NATO Tiger Meet 2018

[Skyflash]

Quite the worst Tiger Meet I’ve ever experienced, an absolute shambles from (literally) start to finish.

Still, I did have quite a nice chicken and avocado wrap-thingy. Highlight of the day.

[D90Man]

Where do I start...

2 and half hours wait this morning only to be told that I had only got a ticket for the NTM (not true - c-ck-up on their part which they admitted to) - now have to go to information desk tomorrow to get a ticket for the PAS - what's the betting they won't let me onto the spotters platform or on the limited access to the static tours...

The area for the spotters on base was too small for the number of people they sold tickets to and in the wrong place (IMO) - great for piano keys shots if you got there early enough (6.00am in the queue at M1 perhaps?) but no chance of any rotation/take-off shots.

Food trucks right at the other end from the entrance (but, as Skyflash said, good quality)

And, a general beef - can someone tell me why if you have steps you have to be right on the front line? I know steps are primarily to get a better angle on the images but surely, given the lenses most people are using, they could be a couple of paces back, thus freeing up room for those of us who don't use them - we wouldn't block anyone's view.

Rant over - not holding my breath for tomorrow, given the proposed parking and transport arrangements...

Leon

[cg_341]

No issues with lineups from the far end. It was near the food, too! (AMAZING burgers)

Oh, and we joined the queue at 0715, on base at 0930ish.

[tailslides]

Yes, thankfully the Polish AF stepped in on Friday, it could have been avoided if the enclosure had been located somewhere better. Hopefully lessons have been learnt.

[UK Airshow Review]

• "Toothless Tiger" - Andy Evans reviews the NATO Tiger Meet spotters day at Poznan AB.
  
  

[BDL]

Can't disagree with any of that - Having never been to a Tiger Meet previously it can only be better next year!

[cg_341]

I'd disagree with quite a few things there Andy, if you'd permit me to do so.

I spoke with the organisers a few times by email. All correspondence was direct and to the point. I have found this is commonplace with Polish people speaking English by email. Indeed, it's the same with people I speak to at work. I never received anything overly rude though, just a lack of Britishesque (if that's a word) pleasantries.

If you look back on the thread on this very forum, people were receiving tickets up to two weeks before the event, though obviously some were much later. You seem to have conveniently missed this point and suggested noone received a ticket until 48 hours prior?

I'm not sure why you would choose to question the security checks, or lack thereof, as I'm not sure Amy of us are qualified to decide on the risk associated with it? Clearly it was decided that, as we'd all been checked by Polish Interior Security before we were sent tickets, and all the buses were checked before they were sent on their first trips, that the risk was low enough that we didn't need individual checks?

As for ticket checks - where would you expect them to be checked? In the 4 feet between the ticket office and the coach?

You do refer to some photos being possible of aircraft entering the runway, you also say that it was 3-4 deep in the enclosure. Not at the far Eastern end, in fact I had room to stand NEXT to my small 2-step ladder down there, with noone at all behind me, whilst getting lovely shots of aircraft with the sun off my left shoulder. I'm surprised so few people walked down that way.

I would also disagree that the event was felt like an inconvenience to the base. Speaking to a number of locals, Poznan is an area whereby all (as in, ALL) events are organised by the local government (through the company used for the Tiger Meet), and they're well known for doing such events. Whether the base wanted to use them or not, I don't think there was a choice and had it been possible, I think that the base would have done much better job of things!

Other than that... I would agree, the organisation was a bit of a shambles, getting out even worse (thankfully we got on the second bus), but the burger van, the photos I got, and the Friday afternoon entry at the airshow more than made up for it.

[boff180]

I'd disagree with quite a few things there Andy, if you'd permit me to do so.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion , think it is fair to say that there were quite a few different "experiences" of the day.

I spoke with the organisers a few times by email. All correspondence was direct and to the point. I have found this is commonplace with Polish people speaking English by email. Indeed, it's the same with people I speak to at work. I never received anything overly rude though, just a lack of Britishesque (if that's a word) pleasantries.

Out of our party of 5, 2 never received their tickets until the last 48 hours. One of them had their emails completely ignored, the other did receive a very rude response. As the trip organiser I also tried chasing on their behalf and my emails were also ignored.

If you look back on the thread on this very forum, people were receiving tickets up to two weeks before the event, though obviously some were much later. You seem to have conveniently missed this point and suggested noone received a ticket until 48 hours prior?

Not at all I got mine 2 weeks before , the previous paragraph in the article points out tickets started to appear in a chaotic order, and that next paragraph says the final tickets arrived 48 hours before. Granted the images between the two paragraphs have split the point a little.

I'm not sure why you would choose to question the security checks, or lack thereof, as I'm not sure Amy of us are qualified to decide on the risk associated with it? Clearly it was decided that, as we'd all been checked by Polish Interior Security before we were sent tickets, and all the buses were checked before they were sent on their first trips, that the risk was low enough that we didn't need individual checks?

Probably something we are going to disagree on but with the current climate I'm of the opinion security bag checks at an event like this are a must, not an option.

As for ticket checks - where would you expect them to be checked? In the 4 feet between the ticket office and the coach?

At the very least at the point you boarded the bus (each one had someone from the Polish Air Force on board), or at the point of disembarkation - it would have been very very easy to sneak round the ticket office scrum and board a bus without a ticket.

You do refer to some photos being possible of aircraft entering the runway, you also say that it was 3-4 deep in the enclosure. Not at the far Eastern end, in fact I had room to stand NEXT to my small 2-step ladder down there, with noone at all behind me, whilst getting lovely shots of aircraft with the sun off my left shoulder. I'm surprised so few people walked down that way.

We were level with the taxi-way on to the runway and it was a scrum, a lot of my shots were ruined by peoples heads getting in the way on stepladders ( ). I did try to walk down further east but it seemed just as bad so I gave up and returned to my original spot. Maybe I didn't go far enough

I would also disagree that the event was felt like an inconvenience to the base. Speaking to a number of locals, Poznan is an area whereby all (as in, ALL) events are organised by the local government (through the company used for the Tiger Meet), and they're well known for doing such events. Whether the base wanted to use them or not, I don't think there was a choice and had it been possible, I think that the base would have done much better job of things!

I'd agree the base would have probably done a better job (and the Tiger Association even more so). Hopefully lessons have been learnt.

Other than that... I would agree, the organisation was a bit of a shambles, getting out even worse (thankfully we got on the second bus), but the burger van, the photos I got, and the Friday afternoon entry at the airshow more than made up for it.

That airshow certainly made up for the spotters day, need to get my review written for that!