Originally Posted by
H Peacock
cyflyer.
It's been a while since I was last involved, but I'm sure that after start each type taxied up and down the first part of the runway (ie abeam the spectators) prior to lining up and doing a 'take-off' run. Following the aborted high-speed run the aircraft was taxied back past the crowd to the ORP on the far side of the runway.
I'm not sure now whether some of larger aircraft are parked elsewhere prior to their run. I'm sure we did two similar sessions per aircraft type throughout the day.
The mini jets tend to taxi around a little before their high speed runs. The larger stuff tends to be positioned to go either first in the show from the runway or from the far side "ORP" and are obviously more limited in manoeuvrability.
The VC10 is obviously the most limited and will tend to go first (pre-positioned on the runway) or last on the day. It will do a single run and then be positioned either on a pan in the spectator area, or if last will taxi up to the crowd to allow access.