though.
Noticed that OFMC's spitfire and mustang had a bit of a mix up on the break, spit breaking right hand as expected for 27 but Ferocious Frankie breaking left hand for some reason. It confused the tower and the pilot by the seems of it, FF eventually entering the pattern correctly after a little aerial prevarication.
Nice to see Vic Norman leading the wingwalkers once more, but the finale act? Come on, RIAT, must do better! The Flybe Embraer regional jet only did flypasts, if we are going to see the machine in a show at least show us what it can do and display the thing properly! The Vulcan was nothing special really, much preferred the Southend display. Anyone know who flew her Saturday?

Now, this thought may be controvertial, and I know I should support the home team, but the Reds were thoroughly out flown by the Frecce IMO.
I know the reds always achieve a certain standard but this time particularly, I just felt the Frecce had the edge. They just do more with the routine, perhaps this is a bit unfair because I know that the Aermacchi is the sports car of the jet trainer world compared to our poor old hawk. I think it could be the solo tailslides that set them apart, just breathtaking! And the bomb burst into crossover has always made me shudder in a good way :0)

I was sorry that the speaker near me was not working (eastern end near a weird green thing with tyres - what is that?) Seems many had trouble hearing the commentary. I thought that all would be ok, after all 2 cadets were sitting at the foot of each speaker and the fault would be fixed in no time, but as 6 pm came I realised that would not happen. I ascertained the Air Cadets were there only to replace my brolly behind the somewhat flimsy fence when it strayed a full 30cm onto the live side of the field. I did want to hear the commentary, I think that Dan and Ben make excellent commentators, never mind.
(and what happened to the lovely post show concert by the RAF squadronairres, we seemed to get dodgy cover bands this time round, all flaming day)

To conclude, RIAT have a good show still, and clearly the non enthusiast crowd have gone home happy. It could be so much more though. Just one or two really headline acts would make a good show a great one again, just like the good old days! Perhaps 2012 will have a Greek element with the Olympics and all, meaning an old Olympic A300 display (I know they don't have them any more) , a formation of corsairs making the olympic rings, kebab vans replacing the overpriced burgers and Demis Roussos on the stage in the afternoon.... roll on 2012! :roll:
Last edited by UKTopgun on Sun 17 Jul 2011, 10:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by Kieran »

UKTopgun wrote:Now, this thought may be controvertial, and I know I should support the home team, but the Reds were thoroughly out flown by the Frecce IMO.
I know the reds always achieve a certain standard but this time particularly, I just felt the Frecce had the edge. They just do more with the routine, perhaps this is a bit unfair because I know that the Aermacchi is the sports car of the jet trainer world compared to our poor old hawk. I think it could be the solo tailslides that set them apart, just breathtaking! And the bomb burst into crossover has always made me shudder in a good way :0)
:


Yup, completely agree. The Reds have lacked something since the 'Patounas years.' They weren't spectacular when Jas Hawker was in charge and I think they've just got worse since Ben Murphy has took the healm!

They were 1 out of 8 teams at Izmir, and they (IMO) were 3rd from the bottom (below Aguila and Iskry). The Frecce, T-Birds, Patrouille, Turks and Krila Oluje (a turboprop team!!) were superb and thoroughly entertaining!

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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by roadhousedisco »

I see people have 'complained' about the lack of aviation vendors, and all the 'market traders' there. On one hand I do agree with you. In previous years it felt like there was more aviation 'stuff' to buy. But then again every vendor has to pay for their pitch. If 500 bouncy castles apply for a place, but only 1 aviation trader applies then that's what you get. These traders obviously feel that they can make a tidy sum for their outlay. The aviation traders may feel it's not a profitable venture to apply for a pitch. Even if RIAT reduced their pitch prices, you may get more aviation vendors, but you would not get rid of the others.

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Re: Well that was another RIAT... roll on 2012

Post by lynothehammer »

Rez

Well put mate, couldn't agree more with you. Came away from today feeling like i got my full 40quids worth and will definately be going next year.

As for the food, well over-priced crap. I bought 2 hotdogs & a bottle of pop and it came to £12, absolute theft of the worst kind. I'd like to see RIAT introduce RNAS Yeoviltons policy of price capping food or alternatively let the Americans from the P&V do the catering with their reasonable prices and decent food.

L

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Re: Well that was another RIAT... roll on 2012

Post by andyxh558 »

I agree about the Americans doing the catering and it raise money for their causes too.

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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by FlankerFan »

Ive just got back, and so the day is spinning around in my head, but for sure it was a great day out, I dont know where the time went to be quite honest. We lucked out with tickets, and the day flew by drinking coffee with the A-10 guys, talking the sandbox the 18sgdn guys, chatting with the Rafale pilot, who was hilarious. I even managed to speak to the Ukrainians, since i speak Slovenian and I could kind of make myself understood, but as long as you know what 'Pivo' is and you offer it, those guys are happy as larry. Also had a very special encounter later on in the evening with my favorite plane of all time (thanks guys).

