Noticed a distinct amount of people popping up in random seats this year too, often halfway across the grandstand from their allocated..
Noticed a lot of that plus tickets being used by multiple people...
Being newbies to FRIAT this year I didn't notice this - particularly as we were surrounded by empty seats - even more so on Saturday and Sunday, so I guess they were all concentrated towards the centre of the stand with presumably a better line of shot for the Apache and the wall of fire.
I did keep Mrs MM up to date with runway movements etc as she had her face buried in the back of her camera admiring her handiwork - I thought we spoke at conversational or whisper levels so I'm sorry if I disturbed anyone else. however I'll refer back to the comment above - we had hardly anyone sitting around us most of the weekend.
Famed for appearing to put my foot in it, read my post with the voice of Stewie Griffin if it offended you first time
All in all it was another good experience, 4th year of being FRIAT again after several years of absence due to my sons age, thought 5 days was a bit much until he got a bit older, however he loves it now and the FRIAT package really helps us enjoy the show, not just because of the stand and all the benefits of watching the show but we find having the enclosure as a retreat is great for when the wife and boy want to wonder off for a bit and leave me to it, knowing where to find me when they’re back. The lack of queuing for toilets and food is a great help too so our reasons for doing FRIAT every year are maybe different to others. I do echo the points made about people moving around during displays though, we had a guy in our row who constantly ran up and down for food and drinks and what ever else almost deliberately when something was on the runway having sat there for 5 - 10 minutes doing nothing beforehand. By Sunday afternoon my wife finally lost it with him and when he came up trying to get in just as something was rolling she told him to park his arse on the steps until it had finished haha. It bothers me more because I know that my son is still of an age where he sits and watches for an hour or so but then wants to go stretch his legs for a bit, because of that we always ask for an aisle seat so him and the wife can leave quickly and easily without disrupting anyone and return in the same manner. I would like to think that he’s well behaved in the stand and is always very careful about when to leave and come back, makes it so frustrating that he knows the etiquette and follows it whilst grown men don’t. Not sure what else FRIAT staff can do about the small number of people who do it but I agree it seemed to worse this year where we were sat. Like I say though, on the whole it was another good experience, enjoyed the whole week and renewal form already in - albeit just me and the boy next year as the wife has something else on, be interesting to see how much time I have in the stand when it’s just the two of us!
Mavvymoo you had to be at the very Western end of the enclosure to capture the Apache wall of fire.
I doubt from the Western end of the grandstand you would have caught the wall of fire.
My thoughts on the show:
Well I've been going to Fairford since I was about 4, I'm 31 now. I've missed probably 3 Fairford's in this time.
I didn't go last year and I don't do Facebook, I've also managed to stay off the RIAT type threads online. So I turned up this year not expecting anything and hoping for that buzz I used to have spotting tails as the car approaches the fence and heads into the car park.
I had FRIAT Mach2 tickets and was seated around the 170 area.
However in the weeks before and driving to the base on Saturday morning I had no buzz, no excitement or anything like that over attending the airshow.
However I feel this maybe not DBH's fault. I just feel I'm jaded about air shows, saturated maybe.
Su-27's - seen them before Mig-21's - seen them before etc etc.
Nothing that I haven't seen before, so what is there to really get me excited?
Well the Quatar C-17 was nice and worth walking through, but I would have been more excited to see it on a day out spotting as an unexpected treat.
It really came to a point when back at our lodgings on Saturday evening I'm flicking through the programme and say to my dad 'seems the USAF MC-130 didn't turn up.'
His reply, 'we stood in front of it for five minutes chatting to the crew.'
It was then the penny dropped I was looking but not seeing, I've become blasé about the whole experience. I don't collect numbers and my photography mojo has been lacking for the past year, although that maybe due to having a child in December.
Then the RAF A400 was in exactly the same situation as the USAF MC-130, I didn't realise it was there until departures on Monday.
I always enjoy departures and if I could buy a FRIAT Mach 0.9 ticket to do the Monday only I would. Must remember though my ear plugs, not for the noisy planes, but for the rolling commentary from at least three people behind me. I can see that Phantoms are rolling etc etc. It's sort of expected at Fairford, not like the excitement of being out 'in the wild'. I don't need someone to tell me every single moment in monotone stereo from crowd rear.
I've told my old man that I'm likely to give next year a miss, maybe even the year after. Hopefully a few years out will give me some mojo back, a bit of excitement.
I took the wife to her first airshow at Rhyl (don't judge me) the other year, to watch her excitement as the RAFAT passed and crossed is something I haven't had for a long while. That to me is what's missing.
On the plus side BOAC schemed 747 was delightful, Reds to me were better on the Saturday than Sunday whilst the PdF held no excitement for me at all.
