RIAT 2017 (Discussion & Participation Thread)

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jasonT1981
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Re: RIAT 2017 (Discussion & Participation Thread)

Post by jasonT1981 »

Was the Royal Navy Sea King there? I only recall seeing the German one on static. If so, where was it parked?

Edit: Found out it cancelled before the show.

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Re: RIAT 2017 (Discussion & Participation Thread)

Post by UK Airshow Review »

"Vertical Limit" - Tom Jones reports from a cloudy RAF Fairford for UK Airshow Review.

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Re: RIAT 2017 (Discussion & Participation Thread)

Post by st24 »

UK Airshow Review wrote:"Vertical Limit" - Tom Jones reports from a cloudy RAF Fairford for UK Airshow Review.

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You seem to have lost 3 nations?!! 27 countries attended.... :roll:
You caaan't trust the system... Maaan!

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Re: RIAT 2017 (Discussion & Participation Thread)

Post by planenuttoo »

Grunt087 wrote:While I try not to be a rude photographer ..........................


Sadly, you have stirred a "can of worms".

We all have different wants, and emotions, especially when it comes to our hobbies.

A little patience with those who actually would not understand what we as (alleged) considerate photographers want, though it is infuriating when waiting for that gap in the clouds, to find someone stumbles into the shot telling their family on their mobile phone that they've found the play zone. They really don't understand and they don't know what costs others have incurred to arrive at the same destination.

It is not just at airshows, and I have vowed never to attend another "flat floor arena" for a concert, because of all the prize selfish gerts that stuff their electronic devices in my line of view because they want to preserve the scene that I have also paid for, which I then cannot see.

As to the children, yes I can understand families wanting their little people to have a view, but it normally leads to "can I stand with my darling now", Trooping the Colour now leads me to not allowing kids to stand in front of me 'cos, yes, I too got there four hours before them.

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Re: RIAT 2017 (Discussion & Participation Thread)

Post by planenuttoo »

sorry for duplicate post
Last edited by planenuttoo on Mon 31 Jul 2017, 6:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: RIAT 2017 (Discussion & Participation Thread)

Post by iaint »

st24 wrote: You seem to have lost 3 nations?!! 27 countries attended.... :roll:


Surely just the 2 - unless you are including the civilian (bah!) Global 5000 from UAE?

Listing (from memory) I've got:
Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech, Denmark, Eire, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Pakistan, Poland, Qatar, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the Ukraine, UK, USA.

But I'm sure this indiscretion will be reviewed and author held to account! :tongue:
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Re: RIAT 2017 (Discussion & Participation Thread)

Post by capercaillie »

iaint wrote:
st24 wrote: You seem to have lost 3 nations?!! 27 countries attended.... :roll:


Surely just the 2 - unless you are including the civilian (bah!) Global 5000 from UAE?

Listing (from memory) I've got:
Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech, Denmark, Eire, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Pakistan, Poland, Qatar, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the Ukraine, UK, USA.

But I'm sure this indiscretion will be reviewed and author held to account! :tongue:


Well if you ignore Japan and their drummers I guess you're correct :whistle:
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Re: RIAT 2017 (Discussion & Participation Thread)

Post by iaint »

capercaillie wrote:
iaint wrote:
st24 wrote: You seem to have lost 3 nations?!! 27 countries attended.... :roll:


Surely just the 2 - unless you are including the civilian (bah!) Global 5000 from UAE?

Listing (from memory) I've got:
Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech, Denmark, Eire, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Pakistan, Poland, Qatar, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the Ukraine, UK, USA.

But I'm sure this indiscretion will be reviewed and author held to account! :tongue:


Well if you ignore Japan and their drummers I guess you're correct :whistle:


Of course! :facepalm:

I did say it was from memory, I just didn't say how good my memory was! :wink: :lol:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/iainthomson84/

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Re: RIAT 2017 (Discussion & Participation Thread)

Post by The Baron »

iaint wrote:
capercaillie wrote:
iaint wrote:
st24 wrote: You seem to have lost 3 nations?!! 27 countries attended.... :roll:


Surely just the 2 - unless you are including the civilian (bah!) Global 5000 from UAE?

Listing (from memory) I've got:
Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech, Denmark, Eire, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Pakistan, Poland, Qatar, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the Ukraine, UK, USA.