Splendid airshow, Arrows supreme as ever, Vulcan spectacular, A-10 awesome, Tornados thunderous, F-16s....numerous? but awesome to see nonetheless. Can there ever be too many F-16s in ones life? anyway...

The one downside of my day was that I actually missed Alexandra Burke, I mean, did she actually play?

My group must have been too wrapped up in aviation at the time to actually notice her, what a damn shame.

Well thats what comes to mind 10 minutes after getting in from a long and excellent day, and I will DEFINITELY be going next year, and same goes for the rest of the chaps I took with me.

Oh and BRONCO!
Im sure other things will come to me when I have time to think about it!

Edit. How could I forget the Frecce Tricolori! amazing show, but i think they did take advantage of a break in the clouds that the Arows didnt have, I did get the impression the Arrows show was curtailed slightly by the cloudbase.

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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by DOEY »

This year was my first year back at RIAT for some time.
We used to go every year but gave up about 5 years ago as got fed up with the traffic. We live in Swindon and taking over 2 hours to get home with tired kids on board was no fun. We have got home from the NEC in birmingham in less time including getting out of the car park.

We went on saturday and were disappointed to find ourselves stuck in traffic on the green route for 2 hours before we got into the airfield. We had chosen the green route as in previous years we had been jammed up on the blue route. From what I gathered the green route was the only slow one :roll:

This year for the first time we were going with a disabled person. Sadly my husband had a stroke and now can only walk very short distances so me or one of the kids has to push him in a wheelchair. We are new to this disabled lark and didn't realise we would have to book a scooter and a space in the disabled area so far ahead so we missed out.

We were waved onto the base to the green parking but the space was a long way from the entrance. Luckily we had the wheelchair and all was fine on the concrete but then we had to go on the grass and disaster. My daughter and I had to drag my husband backwards to the security and ticket check who waved us through. Once in we were back on solid ground and had a good view of the vulcan :smile:

The disabled area was only a short distance off the concrete and half empty so although we didn't have a ticket I asked if we could go in. Unfortunately they said no and then stood and watched as my daughter and I tried to push my husband over the grass into the crowd in the end we managed by dragging him some of the way and him hobbling some of it.

So what did we think of the display? I didn't think it was a patch on previous years. I was irritated whilst in the traffic queue by the radio commentator saying not to worry the cancelled planes will display tomorrow. Fine for him we could only afford to go one day. My daughter who was only very young last time we went was very disappointed as I had been singing RIATS praises for weeks. Why did they have flybe if we wanted to see commercial aircraft we could go to heathrow. The red arrows were good but the italians were better IMHO and why didn't the red arrows close the show? The wing walkers although good were more what i would expect to see at a county show not an international air tattoo.

Another irritating thing was despite forking out for a program we had no idea what was coming up next. We realised the display probably wouldn't follow the schedule and tried to get as close to a speaker as possible. We were sat within a few yards but couldn't hear it.

So to sum up will we go next year, not sure. I think we will pay closer attention to what planes are going to be there. We did enjoy it but £120 for a few hours is a bit steep. We didn't stay after the flying finished as it all looked to be rubbish.

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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by parsley »

A source of amusement for both me and the other half was the party with mainly German and Dutch participants that was going on inside the German CH53 in the static at about 6.30pm on the Saturday evening (beer cans and at least one vodka bottle were visible through the windows)...some spectators seemed to be a little confused by the large whoops from within and the chopper rocking backwards and forwards on it's undercarriage !! :grin:

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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by parsley »

parsley wrote:A source of amusement for both me and the other half was the party with mainly German and Dutch participants that was going on inside the German CH53 in the static at about 6.30pm on the Saturday evening (beer cans and at least one vodka bottle were visible through the windows)...some spectators seemed to be a little confused by the large whoops from within and the chopper rocking backwards and forwards on it's undercarriage !! :grin:



and as an addition the choice of food seemed to be pretty poor this year..last year there were at least some variations - i.e.Thai etc but this year it seemed to be standard greasy fare or a miniscule pizza or nowt...couldn't even get a jacket spud ...but kudos to the USAF MC130 crew who were selling Mountain Dew out of the cool box for 50p a can !!

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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by DerekF »

My take on Sunday at RIAT.

I decided on Thursday that Sunday looked like the better of the two weather. The Met office forecast for Sunday turned out to be surprising accurate, The BBC on the other hand, not surprisingly had rather over-egged the rainfall.

Anyway , I was coming from the Cheltenham direction and came in on the Green route and drove straight in, parking at just after 7.30am – we actually came in over the end of the runway, the way I exited last year.

