RIAT 2013 Review

[RobW]

Last minute negotiations , yes......but my point was that they should have made contact with the various operators at the outset , if only to have a pool of 'displays' available in case they needed to make some last-minute additions or changes.
.

Slightly naive chap. I am sure they will have made contact with a great many operators in autumn 2012. But, how do you reserve a commercially operated aircraft (e.g. almost all civilian aircraft, including warbirds) early on, without making a financial commitment nor guaranteeing a slot at the show? Are they likely to accept a possible place at RIAT or a firm booking somewhere else?

Rob

[Brevet Cable]

Rob ;
Not 'reserve' .... merely that if they make the initial contact early & obtain all the required info { cost , display details , etc. } and keep themselves updated as to if the aircraft is still available or booked for elsewhere , if they do then need an aircraft at short notice they'd be up to speed on it.
According to some operators , no contact whatsoever had been received prior to DBH's last-minute rush.

[RIAT Air Ops]

Rob ;
Not 'reserve' .... merely that if they make the initial contact early & obtain all the required info { cost , display details , etc. } and keep themselves updated as to if the aircraft is still available or booked for elsewhere , if they do then need an aircraft at short notice they'd be up to speed on it.
According to some operators , no contact whatsoever had been received prior to DBH's last-minute rush.

May I enquire as to which operators?

Tom

[RobW]

Rob ;
Not 'reserve' .... merely that if they make the initial contact early & obtain all the required info { cost , display details , etc. } and keep themselves updated as to if the aircraft is still available or booked for elsewhere , if they do then need an aircraft at short notice they'd be up to speed on it.
According to some operators , no contact whatsoever had been received prior to DBH's last-minute rush.

I suspect that is exactly the process they follow.
I find the last sentence hard to believe but, as Tom said, it would be interesting to know who allegedly wasn't contacted.
Ta,
Rob

[Brevet Cable]

May I enquire as to which operators?
Tom

Well , it loks like I was wrong about one of them.
I just checked their Facebook page { as a friend has it bookmarked }
Originally , their page only went back as far as May , and a reply on there { to a question about would they be at RIAT } merely stated that they'd received no contact from the organisers.
That reply is no longer on there , and the page now has posts going back to last year { so presumably it's been merged with a superceded facebook page } , which include ones from the beginning of the year saying they don't know if they'll be at RIAT or not , but if they are it may be on static.......so from that it could be inferred that they had indeed been contacted.
So , I say again -- I was wrong about this instance.

As for the others......that would involve my working my way through a list of numerous websites , Facebook pages & Twitter feeds , which to be honest is too much messing around.

[CH2]

Not quite sure I agree with that comparison; TeamGAR did actually seem to enjoy themselves, where as poor old DanB, well you could only feel sorry for the poor chap; cold, hungry and a bit lonely. After reading his report I could only resort to watching the P45 episode of Top Gear to rescue me from the misery inflicted on me by the sorry tale of an airshow dream shattered. With the only comfort remaining that I too was not as unfortunate to be standing there with Dan B, in my shorts shivering under overcast skies staring at a Police helicopter during the toilet break. Whilst the local scrunter population chucked another consumed £8 empty bud bottle at me or worse still one that had been used as a toilet because they couldn't make the toilet. Which ever report you go with, the good old days are long gone.

[Blackbird]

That observation has been made for some years, up to 2011. Then DBH put on the best show for a good number of years in 2012. I think 2013 was more or less on a par with 2010 and 2011. Let's hope that 2014 and onwards will be able to go back to at least the 2012 standard. I do entirely agree that the we will have to be very lucky to see the show climbing back up the the standard of the early-mid 90s.

Andy

[Abingdonman]

Not quite sure I agree with that comparison; TeamGAR did actually seem to enjoy themselves, where as poor old DanB, well you could only feel sorry for the poor chap; cold, hungry and a bit lonely. After reading his report I could only resort to watching the P45 episode of Top Gear to rescue me from the misery inflicted on me by the sorry tale of an airshow dream shattered. With the only comfort remaining that I too was not as unfortunate to be standing there with Dan B, in my shorts shivering under overcast skies staring at a Police helicopter during the toilet break. Whilst the local scrunter population chucked another consumed £8 empty bud bottle at me or worse still one that had been used as a toilet because they couldn't make the toilet. Which ever report you go with, the good old days are long gone.

Gave me a good laugh that!
anyone reading the UKAR version will surely think twice about going inside the gates next year!

[LN Strike Eagle]

As it says in the report, you can only speak as you find. I went on the worst day, weather-wise, of the entire week. Maybe I'd have had a slightly different opinion if I'd attended the Sunday show, but the reports really aren't that different. We both make points about the pre-show build up and PR, the poor Vulcan displays, the distance to the majority of the displays, the sideshows taking over, the poor static, the changes to the commentary team... there's even a mention of Saturday's weather in Elliott's report too. It reads very similarly to me.

To quote from Elliott's article, "it was a show with as many faults as positives". I also praise the good points he does, apart from the service stations which I didn't mention as I had no cause to use them.

As for being hungry and lonely, not sure where you get that impression? I took more than enough food to last the day and even in the company of Trevsy and DanO, I think "lonely" is pushing it a bit far!

[CH2]

Ok, replace lonely with rejected

Hopefully you will have a better show next year, providing you make it past security, and if you should do so, you are then not attacked by a gang of disgruntled (and pre-briefed by DBH) young female RIAT makers, ensuring that you are pounded to death by use of their huge foam pointy fingers.

[Giant]

"On the evidence of RIAT 2013 - from the troubled build up to the show experience on Saturday - I'd have to think long and hard before I'm prepared to commit another £49 for a day-specific ticket next July"

Pretty much sums up our plight, we won't commit to a day only event next year...

Unfortunately this year purchased wrong day (Saturday instead of Sunday), so when printing out sheet on 6pm on Saturday and realizing mistake I quickly phoned (alas no reply) then tried emailing.. The only solution offered was to buy two more tickets for Sunday and that we may/may not get money back on Saturday... Not to keen to spend another £100, so decided against..

I know it is my fault (stupid me), but the unwillingness to for them to try and help and expect us to pay another £100 (even half price tickets would have been good).. It adds no cost to them, but finding another £100 is a lot to me.. So my relationship with the event is null avoided and will not be ever going to this air show as don't feel there is a community spirit, just another event wanting to extract money from my wallet..

As report goes, we might as well just sit outside event and watch the planes as the static display was pretty thin on ground..

Are you serious on this? If you buy advanced tickets for trains/buses/some airlines or cheap deals on Hotel rooms, they are date/time specific and clearly non-refundable. RIAT selling day specific tickets is just that, so why should they have to bend over backwards, even if people make a genuine mistake? None of the companies operating the other stuff would

[Giant]

I think Air Operations division at DBH know what they're doing... With 40 years of experience!

Given the posts on this forum , including those by other members of UKAR staff , I'd say that is a debatable conclusion.

And of course, the post'ers of such messages and the UKAR staff are experts on managing airshows and air ops arent they?