I went to Waddo yesterday. Travelled up from South Wales on Friday and crashed at a mates house. Got stuck in the traffic into the show for some two and a half hours and didn't get in until gone 12.
The flying programme was indeed very thin and to be honest I only travelled up to see the Vampire, Vulcan and the Strikemasters. I was really suprised that there were no Tornado's in the air however and even the static park was a bit thinner than usual. The weather whilst delightful was only partial compensation for the lack of flying. I treat Waddington as a bit if a practice for RIAT, I am an amateur photographer so I use it to check on display routines by various display teams and to plan my shots in advance. However, if they continue to trim down the display it's just not going to be worth me going next year.
I have to say that no Vulcan was a real disappointment but I can see the CAA's point of view. If they had given a waiver to XH558 and it had pancaked into the crowd not only would they have been vilified, a lot of people could have been killed and an irreplaceable airframe would have been destroyed; I dread to think of what the insurance liabilities would have been if they flew on a waiver and then had a serious accident
The rules are there for a reason, everyone should be aware of them and they are to ensure the safety of not just the crowd but the crew as well. If TVOC knew that the work had not been done they should have had the balls to front up on Friday. No doubt if the CAA had said no flying on Friday, that would still be true on Saturday and Sunday as well, no matter how much they whined about it. Given how important the certification is to them, there is really no excuse for not doing something about it sooner.