Glastonbury Festival

[nick0021]

Whilst enjoying the sunshine and drink at this years festival, i noticed there seemed to be an awful lot of mil aircraft in the skies above. Especially to my delight and surprise a Harrier whom almost came to a hover over the sight!! I'm at the Site quite regularly during the year and frequently see low flying aircraft (hello's and Jets), but was under the impression that during the festival there was an exclusion zone??!

Also, i heard a rumour that the Pyramid stage is used as a training target during the year, can anyone verify this??

By the way , anyone get any nice pics up there?! ... i was the one staggering about by the Somerset Cider bus! :ok:

Regards to all,

Nick

[vecvechookattack]

Im afraid that if you place a large concert area on the threshold of a major airfield you might expoect to see the odd military aircraft.

One small correction.......the pyramid is used as a turning point....not a target.

[BEagle]

Now it do be a few year since oi been down in Scrumpy an' Western land, but oi do be a-thinkin' that Glastonbury do be a fair bit further than the threshold from Yeovilton, ooh-aahhrr......

[vecvechookattack]

OK, ok. Maybe not the "threshold" then.....

Delete the word "Threshold" and insert the word "Approach"

[MadsDad]

There is (or definitely used to be) and exclusion zone.

I was there a few years back, got there on the Thursdayl which was the day the exclusion order came into force and I remember watching 3 Hercules approaching the site on a line that would have taken them straight over the top.

What then appeared to happen was they got to the perimeter fence, turned sharp right, flew round the fence, looking as if they were about a yard outside it, until they were the opposite side of the site then turned sharp right again and flew off on their original track. At about 250 ft.

[WorkingHard]

Nick didnt you know that some in the world of mil flying think such things as exclusion zones atz cas etc does not apply to them.

[FB11]

Damn! WorkingHard has rumbled military pilots. We spend our entire day trying to deliberately bust into CAS and as many ATZs as we can.

After all, it's not busy enough in the forces without writing reports on infringements.

Or answering phone calls from the low flying complaints committee about spurious sightings of Harrier mid airs. Or Hercules that do 'sharp turns' (very agile aircraft) and fly around fences at Glastonbury.

Thank goodness we have you guys out there keeping the public safe from those nasty military men/women in their confounded flying contraptions.

[MadsDad]

FB11. I didn't say that's what they did, I said that's what it looked like - I know there would have been outside the exclusion zone.

And I definitely didn't say I object (I love watching the occasional Herc over the Somerset levels using the Polden Hills for 'cover' as they head towards Salisbury plain or wherever).

[Windy Militant]

This reminds me of a serious PR Gaffe a few years back at the National Eisteddfod when it was held at Swansea. There had been complaints that the previous years Eisteddfod had been seriously disrupted by aircraft noise. So with much ballyhoo it was announced that a strict exclusion zone was to be established and this would solve the problem. Low flying in general was something of a thorny issue at the time.
Shame nobody told the drivers of the loud pointy things! Having the offenders shown on live TV made it hard to deny and to crown it all as the Eisteddfod reached it's climax with the ceremony to Chair the Bard they reached the point where the Arch Druid asks "A Oes Heddwch"*, they had to stop because nobody could hear a word he was saying. The timing was exquisite, it couldn't have been better if it was planned. I believe questions were asked in the house about that one!

(*is there Peace)

[engineer(retard)]

Did anybody understand the questions? :)

[SpinSpinSugar]

I remember seeing a couple of Harriers going extremely slowly over the festival, presumed they were just taking in the view.

Nick, did you progress from the Somerset Cider Bus to the Brother's Cider Bar in the Jazz World field? Superior purveyors of high octane pear scrumpy! Now available online (http://www.beersinabox.com/shop.php?category=%2FBrothers+Pear+Cider%2F&product=128) too!

Cheers, SSS

[charliegolf]

Clearly more people understood the Taffia than did the Notam/ exclusion notice!

CG