RIAT 2022 Discussion Thread

[Wissam24]

Well, some would say, myself included, that I've long lost the right to take a moral stance on anything considering some of the places I've been in the pursuit of aviation, and even this year I haven't really stuck to my principles very much. In 2020 I was very disappointed to have a spotting trip to Belarus cancelled because of the pandemic. It's an odd trend that (in general) the more awful a country the more interesting its fleet of military aircraft (of course, this doesn't necessarily hold true for the likes of these Middle Eastern countries or the USA).

However, in the review I didn't decry Qatar being there, despite the fact that I find the relationship between the UK and Qatar, and, indeed, Saudi, Bahrain etc very unpleasant and I shouldn't imagine anyone could argue otherwise in good faith. As has been rightly said, the attendance of these aircraft is agnostic of their countries' politics and that is fully the case in any of our reviews - unless it supports a point being made in order to review the show or comment on an aspect of it.

Had I been writing the 2017 review, I would have also praised the Israeli attendance while being as revolted by its presence as I was without writing it. Conversely, if, for example, DBH had, let's say, made a big point about how they tried very hard to get Russian attendance at the show "to allow both sides to present their case" or some such (whatever), it would've been absolutely worthwhile commenting on that in a review.

I didn't comment on the Bahrain attendance not because I find it unpleasant that it was there (I did, and yet I still had a look inside and claimed my free goody bag), but because Bahrain sending a Hercules for the static did not, in the grand scheme of things, make much difference to the show itself. Yes it was a debut nation, yes I'm sure it was a big coup for DBH - and rightly so - but in terms of looking back on the airshow that had just happened, it wasn't that big a deal compared with a good number of other things. I don't think it was even really brought up at our Sunday night curry. It was "just a Herc".

Mind you, I don't think I'd go to any of these Middle Eastern countries though. Not because their fleets aren't particularly interesting, but at least Russia and North Korea etc have things to see and do as well as the planes.

[verreli]

If you accept that it's possible for different people to have different views and different cultures and environments to have different politics then who are we to judge? We don't have to all be the same. In fact if we were it would be like having all aircraft painted grey i.e. Boring. Sure, make your personal decision to boycott an area, but it makes me smile to see the hypocrisy if it suits a personal agenda. As for RIAT, my perspective is that the event brings together different people / cultures through a common purpose. That has to be celebrated and the more diverse the better, not just because they have some shiny hardware, but because I genuinely feel it makes the world a better place the more we mix.

[Wissam24]

I'm quite happy judging slave states.

But that's by the by here

[pbeardmore]

"If you accept that it's possible for different people to have different views and different cultures and environments to have different politics then who are we to judge?" one of the more terrifying statements Iv'e read on this forum over the years.

[verreli]

"If you accept that it's possible for different people to have different views and different cultures and environments to have different politics then who are we to judge?" one of the more terrifying statements Iv'e read on this forum over the years.

What I find terrifying is that you feel the other 8 billion people on the planet have to conform to your ideologue, most of whom live in social constructs very different from our own. Did you consider Bond villain as a vocation? As for slaves, is anyone truly free (other than Mel Gibson of course)?

p.s. not too keen on Mel's idea of freedom.

[Tommy]

…perhaps there’s a reason not to have opened this particular can of worms after all. Apologies.

[pbeardmore]

way way off topic, sorry, mods

[aviodromefriend]

It’d never happen obviously, but would you take pictures of, say, a Su-34 turning up for static with Ukrainian kill marks? Would you chat to the crew? See if you could buy some tat and sit in the cockpit? Objectively, a gorgeous machine and super duper rare, but then… it’s been bombing our great friends in Ukraine.

All what would come out of that hole in my face that others call "mouth" would be shouts to bug out of my viewfinder to get a clear shot. Deffo not interested in buying any tat. I still think Mildenhall had that better sorted than RIAT, put it all together in a hangar and keep it away from aircraft. Maybe I would take my picture from the side that has not kill marks (if it has one).