But I'm sure this indiscretion will be reviewed and author held to account! :tongue:


Well if you ignore Japan and their drummers I guess you're correct :whistle:


Of course! :facepalm:

I did say it was from memory, I just didn't say how good my memory was! :wink: :lol:


Shows it was such a good turnout this year where something which is such a stand out in the static park is forgotten...
Loafer for Mr. Da Vinci.

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Re: RIAT 2017 (Discussion & Participation Thread)

Post by st24 »

iaint wrote:
capercaillie wrote:
iaint wrote:
st24 wrote: You seem to have lost 3 nations?!! 27 countries attended.... :roll:


Surely just the 2 - unless you are including the civilian (bah!) Global 5000 from UAE?

Listing (from memory) I've got:
Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech, Denmark, Eire, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Pakistan, Poland, Qatar, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the Ukraine, UK, USA.

But I'm sure this indiscretion will be reviewed and author held to account! :tongue:


Well if you ignore Japan and their drummers I guess you're correct :whistle:


Of course! :facepalm:

I did say it was from memory, I just didn't say how good my memory was! :wink: :lol:


:tongue: Missing 3 nations from the review total is a school boy error..
You caaan't trust the system... Maaan!

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Re: RIAT 2017 (Discussion & Participation Thread)

Post by Airwolfhound »

On my watch this report wouldn't have got through.........yadayadayada :grin:

Well done for writing it, I'll get round to reading it at some point :wink:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/24874528@N04/

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Re: RIAT 2017 (Discussion & Participation Thread)

Post by JA Boomer »

Finally back home! My wife and I completed our honeymoon trip of Europe and the first stop was RIAT 2017. RIAT was not something I ever really imagined I would attend, and getting the chance to cross it off my bucket list was amazing. We got the Mach 3 FRIAT package and stayed at the Colesbourne Inn near Cheltenham. The experience met all of my expectations!

The Good:

-Everything about the FRIAT experience! They made it very easy to attend with little experience of the airfield and the local area. Answered all the questions I had, and were delightful to deal with in-person at the show. My wife especially appreciated the clean portable washrooms throughout the weekend.

-The aircraft. Two of my biggest interests are the military and aviation. Naturally I am a big fan of military aviation. RIAT did not disappoint, both in the air and the static ramp. There were a number of firsts for me, mostly European equipment (I liked the mini-gun on the Finnish NH90) but also the U-2S. The A400M, C-27J, and Apache flying displays stood out for my wife and I.

-The two seats on either side of my wife and I in the FRIAT grandstand were never occupied at any point from Thursday to Monday which was great. Everyone was pleasant and the man to my right was easy to talk to. Funny enough the two Aussies on my wife's left were staying in the room next door to us at the Colesbourne Inn - what are the odds?

-The traffic/parking/admission lines were as expected for an event of that size. Not good, but not unacceptable.

-The static ramp ropes, makes for great pictures without people.

The Bad:

Please don't take this the wrong way, we both thoroughly enjoyed the RIAT experience.

-The weather. Obviously not as good as it could be. The fact that every act got to perform over the course of the week and I got my pictures made it a non-issue. I was pretty well airshow'd out after 5 days.

-Wings FM. First off, it seemed to have an extremely short range. I could only turn-in basically at the airfield. Second, the music and programming was awful. Need more airshow related content and "airshow" music.

-Airshow music. Clearly this is not as big of a thing in the UK. I noticed some of the European aircrews had their routines done to music. This is normal in North America, and I think it adds to the display. I was surprised that the Red Arrows ect. lacked a performance soundtrack.

-The speakers above the FRIAT grandstand are bad. They need to upgrade to stereo speakers so I doesn't sound like AM radio.

-The commentary at the air show is dry and repetitive. Literally the same comments on each day. Thought this could be improved.

-I was surprised at the rigidness of most of the air displays. I seems every demo team had 8 minutes to go up and put their aircraft through it's paces. It reminded me of the Boeing Super Hornet demo here in Canada vs the military display teams who seem to have more relax and fun performances. Maybe this is the reality of so many aircraft in the flying display, but it felt rushed at times.

-I tried several times to go and visit with the Canadian aircrews at the Chinook and Globemaster but they were not present. Granted this was first and last thing each day as I watched all the flying displays at the FRIAT grandstand, but it was disappointing. Did anyone notice if there were present during the day, and did anyone have a chance to chat with them?

