Very interesting to get so much feedback - and your comments can only help to make next year's event even better. But FWIW, these are basically my comments - and I appologise if this seems a bit disjointed at times, but they're in response to several emails I've received...
OK - well having been working in operations from 8am to 8m each day for this year's rally these are my comments in response to the emails I've received...
Firstly, Lyneham airspace infringements. Yes, there were far too many on Friday. Following this, we included comments on the ATIS stressing that pilots should navigate accurately, and avoid Lyneham zone (From my point of view, it's a shame that this was necessary - but we did our best to make sure that we did what we could to make people actually follow the AIC)
On Saturday the infringements were reduced by about 50% - and on chatting to the Lyneham guys Saturday evening, we were told that on an average Saturday they generally had around 4 airccraft blundering into their zone - so considering the huge number of increased movements, perhaps this wasn't too bad - especially on the first year that the rally has been held at Kemble...
Yes, there is CAS nearby - but I think the routes were described pretty well in the AIC, and so I think it's a bit much to say that the Rally should not be held at Kemble, when around 1950 of the estimated movements managed to arrive there without upsetting anybody - spoiled only by around 30 aircraft over the whole weekend who ended up a little 'uncertain of position'!
But given the weather, it seems to me totally uneccessary for there to have been ANY infringements this weekend, if people had kept their eyes out of the cockpit - because although the ATIS was broadcasting 10k+ most of the weekend, the actual viz was far in excess of that most of the time.
The splitting of the aircraft park north/south of the runway was intended to be by type of aircraft - ie 'interesting'/homebuilt craft to the north, and production aircraft to the south. Unfortunately the split ended up a little subjective, depending on the age and knowledge of the marshallers.
The bus service was not as intended - and anyone trying to use it has my heartfelt sympathy. We had requested at least 2 buses, to run from 8am to 10pm - whereas what we got was one bus that ran from (if we were lucky) 0930 to 1800. This has been duely noted as something that needs 'fixing' for next year.
Quite a few of the young Air Cadets ended up being treated for sunstroke (partly due to the fact that for some reason they were all wearing 'winter' uniforms) - and this is another reason why marshallers might have been a bit thin on the ground at times - and is another matter being discussed.
Many of the ATCOs were 'old-hats' at the Rally, whereas some where new. No doubt all of them have learned a thing or two since 0800 Friday. Also, the view from the ATC caravan was not as good when the runway changed from 26 to 08 on Saturday - and the possiblility of getting a higher vantage point for the 'caravan club' (as they were affectionatly know) is another issue from next year.
Landings were very 'variable' (to say the least!). Perhaps this was partly due to nerves, having (at times) been faced with slotting in with so many other arrivals - only to then have your landing skills potentially been given 'points out of ten' by thousands of spectators... But I couldn't help but wonder about the number of people who landed so short, when it had been stressed on the ATIS to land only on the black tarmac section - and having the displaced threshold clearly marked. This was another problem on the bus front from north to south side, when we changed to 08 - because people were landing SO short that we invariably had to set the crossing lights to red for arrivals - thus unnecessarily holding up the (already poor) bus service.
Also, ATC instructions were often subject to varying degrees of 'artistic impression'...
But many thanks to all that attended (making this the largest PFA Rally ever) - and I'm already looking forward to next year!
Heather