Before anyone gets too much of an idea that this was a successful event I suggest you read the event's Facebook page.
I was due to fly in. On Friday evening the organisers e-mailed everyone registered to fly in giving a weather briefing and due to the predicted crosswind suggested Gloucester as an alternative. The choice was left (obviously) to the PIC, but the e-mail said there would be a complimentary bus leaving Gloucester at 11.30 local to get there in good time by the 12.30 display start. Continue to bear in mind that this is an e-mail from the organisers.
On checking the weather Sat morning I elected to do that, contacted the organisers to cancel my slot and flew to Gloucester, arriving around 11.15 local.
Problem no. 1 was no courtesy bus and the airport didn't know anything about it. Nor did they know about the complimentary landing fee that was promised...
At 11.45 we jumped in a taxi. Problem no. 2 was that an hour and a quarter later we were still in traffic, three miles to go, the display had started but we were too far even to see it from a distance. Traffic wasn't moving, the taxi engine was off (but the meter wasn't). At this point I was worried about getting out again at the end, having a longish flight and an airstrip that closes early evening. So we turned around. Good thing we did according to Facebook reports as some weren't getting in apparently until 16.00 and then taking two hours plus to get out again from the end of the displays..
The problem appears to have been 20,000 tickets sold, supposedly an all ticket event but accepting cash on the gate, and routing all those 20,000 people up one tiny lane into one entrance with one person checking tickets. To make that worse, all of these had to be admitted in a short space of time as the gates didn't open until 10.00. I can't verify that as I didn't get there but there are enough postings on the subject and no denials.
We talk all the time about impact on the environment, noise abatement etc. The organisers had managed to gridlock every road around and stopped anyone local going about their daily lives. There was even a wedding party stuck in the traffic.
The response of the organisers has been disgraceful. There was a statement promised Saturday evening, then Sunday and it has only just been published this afternoon. The statement is a profound exercise of non-apology, quite possibly written by lawyers.
So, we had a £75 round trip taxi fare to nowhere, and tickets that we couldn't use. I'm not fussed about us particularly - we're grown up enough to deal with disappointment - but there are thousands (without exaggeration) of people out there who are completely hacked off at this event. There were loads in cars with small children, all having their day ruined.
Whilst I'm sure the flying displays were great nothing else about the day was.
Incidentally, the above is posted only to give a balanced view. I'm not having a go at those who were organising the flying in, they obviously put a lot of time and effort in to make it happen, shame they couldn't sort the crosswind out