Thoughts on the show.

All the chat about the bi-annual spectacular
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effects
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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by effects »

The thing is RIAT is a 3 day show, Farnborough is 2 shows rolled into 1 4/3 days some aircraft are at FIA for nearly 2 weeks which makes it more of a deployment than a weekend jolly. maybe the way around this is to have FIA Mon-Thurs (trade) and then the public days at RIAT Fri-Sun, could work.
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Rampvan
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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by Rampvan »

Adie1980 wrote:
effects wrote:"Security - Bit of a joke really, don't appreciate being treated like a terrorist (going through main entry), being shouted at (queuing to walk out of the show) or lines of golf buggies blocking the crowdline which meant I (and I imagine others) lost several good photo opportunities"

just to answer a few of your gripes,
Security- how can it be a joke when they are thorough?
Golf buggies- this has already been explained the guys were out there, stood for hours with no shade you had a choice to sit or sit under cover.
weekend display- this was roughly known a while ago if you read other forums
http://farnborough.proboards.com/ is a good source, register well before show though.
Trade days- go on a trade day it has been spelt out time and time again! The trade day flying is shorter most of your 'see for free' items are not present and you can recoup a lot of your entrance money with memory sticks, pens, mugs, mags, models (pick up one from Qatar and you have got your entrance fee back!).


Thorough yes, but compared to the security at Fairford (an active military base) over the top and politeness doesn't cost anything.



I would have thought Farnborough would be more of a coup than RIAT if the Bad Guys wanted to do something to publicise their current cause ! everybody has heard of Farnborough Airshow, very few will people outside the aviation community wouldn't even know what the "Royal International Air Tattoo" is !

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MikeyB
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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by MikeyB »

I was very fortunate to be able to attend the show on both a trade and public day this year. I attended on the Tuesday and Saturday and have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed both of them.

There's no doubt that the atmosphere is very different with each type of show, however they were very enjoyable nonetheless. It was great to see some of the more exotic types at the trade show and then some real crowd-pleasers (i.e. Vulcan, Canberra and Harrier) at the weekend.

From me, it's a big thumbs up to the organisers of this years' show, topped off with some splendid weather (was shocked at how lovely it was on Saturday! :shock: ). Here's to FIA 2016!! :clap: :biggrin:
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Ninyule
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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by Ninyule »

Looks like you were all a lot more determined than me...

I never even got in! I had paid out £79 for a Gold Package for the Saturday. I got to the airfield around 1200, thinking (fooliishly as it turned out) that I had bought VIP parking and would get priority. The organisers had even sent me an F car park pass to put on my windscreen.

Got to a roundabout that showed F pass holders straight on. The AA man looked at my pass and sent me left instead. I foolishly followed his directions thinking that pass holders were getting priority. Instead ended up getting sent from one gate and carpark to another, no-one saying what was really going on. Eventually ended up approaching the F gate from a different direction, to be told that the gate was closed!! I asked why, and he said that it had been 'overbooked'.

By this time I had spent two hours going round in circles (literally) and had got quite disheartened. So I gave up and drove away. The traffic organisation was a farce and made me ashamed to be a Brit. How on earth you can sell 'VIP' tickets and then shaft your customers is beyond me. I will never go to another airshow again.

I have emailed asking for a refund...

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phreakf4
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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by phreakf4 »

Ninyule wrote:Looks like you were all a lot more determined than me...

I never even got in! I had paid out £79 for a Gold Package for the Saturday. I got to the airfield around 1200, thinking (fooliishly as it turned out) that I had bought VIP parking and would get priority. The organisers had even sent me an F car park pass to put on my windscreen.

Got to a roundabout that showed F pass holders straight on. The AA man looked at my pass and sent me left instead. I foolishly followed his directions thinking that pass holders were getting priority. Instead ended up getting sent from one gate and carpark to another, no-one saying what was really going on. Eventually ended up approaching the F gate from a different direction, to be told that the gate was closed!! I asked why, and he said that it had been 'overbooked'.

By this time I had spent two hours going round in circles (literally) and had got quite disheartened. So I gave up and drove away. The traffic organisation was a farce and made me ashamed to be a Brit. How on earth you can sell 'VIP' tickets and then shaft your customers is beyond me. I will never go to another airshow again.

I have emailed asking for a refund...


