RIAT 2022 Feedback and thoughts

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rdchawk
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RIAT 2022 Feedback and thoughts

Post by rdchawk »

There's normally a thread to discuss good things and bad things.

Thought flying was excellent, did think the RAF typhoon was better than the RSV one, just thought the RSV seemed really distant?

Finnish hawk was a nice display!

Got in fine no issues, but what the hell happened with red on exit! What a shambles no Marshalls to assist and a complete bun fight to head out the doors, took maybe a good hour+ to get out. To put in context, in the time it took the black eagles to take off, go for a few flypasts and then come back to land on the runway I'd moved about 50ft!
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Meep
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Re: RIAT 2022 Feedback and thoughts

Post by Meep »

The entrance procedure seemed smooth on yellow, better than previous

Whilst the length of flying display was excellent, the lack of heavy aircraft was noticeable, the Spartan display was excellent and helped show what was missed in the wider programme.

Ensure aircraft with interesting paint jobs and tailart is in an easy place to photograph. The location of the Jordanian C130 was embarrassing, great tailart but a real struggle to photograph 1 side of it. Basically was in the one parking spot that you couldn't.

cg_341
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Re: RIAT 2022 Feedback and thoughts

Post by cg_341 »

Went yesterday with an 0300 start from Burnley and called in at Birmingham on the way down to stretch my legs, sadly no E-7 Wedgetail outside :(

Got to Burford around 0700 and joined the red route, didn't hit traffic until I reached the perimeter fence and even then it keeps moving. Took a punt and stayed in the right lane which was a great choice as it meant on base parking, and I was parked up by 0722!

Dad was coming from London by train so knew he'd be coming in through yellow, so took my time getting in and ambled up through red where my ticket was scanned and that was it. No wanding, no bag checks, just everyone waved through. No problem for me, less time stood in a crowd. Only complaint here is that red entrance is now so far west it's basically at crowd centre, I thought it always used to come in in the south east corner?!

Having flightlines at both ends is genius, and being able to walk all the way round both of them even more so, I managed to photograph pretty much everything other than the Hercules, five Typhoons and two M-346s parked Northside.

Static fairly well arranged if not angled slightly oddly for light during most of the day, though an early is walk westbound towards green followed by a couple of hours watching the displays - the Austrian demo is something else! - and then back down again sorted everything. Lots of space around the heavies so most fit at 18mm on a crop sensor from the rope rather than a mile away in the crowd.

Static highlights for me the E-4B, Lithuanian AS365 and Romanian AN-30. All really nicely parked for photography and really nice to see here. Only saw one static aircraft with a canopy cover on, the 12 Squadron Typhoon. When the groundie asked me why I didn't photograph it I explained about the cover and his reply was "well it's really difficult to put it on and take it off so we've left it for the weekend". 🙄

In terms of the weather as we were walking around we didn't drag lots of stuff in with us so on went the factor 50, bottles of water were consumed and then fresh cold ones purchased (£2.50 from most sellers) as the bowser queues were all huge. I can highly recommend sports drinks like Lucozade Sport to top up your electrolytes as well, they help!

Back out to red car park as the F-35 ran in for its flypast (1630ish?) and straight out with not one delay, traffic management that early on seemed fine!

Overall possibly one of the best RIATs I've been to in the 10 or so years I've been going.

cg_341
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Re: RIAT 2022 Feedback and thoughts

Post by cg_341 »

Oh some less serious feedback just for a laugh.

Some of the cones around aircraft were yellow, in 40 years how am I meant to know my photos were at RIAT if the cones are not blue? This needs sorting urgently.

Big Eric
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Re: RIAT 2022 Feedback and thoughts

Post by Big Eric »

cg_341 wrote:
Sun 17 Jul 2022, 7:48 am
Oh some less serious feedback just for a laugh.

Some of the cones around aircraft were yellow, in 40 years how am I meant to know my photos were at RIAT if the cones are not blue? This needs sorting urgently.
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

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rdchawk
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Re: RIAT 2022 Feedback and thoughts

Post by rdchawk »

Also since when is carol vorderman pronounced like Vodafone? Or is this just George bacon?