After a long trudge to the entry tents, security was straightforward and the e-ticket thing worked fine – a little disorganized but OK.
The weather was still a bit wet at this point (8am) but I did a grand tour of the static. It might be a bit thinner than in the past but there were still some quality items in there. The use of the far western end for flying display aircraft meant that those there (the Vulcan, Saudi Hawks, Gripens, Hunters) weren’t greatly placed for photographs but it’s a small gripe.
After a long walk to the far end , again some the flying aircraft at the Eastern end were out reach at the top end of the apron. Nice that C17 ZZ177 turned up early in the morning and parked where I happened to be – nice one.
The static aircraft were decently spaced but the crowds were fairly thin so getting an unobstructed view wasn’t a problem even in the evening when the light was a little better.
After that I found a spot at the barrier and watched the display from there.
Overall the flying was superb, it felt like a RIAT of old. I can understand why Team Aguila cancelled (they were the only ones who did) as they were first on and got the worst of the weather. The weather steadily improved all day apart from the odd shower I think we were very lucky with the weather.

My highlights of the flying display in no particular order.
- 4 F-16s - brilliant – like days of old – hard to pick a favourite but I think the Turkish example edged it. Does anyone know when was the last time a Danish F-16 displayed in the UK?
- The Air Cadet flypast – I never thought I’d see a Sedbergh at RIAT!
- The C-27 – simply stunning.
- Frecce Tricolori – as ever – excellent.
- A-10 – a great display.
- Good efforts by the warbirds and the BBMF in, at times, a gusty wind.
- The Rafale was, as usual, a fine display.
- The Tutor was superbly flown, -it can’t be easy to fly a precision routine on such a large airfield in that wind.
I’ve missed some but they were the ones that stuck out.

Another long walk back the green car park and drove straight out . the worst hold up was on the A417 where two lanes go into one at a roundabout – I’m sure that would have been airshow traffic.

Gripes – not many – mostly cost – the entry fee at £43 is steep, as is £10 for a programme. As local hotels boost their prices for a “special event pricing” weekend it makes it an expensive weekend.
I suspect the attendance is down on last year – it seemed to be distinctly quiet in some areas but I’m sure the weather played a part in that.
A few other comments – well done the Air Cadets patrolling the crowd line ducking down when aircraft were passing and well done the commentary team(s) - decent info when required, quiet when required. The only thing I would say is that it wasn’t always clear what was happening next as the running order varied a little from that published.

To sum up – I felt it was lose to a return to RIATs of old. I thoroughly enjoyed the show and glad I made the decision to go – it was a close run thing though.

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Re: Well that was another RIAT... roll on 2012

Post by Ian G »

Fly_Boy_Rez wrote:Hehehe, this is probably going to go down like a lead balloon on here given some of the other threads but I thought I'd share a few musings about this years airshow. :lol:

Commentary - yeah, we miss Sean's evocative commentary but you know what? I quite enjoyed the commentary from Dan and co. and as a plus, we got to hear Sean when the Vulcan flies so a win on both scores! Another plus was that the A-10 commentary was pleasantly restrained... for a US team! Compare and contrast this commentary with the T-Birds at Waddington!! :roll:

Static Display - No denying, a little thin in areas but on a positive note, I thought the static had actually been arranged really well with a thought to being able to get decent shots (when the sun finally poked it's head out). I kept thinking that the RIAT organisers might have got a shooter involved to contribute to the layout.

Flying Display - A good (not great) selection of aircraft and some stunning flying displays. Granted, the weather messed things up but you know what? We live in Britain and the best you can do is schedule the show for July and cross your fingers. Sometimes it all works out for you and sometimes it doesn't. At least we got a show, could have been much worse (2009!)

Traders - RIAT has and always will be a family event. If it didn't attract the significant others and the kiddies then I guarantee you it will be a much smaller event and you'll rue the day you asked for it! Sure, there's lots of tat on sale but you know what, you have free will, walk on by... don't go in, don't even look a them.

Food & Drink - Whoa! Overpriced and on the whole pretty nasty!

Right, I'll leave it there... I'm shattered after two days of fun. Hope some of you enjjoyed the show as much as I seem to have! :grin:

Rez


:up: :up:
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Re: Well that was another RIAT... roll on 2012

Post by stonesfan »

lynothehammer wrote:
As for the food, well over-priced crap. I bought 2 hotdogs & a bottle of pop and it came to £12, absolute theft of the worst kind. I'd like to see RIAT introduce RNAS Yeoviltons policy of price capping food or alternatively let the Americans from the P&V do the catering with their reasonable prices and decent food.

L


Here here!!!

Never trust the British when it comes to catering. Poor food, over priced food, grumpy staff who seem to think they are something special. Their aim seems to be to sell the least amount for the highest price. However when you have a monopoly courtesy of price fixing, its all too easy.