Seriously? You are complaining that you arrived at the event only 30 or so minutes before the flying display started and were too late to get in? That's like arriving at a football match 5 minutes before kick-off and finding that the only places available are right at the back of the stands.... It was clearly stated on all pre-show publicity and the website that the gates opened at 0900 and the flying started at 1230-ish on the public days. I'm afraid you have no-one to blame but yourself. My son and I were in the queue waiting for the gates to open before 0800.

"I will never go to another air show again."


Your loss....
nothing is confirmed at a show until its u/c hits the tarmac or it is running in for its display.....

Ninyule
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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by Ninyule »

You seem to have deliberately misunderstood what I said!!

I PAID IN ADVANCE for VIP tickets at a PREMIUM of £30!!

That's like getting to a concert five minutes beforehand with tickets and being told, sorry, we've given your seats to someone else!!

And since when is there a time by which you MUST get to an airshow???!!!!!

Next time, read postings more carefully...

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Brevet Cable
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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by Brevet Cable »

Ninyule wrote:I had paid out £79 for a Gold Package for the Saturday. I got to the airfield around 1200, thinking (fooliishly as it turned out) that I had bought VIP parking and would get priority. The organisers had even sent me an F car park pass to put on my windscreen.( snip )
Eventually ended up approaching the F gate from a different direction, to be told that the gate was closed!! I asked why, and he said that it had been 'overbooked'.

My reading of this differs from that of 'phreakf1' & 'MkVDan'......
Farnborough's website says clearly :
Get the best view of the air display from our grandstand seating right on the flight line located within a private paddock with Jamie Oliver's Fabulous Feasts as your exclusive catering outlet. Package price includes an Official Show Programme and VIP parking

From that , you could logically assume that there's a specific carpark set aside for people who book this package ( and the map on their website clearly shows the VIP carpark next to 'F' Gate and states "If you have purchased one of our packages with parking, please follow AA road signs to Gate F" )
To me , if the attendants on the gate stated that it was "overbooked" then somewhere along the line it appears that someone's messed up.
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Brevet Cable
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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by Brevet Cable »

MkVDave wrote:And paying £79 for what was on offer suggests you either don't attend many airshows, or aren't very discerning when it comes to quality for your money.
No different to people who pay for the various packages at shows such as RIAT , I'd have thought.......I mean , why pay £140+ for a 'Mach 1' package ( at earlybird prices ) when you can get an ordinary weekend ticket for less than half that.
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Ninyule
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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by Ninyule »

To phreakf4, MkVDave and Brevet Cable:

Gosh, what a charmless trio you are. You seem to have resentment or even contempt for 'fools' (your word, MkVDave) who decide to pay in advance to get decent parking and a grandstand seat. What doesn't seem to occur to any of you, is that without the higher-rate packages and corporate hospitality, you wouldn't have an airshow at all.

The money upfront from idiots like me helps to pay in advance for the infrastructure needed to have a show in the first place.

You are the type of people who resent paying anything at all, whether it be for an airshow, or Sky TV, etc.

I did not publish my posting to get calls of derision and contempt from supposedly fellow enthusiasts. I merely tried to share my experience so that others could perhaps learn from them.

As far as me not going is 'my loss', it's also a loss to airshow organisers, who may find that others shared my experience and have also decided not to attend in the future.

You three should be ashamed of yourselves - it's attitudes like yours that make living in modern society a little bit more difficult day by day.

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effects
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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by effects »

To be fair, it is a shame you missed the show and I can understand your anger, however a bit of research would have revealed you need to get to FIA early, 30 mins before flying starts is way too late and this should have been pointed out in the stuff you received. Also a knowledge of where you are parking is handy as there is usually an easier way to get to your car park. The guys who responded earlier are right like it or not.
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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by Brevet Cable »

Ninyule wrote:To phreakf4, MkVDave and Brevet Cable:
( snip )
You three should be ashamed of yourselves - it's attitudes like yours that make living in modern society a little bit more difficult day by day.
I think you should go back and read my post PROPERLY , because you'll find that I'm supporting your argument & disagreeing with the others !! :wall: :wall:
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Ninyule
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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by Ninyule »

Oh, I am sorry, you are quite right!

I got confused by your second posting which I read too quickly, my fault...

So my comments are directed solely at phreakf4 and MkVDave.

Incidentally I have spoken to the ticket agency involved, and they have expressed their concern and asked me to report in writing, which I shall do.

spaceward
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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by spaceward »

Thoughts on the Show.............