Back to flying, I thought the red arrows were ok, not as good as 9 ship, but the commentator is so dull and gives nothing to the display.
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DerekF
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Re: RIAT 2022 Feedback and thoughts

Post by DerekF »

A few thoughts on my RIAT visit.
I went on Friday and Saturday.
Good
• Getting in – easy on the green route - parked by 7am both days. Parking on the field was well organized and efficient
• Site entry – longish queue on Saturday but moved quickly after 7.30am. First photo at 7:55
• Static display – Well laid out at the expense of on-base parking at the Green end but some great highlights – A340, E-4, 727, A-4N Skyhawk, Sally B - great stuff
• Flying Display Friday – although short more than made up by the A-4, Swedish Historic and E-4 arrivals. Great moments.
• Flying Display Saturday – All in all, a great display. Highlights for me being the Slovenian PC-9, Finnish Hawk, Beluga, Austrian demo and Belgian F-16
• The Black Eagles – stunning as always, showing skill and imagination. That bomb-burst and spiral break for landing was simply superb.
• Cotswold Club – Friendly, efficient and very welcome drinks and shade when required. Another good experience and worth the extra.
• The weather - no complaints at all apart from a little cloudy later on Friday.
• Getting out – walked the entire length from the Cotswold club to the green car park, getting to the car at 18:30 and drove straight out, avoided the Air Balloon by going up the A435 and was home in Cheshire by 21:15

Bad
• The Greek F-16 on Friday – surprised he was allowed to carry on after totally misjudging the manoeuvre taking him right over our heads.
• Potted artificial plants. Pilatus and Beechcraft – why?
• A long walk from the Cotswold club to the Green car park. Blisters as proof. Should have got the bus…
• The irritating trait of people arriving late and finding a spot right in front of where I was sitting. Thank you. Common at gigs as well.

I generally avoided the arrivals threads and participation updates to try and maintain a little sense of the surprise of days gone by when you didn’t always know what was going to be there. I think that rewarded by some nice surprises.
I did think that this was one the best RIAT of recent years, possibly biased a little by missing a couple of years.

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pbeardmore
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Re: RIAT 2022 Feedback and thoughts

Post by pbeardmore »

I think we will be picking over the details for the next few months but, overall, it's been a great year. They seem to focus on the basics and a real effort to have something different in an era of decreasing variety. The feedback overall seems to be very very positive and I really hope they use the template moving forward.
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Re: RIAT 2022 Feedback and thoughts

Post by JMC »

Display teams:

1. Black Eagles
2. Frecce
3. Jordanian Falcons
4. PC-9 team
5. Red Arrows
6. Baby Blue

Jets:

1. Austrian QRA demo
2. Spanish Hornet
3. Swiss Hornet
4. RAF Typhoon
5. Swedish Gripen
6. Belgian F-16
7. Hellenic F-16
8. Hungarian Gripen
9. Italian Typhoon

Rotary:

1. Czech Hip and Hind
2. Hungarian Hind
3. W-3A
4. German NH-90
5. Chinook
6. Osprey

Static:

1. E-4B
2. SK-37
3. A-4
4. Lansen
5. F-15

The good:

• The show run like clockwork.
• Ben Dunnell credit where is due, to remain so articulate for so long is quite a feat!
• Flying was of the highest quality.
• On the shuttle bus in the morning yesterday, I started talking to a gentleman and after a lot of chatting turns out the last time he came to RIAT was around a decade ago when he flew in. Surprised, it turns out he was an ex Hellenic Phantom pilot, I gave him some suggestions of places to visit in London and he gave me a Hellenic Phabulous Phantoms keychain! Made my day!
• The guy that works for Stagecoach (I don't know his name), he has been there every year for as long as I can remember! Always in a good mood and is at Swindon from 6am and gets down to Fairford checking tickets right till the end of the day!
• Green zone, the statics were top draw.
• Fridays arrivals were superb.
• Zeus's take off on Friday. Wow.
• The Swedish Historic crew allowing me under the rope to have my pic taken with the SK-37. Brilliant.
• The Lansen look gorgeous.

The bad:

• The police plopping their van directly behind the Skyhawk.
• Zeus on the Friday, seeing him lose a bit of altitude and ending up over the crowd was hair raising.
• The thermostat needed turning down a little.
• Some so called enthusiasts acting like entitled brats.
• Too many people?
• Some wally deciding to put soap in the hand sanitiser dispensers - cue me having to look for tissue/water to get it off.
• How messy people leave the portaloo's, tissue everywhere, rubbish left behind!
• Having no one to share the experience with.
• My own fault, but I felt like 3 days was a bit too much.