And *if* it will, at some point be acceptable to go back to Russia to plane spot, when will that point come!

Not as long as Putin is around, but that won't be forever, once his heart must stop beating....

On the above 'Politics over personal choice/decisions' thing, I have personal rules/ethics that basically says I won't visit countries whose politics/political leaders I disagree with....

Well, in retrospective I'm quite happy to not have held up to this view when I went to Iran to see F-14s. Just had the possibility there to talk to the normal people that live there and not judge only on what the leaders do (especially leaders hat got elected (or not elected at all) in a way that we don't feel as being a free way). Of course, in the case of RIAT, countries that are not acceptable would never get to the list of approved countries that DBH is allowed to invite, wouldn't it?

[AARDVARK]

Personally , i felt 2019 flying display was better than 2022 but the static was top notch this year.
That’s it really

[Jameslw1993]

2019 was always going to be hard to compete with when there were Harriers, a Mig and a Sukhoi in the air.

[MiG_Eater]

Quite right James. 2019 was probably my favourite RIAT of that decade.

[Roger_Over]

Agreed, the 2019 air display was better in my opinion and anyone around for arrivals/departures got to see the Phantoms in the air.

This year the static was better though, especially the layout at the west end.

[jasonT1981]

Bit of a bump, sorry.

I wonder if this is the reason we didn't see the fantastic A400 Demo this year. The A400 'Grizzly 4' used is now retired.

https://www.airbus.com/en/newsroom/stor ... AG72zd7XNw

[Professor_M]

This from the aircraft in the spotlight page for the Historic Helicopters Sea King has had me thinking: "Visitors to previous Air Tattoo's may remember the yellow Sea Kings providing emergency cover for the flying display each day. "

Since the retirement of the Sea King, is there now no emergency helicopter for RIAT?

[spellow3010]

And did Alan Smith in the Robinson make an appearance or was that superseded by the Gazelle that was seen running along the runway heading at times during the show weekend?

[rdchawk]

Yet another enclosure set for fairford (I think it's number 9 now) the crowd line was already dangerously overcrowded in parts this year and she enclosure will make this worse.

[jasonT1981]

Yet another enclosure set for fairford (I think it's number 9 now) the crowd line was already dangerously overcrowded in parts this year and she enclosure will make this worse.

The new Wingtip one? It's not on the crowdline. It's back towards the taxiway and static behind the FRIAT Stand.

https://www.airtattoo.com/files/headeri ... ochure.pdf

[rdchawk]

Yet another enclosure set for fairford (I think it's number 9 now) the crowd line was already dangerously overcrowded in parts this year and she enclosure will make this worse.

The new Wingtip one? It's not on the crowdline. It's back towards the taxiway and static behind the FRIAT Stand.

https://www.airtattoo.com/files/headeri ... ochure.pdf

It might not be on the crowd line but it's still going to take a fair bit of space where people once sat etc, and move people to areas where already was dangerously overcrowded.

[Wrexham Mackem]

Yet another enclosure set for fairford (I think it's number 9 now) the crowd line was already dangerously overcrowded in parts this year and she enclosure will make this worse.

The new Wingtip one? It's not on the crowdline. It's back towards the taxiway and static behind the FRIAT Stand.

https://www.airtattoo.com/files/headeri ... ochure.pdf

It might not be on the crowd line but it's still going to take a fair bit of space where people once sat etc, and move people to areas where already was dangerously overcrowded.

Its behind the FRIAT enclosure and grandstand. It wasn't a very popular spot for flying display spectators to settle down, and has never been busy that I've noticed.

[Tommy]

Remember guys that this is the 2022 thread, not the 2023 thread. Unpinning this one.

[bishbashbosh]

Yet another enclosure set for fairford (I think it's number 9 now) the crowd line was already dangerously overcrowded in parts this year and she enclosure will make this worse.

Dangerous? Really?