I had planned to go to Waddington today, but I cancelled my trip as soon as I heard about the XH558 debacle. I had planned to visit the TVOC stand, hand over my pledge money (and some more to compensate for the delay in paying) and probably buy something too (a sweatshirt if they had any that were big enough!). Now none of that will happen.
Through a combination of work commitments, bad weather and u/s XH558 I didn't get to see her fly at all last year. Whenever I made the effort, I made the wrong call. Looks like the same this year. I could have gone down there on one of the arrivals days, but work pressures plus the "certainty" of seeing her today made me decide to just stick to the normal flight day. I now deeply regret that decision.
Various family and work commitemts this year mean that I only have a couple more chances to see her fly. If/when I do see her, the cheque will be in the post, with a bonus, but I do not feel inclined to donate money to a group that must contain at least a couple of totally inept people unless and until I see some return for my money.
At the very least I find the timing of the announcement deeply cynical and immoral. Why not issue a warning a couple of days out from the airshow, explaining the situation and giving some indication of likelyhood of success or failure. Folks could then make up their mind with the facts at hand.
To me, this smells of cover-up and embarassement. Someone, on or a little before 26th June must have said "did you submit the PtF?". "No - I thought you had done that". "Now that's another fine mess you've got me into" (cue theme music)
On another (related) subject - I'd like to see published accounts of running costs and income from all XH558 displays. I'd like to know how this "company" is being run in a way that stands a chance of making financial sense. Given this c*ck-up, it is likely that there is no proper financial control or revenue optimisation.
I am no specialist in any of these areas, but I have been involved in delivery of very effective projects and have also trouble-shot and recovered failing ones. I'd be willing to lend a hand if it would help.