All in all a really good RIAT, flying wise not the most memorable, but a great return. Here's hoping next year trumps it!

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Skylinerworld
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Re: RIAT 2022 Feedback and thoughts

Post by Skylinerworld »

I didn't attend but I thought the Canadian CC -150 would be on people's static highlights, what a beauty! (Along with E4, A340, B727....)
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binbrook87
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Re: RIAT 2022 Feedback and thoughts

Post by binbrook87 »

I've already posted some thoughts in the discussion thread so I'll be brief here.

Positives.....
Static variety and positioning (like the good old days). I liked the use of the western aprons for display aircraft.
Crammed flying display with so much variety again
Commentary..excellent
Traffic easy getting out of the red area once the initial jams had calmed
Free water areas
Plenty of food and 'almost' enough toilets (see negatives)
Seemed to be less non aviation related sideshows....a good thing
The aviation trade stalls although few were grouped together nicely

Negatives
Off base / on base confusing parking at the red zone. Was it due to early bird arrangements?
Lack of USAF in the flying display considering the anniversary celebrations
Maybe too many Pilatus teams?
Could have done with more toilets down the far Eastern end in the red zone
Needs more aviation related trade stalls?
It was too 'ot 😂

Overall a really great show especially considering world situations at the moment. Hats off to the team for pulling off a Tattoo classic 👍👍

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duffspeed
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Re: RIAT 2022 Feedback and thoughts

Post by duffspeed »

binbrook87 wrote:
Mon 18 Jul 2022, 10:19 am
I've already posted some thoughts in the discussion thread so I'll be brief here.

Positives.....
Static variety and positioning (like the good old days). I liked the use of the western aprons for display aircraft.
Crammed flying display with so much variety again
Commentary..excellent
Traffic easy getting out of the red area once the initial jams had calmed
Free water areas
Plenty of food and 'almost' enough toilets (see negatives)
Seemed to be less non aviation related sideshows....a good thing
The aviation trade stalls although few were grouped together nicely

Negatives
Off base / on base confusing parking at the red zone. Was it due to early bird arrangements?
Lack of USAF in the flying display considering the anniversary celebrations
Maybe too many Pilatus teams?
Could have done with more toilets down the far Eastern end in the red zone
Needs more aviation related trade stalls?
It was too 'ot 😂

Overall a really great show especially considering world situations at the moment. Hats off to the team for pulling off a Tattoo classic 👍👍
Agree with all this, with reference to yesterday's display.

I can't speak for the red route as I used the green this year and will in future years. Arrived at around 0700 and parking was efficient and well organised, although I did not expect to be parking in a field having been on hard-standing via the red route for many years. Getting out was a little more long-winded. Got back to the parking field just as the Swiss Hornet took off only to find a static queue. Watched the Hornet from the field (great display even from there) and by the time it was done, the queue was moving so that wasn't too bad. However, I wish I'd taken note on the way to Riat of the A417 reducing from dual carriageway to single lane between the Golden Heart Inn and the Air Balloon, that section was a crawl - will put that one down to experience and try to avoid it next time.

On the comment relating to Pilatus teams, I think future shows are going to end up being Pilatus teams or solos for trainers and F-35s for fighters when it comes to European participants, with the only variety coming in the heavies. When Ben Dunnell reeled off the number of air arms replacing their various aging airframes with F-35s, it made me wonder if this is the direction future shows will go. Perhaps we could have other participants such as SwAFHF to keep the variety coming and find a pilot who can fly them in this country so we can have a display from them.

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stevebrodie
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Re: RIAT 2022 Feedback and thoughts

Post by stevebrodie »

Access

We went in via Blue this year, and were parked up by just after 6am, thought we were at the front of the queue, until someone said the queue was already down the road. The queue went down the three sides of the massive field. couldn't believe that people who camped at Kempsford thought they could just join the queue on the road and not the back of the queue in the field.