The Americans and their BBQ tents are a different class though. They actually look like they are interested in providing a service and realise that if you price keenly, customers will return time and time again. Just a shame that they arent allowed to compete fairly with the former, as it much just provide them with some incentive to up their game.

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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by Ian G »

G-CVIX wrote:On another note, do you think it is worth sending a link to this thread through to RIAT? I'm sure someone from there might/probably will have read it anyway. But I mean, could it do more harm than good, and just come across as moaning? I don't know. I'd like to think some sort of generalised statement from enthusiasts expressing the problems of the weekend would have potential to get a message across, but I'm not sure. Do they still have a feedback section that is up in the weeks after the airshow?

Today I just got the feeling that RIAT should know the concerns of the enthusiasts, because we are the ones that have supported the show in the past, that continue to spend hundreds and hundreds of pounds and travel extensive distances despite the increase in ticket prices each year, the ones that will come out whatever the weather for days on end, and the ones that I hope will support RIAT into the future. That being the case I feel that our voices need to be heard. I still enjoyed this weekend, but I think some of the issues raised in this thread need to be raised with the organisers. It would be nice to have some sort of statement from them, because I don't think I've ever seen a RIAT with as many problems as this one.


Didn't some of our UKAR members meet up with some of the RIAT organisers a few years back? I'm not sure what the outcome was but I think something similar needs to happen again. I can't find a feedback area on the airtattoo website but they do have a contact link, I think it's important they hear back from us. I know people from RIAT do read what's on here but it wouldn't hurt to let them know directly.
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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by LN Strike Eagle »

Have to agree with a lot of what is written here and in the 'genie' thread actually - I heard a few grumbles from some of the RIAT stalwarts this year, and likewise I heard comments from the general public along similar lines. People sitting near to me were looking through the flying schedule and claiming "it's all a bit samey, isn't it? F-16, F-16, F-16, Apache, Apache, another F-16..." to which their partner replied "yes, it used to be a lot more spectacular!". That was a family sitting down and watching the show btw - not enthusiasts with a huge lenses or notebooks.

Likewise, the Burke concert. It, rightly, rang a few bells with people on here before the show IMO. I've heard nothing since to convince me that it was anything other than a waste of money. From what I heard, she was about as popular as a rattlesnake in a lucky dip.

People go to an airshow because of the aircraft - it's why airshows up and down the country attract big crowds and have done for decades. Yesterday's display had a noticable lull in proceedings (read various comments from people in our Twitter feed to suggest that they agreed) while Miss Burke was on stage with small, quiet prop and trainer types, probably to avoid drowning her out. To organise the 'main event' around the sideshow is staggering IMO. The number of people watching the flying display at that time far outweighed those watching her sing, and yet the 'Air Tattoo' slowed to a walking pace to accomodate a pop concert! :shock: :roll: This is the airshow founded by enthusiasts, for enthusiasts...? I would find it hard to argue against anyone that said it had lost it's way this year. There were glimpses of what you expect from an Air Tattoo with the A-10, Flanker, A330 and CASA, but overall the aircraft seem to be increasingly drowning in the sideshows, never more so than this year.

Personally, I think RIAT would benefit from going back to its roots. Obviously, numbers aren't going to be as they were in the good old days, so instead of spreading arrivals thin across three days, drop the Wednesday completely and pack them all into a busy Thursday and have Friday as the rehearsal day. Likewise the flying display - why commit yourself to fill 8 hours just because they can, and then have to fill it up with so much repitition and so much lightweight stuff that is lost at such a vast arena. Cut it down and increase the quality, and then if the statics were kept away from all the stalls and other crap, they would genuinely become an attraction to in their own right, rather than a poor relation to the flying display. The Flanker was wonderful to see, but parked with a whopping great bouncy castle behind, it was hard to find any pleasing angles.

Having said all that, I'd have had a much more enjoyable time had the sun come out. I don't enjoy airshows in mixed weather and I did find it quite frustrating at times yesterday. I kindas wish I'd just gone in and used the tickets on Saturday, even though I turned up late.
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Mictheslik
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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by Mictheslik »

DerekF wrote:- 4 F-16s - brilliant – like days of old – hard to pick a favourite but I think the Turkish example edged it. Does anyone know when was the last time a Danish F-16 displayed in the UK?


Yeovilton last year :biggrin:

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LN Strike Eagle
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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by LN Strike Eagle »

On the subject of food and drink - it was cheaper and better than what was on offer at Duxford last week. The food at the Grand Prix was also cheaper than Duxford infact!
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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by craig.mason »

LN Strike Eagle wrote:On the subject of food and drink - it was cheaper and better than what was on offer at Duxford last week. The food at the Grand Prix was also cheaper than Duxford infact!

the price of food is always overpriced at these events as they have a captive audience the people cannot leave and go to the local shops were it will be half the price of what these vendors charge
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