It is over! Many thanks to AlanM who did a brilliant job at the Heliport tower and a personal job well done to those Ppruners who worked the show and I was not able to meet.
Magbreak. It was a pleasure to show you around the beast. Hope things are well with you.
Autorotate. Hope you are still having fun. Should we meet up again I still have an open seat approved by the Army for you.
The helicopters finally came out for the public days. The Chinook gave a heart stopping low level display. We complained that we should be allowed to work the same floor as the Chinook but Colin would have nothing of it. They have some new kit in the tower and everytime we sneaked below the floor a tad we were spanked. Their altitudes and our altitudes did not differ by any appreciable amount so we stayed up. A 600 foot floor is just too high for a helo. I was getting nose bleeds. Lynx pairs got stronger each day and were a crowd pleaser. This is my fourth or fifth Farnborough and I must say I am a little sad that there were no civil rotorcraft being displayed in the flying lineup and few manufacturers could be found in static. No real helicopter announcments. Perhaps some country will step up and fund a true international helicopter only airshow.
When we moved from the heliport on Friday our lives became difficult because we quickly discovered that even a pilot cannot walk across a taxiway to get to his aircraft without the ramp gestapo issuing a stern lecuture. I wore a yellow reflective vest that could be seen from the International Space Station but still had to ride to my aircraft in the back of a speeding truck from one side of a taxiway to the other. What could have been done in less than one minute was a fifteen to thirty minute exercise. There were a few Ppruners I would have liked to have taken to the aircraft but the King of the West Ramp made that all but impossible. Farnborough used to be such a display friendly venue. What happened?
Our F-18 pilot Rico "suave" Traven said RIAT was the place to be. A pilot show par excellence.