Felt sorry for the young Air cadets who spent most of the day trying to keep the front of the crash route clear of people, surely the simplest thing to do is to put a rope further back with a no entry sign on it. You could see that some of the cadets didnt enjoy telling grown men to move on, and rightly so.

Displays

The Austrian QRA display was superb, and the commentary was excellent on what was happening at each stage of the demo. Hinds looked impressive and the guys on the end of the cable from the polish rescue demo had the best ride of the day.
Black eagles were outstanding and the break for landing spiral was one of my highlights of the show.

Sorry but the Reds dont cut it anymore, seemed to spend more time away from the display line than in front of it and when they did it just looked very pedestrian, swear there was two passes the same. Whole thing needs updating. Its bad when people can be heard saying that the falcons, no disrespect to them, were better. Dont want the Reds becoming the toilet break slot.
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Bodz156
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Re: RIAT 2022 Feedback and thoughts

Post by Bodz156 »

So I spent 5 days at the show this year, which is the most I've ever done!

Wednesday / Thursday & Friday in P&V East to catch as many of the great array of arriving aircraft as possible in the way I like to (nothing against West, but I just feel the chances of missing something I want to see are too high to justify it), then Saturday on the fence-line on my own for most of the day (went to check out the Western end as the last 3 items were due up as my camera battery was running low!) & then Sunday with a non-enthusiast friend of mine sitting well back from the front & some time walking the static again looking for amenable crew for her to get photographed with (got quite a few!).

I can't really fault anything in a big way this year, thought it was a brilliant edition of RIAT. The weather obviously helps, but the flying displays were well thought out so there was variety throughout (like others I would have preferred maybe a little more change in the order on Sunday.....but that's a minor thing), the standard of the displays was top notch across the line-up (agree the Reds need to do some thinking for next season, the unplanned cut to 7 is really unfortunate for those pilots left on the squadron IMO), with the Slovenian PC-9M, the Austrian Typhoons, the Belgian F-16AM & of course the Black Eagles as stand-outs for me...although I could go on & on.

The static line-up was stellar. Full of quality. On the Sunday all the crews we spoke to were happy to have photos taken next to & sometimes *in* their aircraft, so my friend who isn't a fanatic had a great day looking for the "fittest" pilots. :laughing:

Loved arrivals, catching up with guys I haven't seen for 3 years - looking out into the distance for the next one in ("is that one for us....is it not a couple of crows?!"), waited around each day for the last thing in as Wednesday had the Polaris & Thursday the An-30.

Even entry & exit was pretty easy and well managed in my experience.

My only minor complaints are really that does the programme need to cost £12?? Could get a book for less...
And why was the internet reception so terrible there this year (was fine in 2019). Needs sorting - if nothing else for safety reasons. Next to impossible to use Twitter, FB messenger or What's App during the arrivals & show days.
The B-52 cancels were a great shame, as was the SK60s but outside the organisers control. Anyone know why we didn't get the 494th F-15E...?

So all in all I'd give this year a 9 out 10 - had the 52s made it it might have been 9.5 - 10.

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spellow3010
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Re: RIAT 2022 Feedback and thoughts

Post by spellow3010 »

I did Wednesday to Monday. I feel it now!

Arrivals Days -
Please give us proper Early Bird parking for arrivals days.

Parking in Red Zone car park for arrivals... really? The area we have parked in previous years was not being used for anything else, so not sure why you would make people walk all that way from the Red car park.

Thursday - Late opening of the pedestrian queue gate (those queuing up the longest) on Thursday with a base police shrug of the shoulders saying, 'we've not been told to open yet' resulted in cars being let in first through Gate E, right on the nose at 6am - most turning up and having not put the time and effort into queuing at all. This resulted in the car arrival people running down from red car park to the next queue point and effectively pushing in.

Base Police - ASK, don't just wait to be told. You could see that the other gate had been opened into Red car park, members of the public on base... even running down from the car park. Be proactive...

Also Thursday -
Upon entry into the P&V East area at 0730, the toilets were in a dreadful state having not been emptied or cleaned from the day before. This is not acceptable. Some of the doors did not lock properly either.

No bags on the RIAT merchandise stalls in P&V East on the Wednesday.

Bins - just throw all of your rubbish into the same bin and the 'sorting fairy' will do its thing. Really? This is 2022. Bring back the multi-coloured recycling stations next year please. I don't trust that the sorting fairy really exists.