The Ugly:

The complaining that has gone on since the show ended, it's very hard for me to understand. In Canada, we have only a few major airshows a year, I travel 1,000 kilometers every year to the Abbotsford airshow (typically the largest in Canada) and it does not hold a candle to RIAT. Even the big US airshows like Oceana, Nellis, Edwards, ect. do not compare. And in 2012/13 when sequestration was in full swing? The RCAF stepped up but the airshows were anemic in Canada, and still better than what the US was getting! I urge you individuals who get to attend RIAT on a regular basis, take a moment and realize how lucky you really are.

Regarding the USAF Thunderbirds...I know that their performance can be a little pompous at times but here's the thing, their primary mission and really the only reason they continue to get funding is because they are seen as a recruitment tool for the USAF. As such, 90% of their performances are within the USA, where all the flag waving and loud noises is very well received. Now should they have dialed that back while performing in another country? Maybe, but here's the other thing. They were invited to RIAT to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the USAF, on a USAF leased base. So don't criticize them for having a good time at their own party!

An interesting fact, you can tell the really good demo teams when they change wording such as "YOUR USAF" to "THE USAF" and such when performing here in Canada.

The B-2...I get it. If I had attended only the Saturday and missed it, I would be discouraged as well. But this was not some elaborate setup to ruin everyone's weekend. Aircraft are at airshows when it fits into the operational schedules of the air arms. Same goes for the B-1 and B-52. I get that RIAT has a fly-out day (which is really cool, and you are really lucky), but sometimes the show schedule isn't going to mesh perfectly to get everything in/out within the parameters of the "extra" airshow days. I'm surprised there's been such an uproar about this.

Airshow. A Year in the Life of the World's Largest Military Air Show by Graham Hurley

Appropriately I read this novel over the course of my vacation and thoroughly enjoyed it and it definitely added to the RIAT experience. Does anyone know if any of the staff members mentioned in the book are still working at RIAT? I had a quick look through the RIAT program and noticed Tim Prince is a board member or something. Anyone else? Is Paul Bowen still alive?

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Re: RIAT 2017 (Discussion & Participation Thread)

Post by boff180 »

Re: Canadians.

Didn't see the CC-177 crew all weekend but the Chinook crew were there both days. Very friendly with some very reasonably priced merhandise... giving away free Canada pin badges and RCAF lanyards too!

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Re: RIAT 2017 (Discussion & Participation Thread)

Post by Tommy »

st24 wrote:
iaint wrote:
capercaillie wrote:
iaint wrote:
st24 wrote: You seem to have lost 3 nations?!! 27 countries attended.... :roll:


Surely just the 2 - unless you are including the civilian (bah!) Global 5000 from UAE?

Listing (from memory) I've got:
Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech, Denmark, Eire, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Pakistan, Poland, Qatar, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the Ukraine, UK, USA.

But I'm sure this indiscretion will be reviewed and author held to account! :tongue:


Well if you ignore Japan and their drummers I guess you're correct :whistle:


Of course! :facepalm:

I did say it was from memory, I just didn't say how good my memory was! :wink: :lol:


:tongue: Missing 3 nations from the review total is a school boy error..



Well...














































Balls.

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Re: RIAT 2017 (Discussion & Participation Thread)

Post by G-CVIX »

jasonT1981 wrote:Was the Royal Navy Sea King there? I only recall seeing the German one on static. If so, where was it parked?

Edit: Found out it cancelled before the show.


Been meaning to mention this, as far as I know they had two serviceable air frames at the time though I expect serviceability was given as the reason. That or "operational requirements"?

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Re: RIAT 2017 (Discussion & Participation Thread)

Post by planenuttoo »

JA Boomer wrote:Finally back home! My wife and I completed our honeymoon trip of Europe and the first stop was RIAT 2017. RIAT was not something I ever really imagined I would attend, and getting the chance to cross it off my bucket list was amazing. We got the Mach 3 FRIAT package and stayed at the Colesbourne Inn near Cheltenham. The experience met all of my expectations!


Airshow. A Year in the Life of the World's Largest Military Air Show by Graham Hurley

Appropriately I read this novel over the course of my vacation and thoroughly enjoyed it and it definitely added to the RIAT experience. Does anyone know if any of the staff members mentioned in the book are still working at RIAT? I had a quick look through the RIAT program and noticed Tim Prince is a board member or something. Anyone else? Is Paul Bowen still alive?


Interesting write up and thanks for all the comments, good and bad. Let's try this, I hope your son enjoyed his "loopy" outing?