Last edited by Ewart on Fri 26 Jul 2019, 12:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
When the A400 came over with those four other little planes (yes I know blades) I didn't even bother picking my camera up or watching them come over - I was more interested in watching a butterfly on the grass flying about - I think that sums them up.
IATthenRIAT wrote:When the A400M came over with those four other little planes (yes I know blades) I didn't even bother picking my camera up or watching them come over - I was more interested in watching a butterfly on the grass flying about - I think that sums them up.
Bit harsh! But they could have done more than one pass.
vbombers2 wrote:Bit harsh! But they could have done more than one pass.
I’m glad they didn’t in all honesty, it wasn’t anything special and it was bad enough hearing the cringeworthy commentary for one pass. It was just odd how much the commentary was hyping up such a mundane flypast.
There was a RAF c17 that was returning to Brize at 1.20 the control tower could so easily have requested a fly through, that would not have caused too much trouble to the flight and would have been quite cool.
It might have been carrying ammunition, casualties or any number of things where a flyby would have been inappropriate, not to mention asking a crew to participate in airshow after a 6 or 7 hour flight....
pbeardmore wrote:Sorry if you think that was insulting people but just because people are volunteering does not justify poor service . (are the security staff volunteers?) Back to the point re lowering the costs to a mimimum. Sometimes, you have to invest in professionals to get a profesional quality of service.
I think one year they used volunteers to run the security checks (possibly 2002?) and my experience of the process was a text book example of "give someone an iota of power and...…" I still remember being told (not asked) to take my hat off so they could check inside the lining
vbombers2 wrote:Bit harsh! But they could have done more than one pass.
I’m glad they didn’t in all honesty, it wasn’t anything special and it was bad enough hearing the cringeworthy commentary for one pass. It was just odd how much the commentary was hyping up such a mundane flypast.
DerekF wrote:It might have been carrying ammunition, casualties or any number of things where a flyby would have been inappropriate, not to mention asking a crew to participate in airshow after a 6 or 7 hour flight....
It all depended on different factors as you say - but It would have been no harm the control tower asking as it was only a matter of minutes away and with the flying time between FFD and Brize being about 5 mins - if none of the things you mentioned had been a factor then cant see what the harm would have been. Like I say it was just another of those "What Ifs"
Slightly random issue but, why the useless taps on the water bowsers? In this time of environmental awareness it seems wrong to lose around half the water when trying to refill your bottle. It was like trying to fill it from a garden sprinkler.
vbombers2 wrote:Bit harsh! But they could have done more than one pass.
I’m glad they didn’t in all honesty, it wasn’t anything special and it was bad enough hearing the cringeworthy commentary for one pass. It was just odd how much the commentary was hyping up such a mundane flypast.
Yes, it was embarassing
Don't be so kind Sam.
It was the worst bit of commentary I've ever heard. Total nonsense, even if his job was to big it up.
He didn't big it up, he cocked it up.
"There's only one way of life, and that's your own"
DerekF wrote:It might have been carrying ammunition, casualties or any number of things where a flyby would have been inappropriate, not to mention asking a crew to participate in airshow after a 6 or 7 hour flight....
It all depended on different factors as you say - but It would have been no harm the control tower asking as it was only a matter of minutes away and with the flying time between FFD and Brize being about 5 mins - if none of the things you mentioned had been a factor then cant see what the harm would have been. Like I say it was just another of those "What Ifs"
The control tower aren't in the business of asking close by military assets if they wouldn't mind nipping over for a quick flypast, they're trying to safely run an airshow.
"There's only one way of life, and that's your own"
DerekF wrote:It might have been carrying ammunition, casualties or any number of things where a flyby would have been inappropriate, not to mention asking a crew to participate in airshow after a 6 or 7 hour flight....
It all depended on different factors as you say - but It would have been no harm the control tower asking as it was only a matter of minutes away and with the flying time between FFD and Brize being about 5 mins - if none of the things you mentioned had been a factor then cant see what the harm would have been. Like I say it was just another of those "What Ifs"
The control tower aren't in the business of asking close by military assets if they wouldn't mind nipping over for a quick flypast, they're trying to safely run an airshow.
Just an idea mate - would have been far more intersting than the A400/blades flypast.
harkins wrote:Slightly random issue but, why the useless taps on the water bowsers? In this time of environmental awareness it seems wrong to lose around half the water when trying to refill your bottle. It was like trying to fill it from a garden sprinkler.
Absolutely! Everyone I used, appeared to have been equipped with the worse possible tap design you could imagine for the job. Utterly bizarre.
Did anyone else notice the water refilling rules? Only so many bottles could be filled at any one visit! It's a good job it wasn't hot or there could have been bottle rage!