Wildcat downwash... hahahahahahhaa!!! A Royal Navy kiss maybe?

--
Weather is what it was. As a photographer, I don't mind cloudy RIATs as long at the stuff is able to fly. No point throwing an F-16 etc thousands of feet up into the sky... I much prefer the rolling/low shows as there are more low and noisy passes against ordinarily much more interesting skies. That's just my opinion. More missed approaches please...

--
Displays -
Austrian QRA was magic and a true highlight of the week. More of that please.

Black Eagles - by a country mile, the best display team at the show. Loved it. So many moments to make you genuinely smile, without the need for quirky quips from the commentator. Korea excelled - never dull, always impressive. That spiral break to land will live long in the memory. Although I have no emotional tie to South Korea, it was spine tingling to watch the team, create the South Korean flag in the sky. I could feel their pride. Chapeau.

Red Arrows - what has happened to you? I thought they were quite poor on Friday but got better by Saturday/Sunday. It's just not the same as you would come to expect and I am speaking as someone who loves the Reds and what they represent. I think they need a bit of a reset before their main draw down begins. I still love you, but I expect more from you.

Also Red Arrows - they were scheduled surprisingly early on all three show days. Now, the Reds are a staple attraction for many families attending an airshow. It's not many kids that will ask their parents, 'is the Swiss Hornet going to display' when planning their arrival. It's more likely to be the Reds. So why then, were they on so early EVERY day, when traffic was still queuing at a standstill on the Whelford Road (Red Route) and presumably on the other routes too.

I think RIAT planning might have broken a few hearts there with the scheduling.

Belgian F-16 - the best 16 display I have ever seen (including the US). So much negative G, really impressive. Just missing the flares that enhanced it further when I saw it at the Danish airshow. A great shame that the 'spare' (itself, impressively painted) was used on both main show days. What happened there?

Italian Typhoon - seemed to spend a lot of time well away from the crowd line. That slow pass was ridiculously distant, having started in a different county by the look of it. It did find the most 'fluff' out of the morning displays before it all dried up.

Italian Spartan - always impressive what they can do to showcase an airframe of that size.

Mustang Delta (sic) - nice to see... a good photo opportunity with their 'arrival' part of their display and a nice break to finish. What went on in between did not really hold my attention, sorry. Bzzzzzzzzz.

Jordanian Falcons - impressive. Use them as a toilet break at your peril.

Swiss Hornet - magical, truly magical Hornetery... But a crying shame that both it and the PC-7 team from the Swiss air force were on last on BOTH main show days. Please don't do that again.

RAF Typhoon - thank you for not being tempted to use the dreadfully bland looking spare.

Finnish Hawk - what an amazing display. Seemed better than when the RAF were showing it off, sorry.

Czechia Sokol... I would have been screaming mad had I been in Red Zone for this display. Never went anywhere near Red, which was a shame as there was plenty going on with the display. It was even well left of FRIAT. But those two brave souls hanging by a thread!!

Great to see the Hinds... and the Hip in action.

The E4 arrival on Friday in the best light of the afternoon was great, the moody background skies. You love to see it. A great RIAT moment in itself.

Loved the arrival of the Swedish Historic Flight, again just doing a fly through or missed approach can make all the difference.

The German Tonka calibration runs upon arrival were the highlight of Wednesday... 100ft... burner on... go! Much, much more of that next year please.

Other Things -
So what happened to the display line/centre point? It seemed to me that some demos seemed to have little/no idea where the show centre was. Things that you would normally see at FRIAT were often well to the left or the right.

Although normally travelling from my base at Witney on the Red Route, I was based in Marlborough this year and on the Blue Route. No real concerns in or out on any of the days for me that I would not have expected.

Overall, although the weather made it quite hard work across 6 days, it was great to be back at a RIAT and I take my hat off to all of those involved in making it happen. At times it felt as though some lessons of the past needed to be re-learned, but the lions share of the time it was great, just like it had never been away at all. Thumbs up overall to the organisers and volunteers.

Great show...
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Meep
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Re: RIAT 2022 Feedback and thoughts

Post by Meep »

spellow3010 wrote:
Tue 19 Jul 2022, 12:01 pm
Bins - just throw all of your rubbish into the same bin and the 'sorting fairy' will do its thing. Really? This is 2022. Bring back the multi-coloured recycling stations next year please. I don't trust that the sorting fairy really exists.
It does.