Paul Bowen along with Tim Prince instigated the International Air Tattoo, which has grown and grown, becoming The Royal International Air Tattoo, and Paul passed away in 2004, but this legacy lives on.

Enjoy your hobby, and I really must get back to Wonderland.

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Re: RIAT 2017 (Discussion & Participation Thread)

Post by JA Boomer »

planenuttoo wrote:Interesting write up and thanks for all the comments, good and bad. Let's try this, I hope your son enjoyed his "loopy" outing?

Paul Bowen along with Tim Prince instigated the International Air Tattoo, which has grown and grown, becoming The Royal International Air Tattoo, and Paul passed away in 2004, but this legacy lives on.

Enjoy your hobby, and I really must get back to Wonderland.


You lost me...

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Re: RIAT 2017 (Discussion & Participation Thread)

Post by aviodromefriend »

UK Airshow Review wrote:"Vertical Limit" - Tom Jones reports from a cloudy RAF Fairford for UK Airshow Review.

Image Image Image Image Image
£12 for a programme that is chock-full of advertisements is too much.
You still could have got one for 10 Pounds, if you bought one in advance. I would argue most of the people on UKAR have been to RIAT so many times that they know in advance if they will buy one in the end.

RIAT should put some serious consideration into the feasibility of a return of the "either day" ticket option,
They said it over and over again, it won’t happen due to crowd-management issues. They need to know how many people are in the showground.

I'd never noticed before how well-spoken and professional their commentator was, talking without any uncomfortable pause and completely off-the-cuff.
Maybe because they hadn’t brought an own commentator for a number of years?

Away from the static, it was RIAT's flying display that stood out this year and will be remembered.

And
The flying display wasn't all roses, either.
Puzzled, was it outstanding or were there issues from the authors point of view?

This year, as space was a commodity, the area was used for additional static displays, relegating the display jets back to the north side of the airfield. The jury is out on the whether this is a positive or negative, but if that's the price to be paid for an increased static display, then it's a price I'm happy paying.
A return of the photobusses?

George Bacon on the other hand, an experienced and oft-heard commentator at other UK airshows, has been slowly relegated from a semi-leading role in 2013 to little more than semi-regular announcements about goings on around the showground. He is fast-becoming redundant at RIAT, and this comes with respect to him, but the absence of his voice next year would seldom be noticed.
Highly doubtful. The first year of him being absent will be noticed (and probably be celebrated by a lot of people on UKAR).
A weather forecast is a forecast and just that

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Re: RIAT 2017 (Discussion & Participation Thread)

Post by LN Strike Eagle »

aviodromefriend wrote:
Away from the static, it was RIAT's flying display that stood out this year and will be remembered.

And
The flying display wasn't all roses, either.
Puzzled, was it outstanding or were there issues from the authors point of view?

That's an introduction to a paragraph about the weather affected Saturday show, as you must know from having read it in order to selectively quote parts.
"You really are an oafish philistine at times!"

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Re: RIAT 2017 (Discussion & Participation Thread)

Post by planenuttoo »

JA Boomer wrote:
planenuttoo wrote:Interesting write up and thanks for all the comments, good and bad. Let's try this, I hope your son enjoyed his "loopy" outing?

Paul Bowen along with Tim Prince instigated the International Air Tattoo, which has grown and grown, becoming The Royal International Air Tattoo, and Paul passed away in 2004, but this legacy lives on.

Enjoy your hobby, and I really must get back to Wonderland.


You lost me...


In that case it was another conversation, sorry.

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Re: RIAT 2017 (Discussion & Participation Thread)

Post by AARDVARK »

JA Boomer wrote:Finally back home! My wife and I completed our honeymoon trip of Europe and the first stop was RIAT 2017. RIAT was not something I ever really imagined I would attend, and getting the chance to cross it off my bucket list was amazing. We got the Mach 3 FRIAT package and stayed at the Colesbourne Inn near Cheltenham. The experience met all of my expectations!

The Good:

-Everything about the FRIAT experience! They made it very easy to attend with little experience of the airfield and the local area. Answered all the questions I had, and were delightful to deal with in-person at the show. My wife especially appreciated the clean portable washrooms throughout the weekend.

-The aircraft. Two of my biggest interests are the military and aviation. Naturally I am a big fan of military aviation. RIAT did not disappoint, both in the air and the static ramp. There were a number of firsts for me, mostly European equipment (I liked the mini-gun on the Finnish NH90) but also the U-2S. The A400M, C-27J, and Apache flying displays stood out for my wife and I.