Well I had a great day at the Show on both the Wednesday trade day and Sunday public day. Great weather , got to get on board a variety of aircraft , met a lot of interesting people on both days. And what a nice change to have a piping hot Cappo with some actual coffee in it rather than a cup full of foam !

Now here's for the inevitable "but" . Please don't take these comments as criticism more of the quirky odd things that happen at Airshows.

Trade day :- arrived nice and early , got in the cue , came to have my Trade Visitor pass scanned only to be told " trade visitors aren't allowed into the show until 9:30 " Is there any reason you need to get into the show at 9:15 ? " Of the top of my head " yes I have a meeting with a Catering Company " to which she replied "OK Sir hope you have a nice day " ???
Was the 15 mins really going to make a difference especially as my reply was total bull ?

Public day :- Arrived nice and early at 8:30 , joined the orderly cue , shuffled along for 30 mins , had my tickets scanned, got through to "Security" only to walk straight on through the personal scanner with no one taking any interest and neither of us or anyone else that I could see having their bags scanned or checked ?
Also a bit perplexed as to why everyone who had bought a ticket in advance had to stand in a cue when people turning up on the day just walked into the ticket tent , purchased their tickets and walked out the other side and onto "Security" so by-passing any cues in the process ! Seemed a bit odd to me, surely turn up ,buy the tickets then join the orderly cue .

As I said not criticisms just oddities of a British quirk.

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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by MetMan »

Trade day :- arrived nice and early , got in the cue , came to have my Trade Visitor pass scanned only to be told " trade visitors aren't allowed into the show until 9:30 " Is there any reason you need to get into the show at 9:15 ? " Of the top of my head " yes I have a meeting with a Catering Company " to which she replied "OK Sir hope you have a nice day " ???
Was the 15 mins really going to make a difference especially as my reply was total bull ?


My ticket was scanned before 08:00 at Gate I on Wed (twice - once as I entered the carpark and once as I was security checked. I got in with a bus load of others at the same time with no comment by those doing the scanning, the free magazine people were already ready to pounce and my first photo was taken at 08:09 - so no idea why you got that comment. Perhaps I was so early it was 'obvious' I needed to be in early :grin:

LittleRedTrain
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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by LittleRedTrain »

My thoughts:

Went on the Sunday with my aunt and uncle. As I live just round the corner from North Camp station they parked at my house and we used the free Shuttle Bus.

Long queue at the station when we got there but well managed by staff. Apparently buses were caught up in the airshow traffic. Eventually 3 double-deckers arrived. We got on the third, and while the first two were sent off, ours was kept waiting for the next train so it wouldn't be sent out half-empty, sensible enough I suppose.

Suprised to see that, unlike last time I went to Farnborough, the buses were having to fight their way through the airshow traffic along Lynchford Rd instead of having their own dedicated route via Mytchett. Eventually got to the entrance at about 11:30.

Entry was speedy, short queue to get through security and we were in within about 10mins. Did seem a bit random who they were checking and who they weren't. I handed over my bag expecting to be asked, and they did a cursory search, but others just walked straight through.

Show was busy but easy enough to move around. Had a chance for a quick look round the static before grabbing some food and finding somewhere to watch the display. By that time the crowdline was pretty full so we opted for a spot on the grass slightly further back in front of the Bloodhound SSC tent.
(If it was just me, I'd probably have tried to find myself a spot nearer the front, but for the 3 of us it was too much effort). Was amused at the number of people who'd set up camp on the taxiway in front of the A380, ignoring advice that the area would be shut off when the aircraft needed to taxi out.

Generally impressed by the displays, a couple of filler acts (Starduster) but otherwise generally good calibre. Was nice that everything listed in the programme actually flew (albeit with one time swap).
Particularly enjoyed the Vulcan, Canberra, A380, Reds, Harrier. Disappointed that the BBMF only sent the Lanc for a single flypast, rather than having the usual full Spit/Lanc/Hurricane display.

Getting out was a bit of a shambles, we, like many others, started wandering out as the Spitfire was displaying (I feel for the poor pilot whose display nobody was watching) and were funnelled into a tighter and tighter bottleneck at Gate B.
It wasn't helped by the bus park being across the road from the show, which meant that the marshalls had to stop the crowd every time a bus needed to get past.
Took us about 15mins from the back of the queue to actually getting through the gate, then it was plain sailing straight onto a bus to North Camp.

I think there would've been merit in separating up the queues for the different buses before they actually reached the gate (or even using different gates for each destination), as it seemed a lot of people were joining the back of a much longer queue for Farnborough Main Station or the car parks, preventing those going to Aldershot or North Camp from getting through the bottleneck.