From the comment in announcements they made about no landfill, and non recyclable being used for energy production that was a very clear inference to the incinerator on the M5, which has robust sorting because of the rules around what can burned.

Furthermore separate bags doesn't work at an event that scale, as inevitably someone ignores it, or makes a mistake so the whole "recyclable" bag has to be sorted anyway

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pbeardmore
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Re: RIAT 2022 Feedback and thoughts

Post by pbeardmore »

I do like that, this year, there seems to be a very broad concensus re the highs and the lows, showing that, despite all of our debates, there is stuff we all love (Black Eagles, Austrian QRA etc)
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jasonT1981
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Re: RIAT 2022 Feedback and thoughts

Post by jasonT1981 »

An amazing weekend, great weather, great displays. Though some very standout ones.

The Good

Austrian QRA Demo, Frecce Tricolori, Black Eagles were amazing.

The Helicopter S&R demo was insane, never saw a demo where the helicopter flies around with people still on the rope hanging on, usually they wait until they are safely in the helicopter. Sadly on Sunday it ignored anything east of the FRIAT enclosure. So it was at a great distance. I was in Pimms in the Red Zone and it was very distant.

Hip and Hind, I didn't think too much of it on the Friday, but really changed my mind on the Saturday. Great display.

USAF Participation - Yes, it was FANTASTIC even with a lack of flying. The USAF supported the show massively on static, shame the B52 pulled out, I guess the emergancy landing the day before factored in and they didn't want to send one transatlantic until the issue was worked out.

People needed to keep in mind the USAF 75th was only an anniversary theme this year, not an operational theme like the 70th in 2017.

E4B - Spectacular. I know it was only one flypast and a landing but wow. I loved it.

Swedish Historic and Hunter arrivals - Hadn't seen the Swedish fly in 6 years, and hadn't seen a Hunter in the skies since 2014. Remarkable.

Finish Hawk - Loved it. Really showcased what the Hawk can still do.

Black Eagles - Simply the best team display I have ever witnessed. All 3 days had me hooked, same for the Frecce Tricolori.

Belgium F16 - Gutting for the people who already hadn't seen Dream Viper, but fantastic to see X-Tiger, having already seen the former at Cosford. Fantastic display.

Swiss F18 - Brilliant as always, I love the raw power and agility the F18 has, very nice to see them with the PC7 Team.

Irish Air Corps - Best display I have seen from them in a very long time. Maybe ever. Funny incident with the Smoke on Silver 3 when landing on Sunday.

I WON'T say anything was bad, as I really apprieciate the effort and hard work that goes into the display work up and the skills involved from the pilots, however there were a few displays I couldn't get into.


French PC21 Mustang X - Saturday they seemed to be lost in the skies at Fairford, seemed a lot of massive gaps between their repositioning and was looking at sky more than them. Sunday I got a better view of them, lovely looking aircraft but I just didn't really enjoy it.

Baby Blue - Same reasoning, seemed to be lost in the sky, too high and far away.

Red Arrows - Sorry, add me to the list of people who didn't really enjoy them, I've seen them a number of times this year even before RIAT.. The display is disjointed and flat. Seemed to have formations well out of place on Friday. I do understand there are exceptional circumstances in 2022. They lost a team member in Mid winter training, forcing them to adapt to an 8 ship demo, then with weeks before season began they lost another, having to adapt quickly to a 7 ship demo. I have full confidence they will be back to their 100% best in 2023

USAF Osprey - I don't know, I've just never been a fan. It seemed to be more a series of flypasts than a demo like past years. It fell flat for me.