-The two seats on either side of my wife and I in the FRIAT grandstand were never occupied at any point from Thursday to Monday which was great. Everyone was pleasant and the man to my right was easy to talk to. Funny enough the two Aussies on my wife's left were staying in the room next door to us at the Colesbourne Inn - what are the odds?

-The traffic/parking/admission lines were as expected for an event of that size. Not good, but not unacceptable.

-The static ramp ropes, makes for great pictures without people.

The Bad:

Please don't take this the wrong way, we both thoroughly enjoyed the RIAT experience.

-The weather. Obviously not as good as it could be. The fact that every act got to perform over the course of the week and I got my pictures made it a non-issue. I was pretty well airshow'd out after 5 days.

-Wings FM. First off, it seemed to have an extremely short range. I could only turn-in basically at the airfield. Second, the music and programming was awful. Need more airshow related content and "airshow" music.

-Airshow music. Clearly this is not as big of a thing in the UK. I noticed some of the European aircrews had their routines done to music. This is normal in North America, and I think it adds to the display. I was surprised that the Red Arrows etc. lacked a performance soundtrack.

-The speakers above the FRIAT grandstand are bad. They need to upgrade to stereo speakers so I doesn't sound like AM radio.

-The commentary at the air show is dry and repetitive. Literally the same comments on each day. Thought this could be improved.

-I was surprised at the rigidness of most of the air displays. I seems every demo team had 8 minutes to go up and put their aircraft through it's paces. It reminded me of the Boeing Super Hornet demo here in Canada vs the military display teams who seem to have more relax and fun performances. Maybe this is the reality of so many aircraft in the flying display, but it felt rushed at times.

-I tried several times to go and visit with the Canadian aircrews at the Chinook and Globemaster but they were not present. Granted this was first and last thing each day as I watched all the flying displays at the FRIAT grandstand, but it was disappointing. Did anyone notice if there were present during the day, and did anyone have a chance to chat with them?

The Ugly:

The complaining that has gone on since the show ended, it's very hard for me to understand. In Canada, we have only a few major airshows a year, I travel 1,000 kilometers every year to the Abbotsford airshow (typically the largest in Canada) and it does not hold a candle to RIAT. Even the big US airshows like Oceana, Nellis, Edwards, etc. do not compare. And in 2012/13 when sequestration was in full swing? The RCAF stepped up but the airshows were anemic in Canada, and still better than what the US was getting! I urge you individuals who get to attend RIAT on a regular basis, take a moment and realize how lucky you really are.

Regarding the USAF Thunderbirds...I know that their performance can be a little pompous at times but here's the thing, their primary mission and really the only reason they continue to get funding is because they are seen as a recruitment tool for the USAF. As such, 90% of their performances are within the USA, where all the flag waving and loud noises is very well received. Now should they have dialed that back while performing in another country? Maybe, but here's the other thing. They were invited to RIAT to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the USAF, on a USAF leased base. So don't criticize them for having a good time at their own party!

An interesting fact, you can tell the really good demo teams when they change wording such as "YOUR USAF" to "THE USAF" and such when performing here in Canada.

The B-2...I get it. If I had attended only the Saturday and missed it, I would be discouraged as well. But this was not some elaborate setup to ruin everyone's weekend. Aircraft are at airshows when it fits into the operational schedules of the air arms. Same goes for the B-1 and B-52. I get that RIAT has a fly-out day (which is really cool, and you are really lucky), but sometimes the show schedule isn't going to mesh perfectly to get everything in/out within the parameters of the "extra" airshow days. I'm surprised there's been such an uproar about this.

Airshow. A Year in the Life of the World's Largest Military Air Show by Graham Hurley

Appropriately I read this novel over the course of my vacation and thoroughly enjoyed it and it definitely added to the RIAT experience. Does anyone know if any of the staff members mentioned in the book are still working at RIAT? I had a quick look through the RIAT program and noticed Tim Prince is a board member or something. Anyone else? Is Paul Bowen still alive?



Nice overall sum up of RIAT,and you are spot on about being lucky that UK has one of the biggest and most attended shows in the world ,I lived in Australia for 10yrs and we had 1 major show every 2yrs which was half the size of RIAT!
Tim Prince and Paul Bowen founded what was then IAT back in 1971(Royal part was awarded in 1996 if memory serves me).Sadly Paul passed away in 2004 and Tim stepped down as Director in 2014!
Glad you enjoyed the show (despite the good old British Summer!)FRIAT is the only way to go if you plan on being there for the whole week and the departures day access(in particular this year in glorious sunshine)was worth the price tag alone.