Again, there was no dedicated route for buses so we were caught in the airshow traffic going back

Overall, a good show but I'm not sure it really offered anything more than previous shows at half the price, especially with one of the star attractions (F-35) not being there.
As it is just round the corner, I probably will go again in 2016, assuming the ticket prices don't shoot up more, but I'd hope for a few more 'star attraction' aircraft in the lineup.

eal401
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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by eal401 »

Hi all. I have been compelled to sign up to the forums purely to respond to the rather uneccesary comments made by phreakf4 and MkVDave towards Ninyule and to offer some facts in the defence of the latter.

For what it is worth, I was present at the show as an exhibitor for the whole seven days (and some time beforehand!)

Ninyule had bought VIP parking - it is not unreasonable to expect that such parking is sold on the basis of capacity and as such, quite frankly, if Ninyule wants to pitch up at 12pm - they have paid to have every right to do so. If the complaint had been about free public parking, the offhand dismissals of complaint might have been justified (regardless of how dismissive and rude they were).

Reality - the VIP parking via Gate F was accessed down Government House Road and Aerospace Boulevard. I believe traffic had reached a standstill here long before Ninyule tried to get access, it was around 10:30 we were finding out that people were getting stuck on the road and it taking 1 hour plus to get from Queens Roundabout to the bottom of the road before being blocked/turned round by security. Is 10:30 still too late to be turning up one wonders?

It would appear (albeit only from anecdotal evidence talking to security) that Farnborough International had significantly oversold the premium parking by anything up to three times capacity. What I do know is by the time Ninyule was trying to access the parking they had paid extra for, the police were already at the bottom of Government House Road threatening disgruntled paying customers with arrest if they didn't turn their cars round and move away.

So, is Ninyule still in the wrong? I don't think so.

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effects
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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by effects »

" Is 10:30 still too late to be turning up one wonders?"

YES!
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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by UK Airshow Review »

"All Work & No Play" - Andy Evans attended the trade days for UK Airshow Review.

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Vixen924
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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by Vixen924 »

Nice review Andy! :smile:

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CameronSys
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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by CameronSys »

A great show, although I must say that people who turn up half an hour before the show should think otherwise! It is actually very selfish!

Because of people who turn up right before the start of the show, even when the display has started, people are still walking around on the grandstand asking me if I can let them past! Get here earlier!!!

Gareth V
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Re: Thoughts on the show.

Post by Gareth V »

One of my frustrations with Airshows particularly in times of economic hardship is that airshows often become a carbon copy of one another with the same aircraft that are on the display circuit. So one thing I will credit Farnborough for is for being a little bit different. The Meteor and Vampire together was a great way to start the flying. The Avro Anson and Super Connie flying was nice with regard to historic aircraft, both of which are seldom seen here in the UK. Another great addition for me was the inclusion of the Spanish Sea Harriers. It was alo my first time of seeing the Vulcan perform in 2014 which is a great sight and sound, and of course the A380 - although a Farnborough regular over the last few years is a nice sight all the same and again something which is not on the main display circuit.

Now all this said it did seem a little underwhelming - there wasn't enough noise in my opinion. Granted the situation in Russia and the Ukraine effectively ensured that there would be no military jets such as the Sukhoi and MiGs in use out that way, and with the US heavily restricting airshows for economic reasons meant that they had no contributions. Would however have been nice to see the Saab Grippen, or even the aircraft such as the Viggen and Draken from Swedish Historical Flight, which at one point were rumoured to be there. Oh and of course the F-35 saga resulted in another jet display failing to materialise. If I recall correctly, a ME-262 was billed to perform, but I hear its cancellation was due to the sale of the air frame. Either way the fighter jets past and present were disproportionately represented in my opinion.

Furthermore the single flypast of the Lancaster was slightly disappointing seeing as it as been at every Farnborough for as long as I remember - though I am guessing thy were saving flying hours for the displays with the Canadian Lancaster later in the season. Other notable omissions: The Blades - I really like these guys, and the show could have done with another aerobatic team in the display in my opinion. Also no Tucano, Tutor or Chinook display from the RAF, which had very little involvement in this years show. Shame about the Chinook as it is based locally (also this years team in my opinion were phenomenal!)

Overall I think FIA is best described as hit and miss - yes it was bland at times, however having some planes tot regularly seen on the UK airshow circuit was nice.
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