Overall, an amazing weekend. I will be getting tickets for 2023 this week and everyone involved in RIAT, from Peter and the Air Ops team right to the volunteers made it an amazing weekend. Roll on the announcement of the 2023 theme, the start of announcements and of course RIAT 2023!!

farnboroughrob
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Re: RIAT 2022 Feedback and thoughts

Post by farnboroughrob »

well I managed to make RIAT by the skin of my teeth. Had a Friday ticket but on Wednesday was admitted to hospital with bowel issues. Friday morning was waking up in hospital when should have been in the queue. Thankfully made it to departures with a friend via kind ticket donation. No P&V east signs on that side so made a wrong turn. P&V very good as they had left up some structures and I was in the shade all day, just frustrating that the ice cream man's card reader was US and we didn't have cash! Using both runway directions was a nightmare to be honest.
I will be back for 23, been every once since 77 excect the ones up north( yes Cottesmore is up north!). However probably only P&V departures, once its get past £50 its getting too expensive IMHO.

bishbashbosh
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Re: RIAT 2022 Feedback and thoughts

Post by bishbashbosh »

I was there for all six days. Firstly, how great was it to be back?! When I think back to July 2020 and how I thought I may never step foot on RAF Fairford again… Overall, I thought the show was excellent, and huge congratulations to all involved.

Arrivals
I really hate the stress of arrivals mornings – if you want a decent spot then you need impeccable timing in your own arrival. They changed the entrance gate to P&V East however and it confused the hell out of me on Wednesday! After a few 3-point turns and avoiding the melee down Washpool Lane I found my way in and eventually ended up in my favoured spot. Got annoyed with the usual cohort of selfish people who think it’s OK to stroll past a long queue of people who have made the effort to get there early and push in just because they vaguely know someone. There really does need to be some policing of this. Otherwise arrivals was fun. They did seem to run out of time for all the planned rehearsals on Thursday afternoon – was it Zeus who had to cancel as he did not have sufficient fuel to display after sitting on the threshold so long? I wonder what can be done to encourage more Wednesday arrivals – although I do realise that most air arms do not want valuable assets sat at Fairford for longer than necessary.

Show days
- I used all three car parks over the weekend as I like to spend the first/last, relatively quiet, 30 mins of each day in a different zone to grab those crowd-free static shots. Had no problems in any of them. Drove straight in about 0615 and straight out at 1930 – hardly had to tap the brakes.
- Despite not leaving the showground until 1925 each evening, I wasn’t asked once to make my way to the exit. This made my static bimble so much more relaxing, and such a change to the past few events. I'm not sure if it's a change in policy or if it was just too hot for them to bother, but it was much appreciated.
- Thoroughly enjoyed the flying. I’m a helicopter guy so was a little spoilt this year, also enjoyed the fast jets and the C-27. The Slovenian PC-9 in particular was excellent, as was the Finnish Hawk. Loved seeing the Friday arrivals – more of that in the future please! Likewise the Beluga added something different.
- BBMF was quite pedestrian but good to see the Lanc land. Strange there wasn't the Spitfire/Typhoon pairs display, having seen it at Cosford and Southport - perhaps a heat-related issue?
- For the display teams my picks were the Black Eagles, the Royal Jordanian Falcons (who I thought seriously upped their game), and the Swiss PC-7. I’ve seen the Reds and Frecce far too many times now – familirity breeds contmpt etc. The Irish and French PC teams bored the pants off me I’m afraid, but each to their own – variety is the spice of life and all that.
- Static was outstanding and full of personal highlights. An-30, E-4, A-4, C-2, U-2, KC-390, A340, KC-46A, AMX, Swedes… the list goes on. For the most part well positioned – particularly appreciated that the large grass area to the north of the E-4 was barriered off so that you could get a lovely shot without cones or people in the way. The SW Loop was fantastic – please, please, please keep this in future shows – although how good would the U-2 have looked there!
- The corporate static was the same as usual – full of plastic plants and suits – I get why they are there and the importance of their sponsorship, but to mare such a nice line-up of current RAF training types in this way was a shame.
- The crews were amazing as always - welcoming and with the patience of saints. Getting to sit in the cockpit of the An-30 was a personal highlight. Did anyone else get a goodybag from the Bahraian C-130 with a nice wallet and mug in it!? I'm not usually one for tat and have no idea why people are willing to spend so much on it, but if it keeps the crews happy and coming then fine by me!
- One of the stateside-based US pilots said that the cancellation of the B-52s was due to politics - who knows if there's any truth in that.

Departures
Same old really. Great view in FRIAT. You see what you can and the rest you miss!