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Re: RIAT 2017 (Discussion & Participation Thread)

Post by Kieron »

So my question is why do they do that? Why don't they perform this item before the FRIAT enclosure? I don't want to be greedy and have it all to myself in the FRIAT but why not more to the right, towards the center, to give everybody a chance? I can imagine it must have something to do with safety, but I think I pay a hefty price for a prime spot in terms of photography. Why is this display so out of reach for FRIAT then?

Hi Henk

Apologies for not responding sooner. Pyro for such a busy display as the Apache is set up according to the space available and the wind direction (the first special effect could potentially interfere with the next depending on the wind direction). The Apache begins its display on the 'B' axis (towards crowd centre), and two effects (Hellfire and rockets) are on this axis. These must be set up a safe distance away from the final wall of fire, and with the wind favouring Rwy 27, it meant that the rocket attack was set up closer to the FRIAT stand between the display centre marker and the link taxiway (which we cannot cross). The wall of fire was to crowd left of display centre so that the display marker was not in front of it. Angles and distances can sometimes be deceptive, and it did look like from our angle that those seated on the left hand side of FRIAT would get the shot. I had no idea which enclosure we were set up directly in front of, but we do try to position the finale for as many of you as possible. Hope that explains all, and should you want to try again for the shot, the AHDT are at Dunsfold on the 26th and 27th August.

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Re: RIAT 2017 (Discussion & Participation Thread)

Post by Screechy »

Reckon the pyro bit was directly in front of the disabled area. I was pretty far left in FRIAT and the pyros certainly weren't behind the Apache from where I was.

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Re: RIAT 2017 (Discussion & Participation Thread)

Post by Andyperkins »

Screechy wrote:Reckon the pyro bit was directly in front of the disabled area. I was pretty far left in FRIAT and the pyros certainly weren't behind the Apache from where I was.


I was sat to the left of the disabled area and I seemed to be almost center of the pyros, a pic I happened to snap on my iPhone...

Image

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Re: RIAT 2017 (Discussion & Participation Thread)

Post by sopwithflyer »

Big Eric wrote:
sopwithflyer wrote:
Grunt087 wrote:Sopwithflyer Stop assuming "I am the type that barges to the front " I don't . I do get there early . I walk down the flight line and if there is an open spot I go there. If there is not an open spot I stand behind others that got there first. I don't feel more important than anybody because I have a big lens. I do get annoyed with people that shove there way in front of me. I assume that people that came after I did that are sleeping, reading books or children under age 5 playing with toys aren't that interested in the flying. I don't have a problem with people doing those things. I do have a problem when they complain about Fat Middle age photographers with huge lenses who made the effort to get there first don't give up there spot in line for them.


1, You said you assume that certain people arn't interested in the flying. I had some muppet push in front of me in an enclosure and say "well you arnt taking photo's" Fortunately I am big enough to remove folk like that. It narks me that those who take photos think those who don't aren't interested. What do they know about me.

2, Whether you like it of not those families are the future of airshows and the future of aviation. It is not for you to decide how much they are enjoying being there. In England we have no end of issue with numpties complaining about aircraft noise etc etc. I am a co-owner of am aircraft and two of the airfields I regularly fly into have irregular approaches to avoid offending idiots that have bought houses next to airfields and then spend their life complaining. All those families will hopefully enjoy the show and avoid turning into the anti-aviation brigade. Arrogance towards them creates them.

3, If you got to the front first then well done - good for you. Something to be proud of maybe. Many of those at the front don't get up early. They push their way to the front because they have a camera. They seem to think having a camera is their right to do so. If you woke up early and got there first - as I said well done. If you are one of those that just force their way in then shame on you. Only you know which one you are. But aviation needs nurturing and those kids are the future; even if they turn out to be accepting of it.


"arn't", "arnt", "aren't" - come on, make your mind up ! The correct answer is "aren't" - it's short for "are not". :wall:[/qu

Well being a 6'7 inch 22 stone former semi pro Lock for three current championship sides; now rugby coach. Writing a response on a silly little I phone is kind of tricky. I don't bother with nit picking but always happy to oblige reference the smiley. :wink:

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