FRIAT
I didn’t have any of the problems that others seemed to have. Our little corner at the very far eastern end was quite chilled. More and more I am tempted to bring my own comfy chair and chill out along the rope with plenty of space however. Must be getting old. A little irritating that there was no timing sheet on the Friday as that really does help plan ones day, but in the grand scheme of things...

So yes, thoroughly enjoyed myself. Thanks again to all, and roll on 2023.
2024 shows: Abingdon, Cosford, Sywell, RIAT, Zeltweg with a couple of Duxford and Shutteworth shows thrown into the mix.

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Wissam24
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Re: RIAT 2022 Feedback and thoughts

Post by Wissam24 »

cg_341 wrote:
Sun 17 Jul 2022, 7:40 am
Only saw one static aircraft with a canopy cover on, the 12 Squadron Typhoon. When the groundie asked me why I didn't photograph it I explained about the cover and his reply was "well it's really difficult to put it on and take it off so we've left it for the weekend". 🙄
I recall the Dutch and German jets at the west end having various blanks and shades on all weekend as well, but not nearly as egregious as the 12sqn Typhoon - I asked why the covers were on and received the exact same answer. Superb PR for the service at the country's largest aviation event, eh? Not to mention great for trying to sell the distasteful relationship with Qatar to the public. It's going in the review anyway.
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BluffPilot
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Re: RIAT 2022 Feedback and thoughts

Post by BluffPilot »

Not sure what my experience is worth as it was my first time going to riat. I've been to Waddington in the past but mostly duxford as it's local.

Flying was great and I have only really seen the RAF displays so was treated to a lot of new jets and displays. My favourite would have to be the Swiss Hornet at the end of the day. What a noise and what a display. Worth sticking it out in the heat for that.

Went on Sunday so didn't get to see the Austrian QRA but enjoyed the short amount of time 2 typhoons were airborne.

Overall a positive experience, and pleasantly surprised a cap only cost 10 quid as I forgot mine. Also toilet availability was the best I've seen at an event so far.

The bad points:

Food vendors need a serious looking at and shaming of their prices. Daylight robbery is putting it mildly, but this is the same at all events.

Having not been to riat before I was unaware of how poor the view would be in general admission. We arrived at half 9 so most grass patches were full, we hunted for somewhere to settle but ended up being stuck behind numerous tents, buildings, fences, and grandstands.

We missed most of the helicopter displays due to them being hidden behind a vip tent and grandstand. Anything on the right hand side of the runway was obscured by another building so only seen a couple of seconds from the low passes of jets. We didn't fancy packing everything up and standing further back as the heat would make it severely unpleasant. I wouldnt mind so much but tickets are not cheap, and to see them rise again next year probably means we won't be going again. It's more of an investment than a day out and I've never supported the idea of being forced to spend even more to get a half decent view.

A great day and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but its too expensive to have half your view blocked by tarpaulin.

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jasonT1981
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Re: RIAT 2022 Feedback and thoughts

Post by jasonT1981 »

BluffPilot wrote:
Tue 19 Jul 2022, 6:49 pm

Food vendors need a serious looking at and shaming of their prices. Daylight robbery is putting it mildly, but this is the same at all events.

In the past, I believe RIAT had a set price for vendors items listed in the programme and said to report any stall/vendor charging more (I am almost sure this was RIAT)

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Wissam24
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Re: RIAT 2022 Feedback and thoughts

Post by Wissam24 »

I do think the vendors in FRIAT need examining. Not sure we need two essentially identical stands selling fairly middling quality sausages and burgers and that. Nothing of great quality on offer inside the enclosure bar the ice cream stall. I'd drop one of the burger vans and fire in a wood-fired pizza or Thai food one instead, something a bit more varied and better quality.
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BrawlerO
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Re: RIAT 2022 Feedback and thoughts

Post by BrawlerO »

jasonT1981 wrote:
Tue 19 Jul 2022, 7:06 pm
BluffPilot wrote:
Tue 19 Jul 2022, 6:49 pm

Food vendors need a serious looking at and shaming of their prices. Daylight robbery is putting it mildly, but this is the same at all events.

In the past, I believe RIAT had a set price for vendors items listed in the programme and said to report any stall/vendor charging more (I am almost sure this was RIAT)
I don’t know first hand but from involvement in other large events I expect they are just passing on the extortionate fees they are charged to have a stand there. The only people benefiting are the organisers.

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