CAA emasculates Farnborough FIA16

[PAX richi]

Next month, don't expect to see the sort of Boeing vs. Airbus high-energy shenanigans of previous years. Despite all the spotters' area closures, the RAF has confirmed the Reds will only be straight and level (http://www.raf.mod.uk/reds/news/index.cfm?storyid=51477A62-5056-A318-A84E0875E5EF24C8).

Passed on without comment. In case I say something I shouldn't. :ugh:

[RexBanner]

Why be surprised? It's all part of the pathetic risk averse culture that we have allowed to slip insidiously into and now pervades the modern world sucking all the fun and enjoyment out of life.

[PENKO]

One has to wonder wether formation flights and aerobatics aren't a thing of the past anyway. I like low level fly pasts. I love the roar of an afterburner, but I couldn't care less about all this formation flying stuff. Given all the recent accidents I wouldn't be able to watch anyway without some form of anxiety: will he pull out of that loop?

[Hotel Tango]

Will that car driving in the opposite direction at a closing in speed of 100MPH suddenly swerve and hit me? There are still millions more killed on the roads than in aviation related accidents!

[funfly]

PENKO

:ok:

[edmundronald]

If the Reds are going to fly straight, level and high, I suggest their flying time be donated to some deserving organisation that trains fighter pilots :)

[Wander00]

This is probably very non-PC, and I do not mean to decry in any way the loss of those killed at Shoreham. However, there seems to be a totally knee-jerk, "must be seen to do something" by the fun police at the CAA. We have multiple deaths in major road accidents, no one stops us driving on the motorways, people are sadly killed in rail accidents, no one stops us taking the train, major airports are in conurbations and large aircraft fly over them everyday. The UK airshow industry has a pretty good safety record and whilst some appropriate tweeking might have been necessary, IMHO the regime being applied to airshows by the CAA does seem did proportionate.

[Yaw String]

As I've mentioned before,the British public is at far more risk,taking a train ride,then attending an air display..but is anything done about unguarded platforms,both overground and underground.....unmanned rail crossings...lack of footbridges...noooo.
Collective head in the sand to blame, due costs..
However...British aviation and long tradition of air shows.....now there is high profile risk!!!!
What a load of rambutans!
For god's sake,make our underground and overground railway stations safe,and STOP knee jerk reactions.....somebody.
If I lost a relative in a station platform incident I would be suing British transport.....
Leave our long tradition of the great British air show alone......and sort out where the real safety issues exist!!!!
3 minute rant over!

[RexBanner]

Yaw String you're right but ultimately again it comes down to the same thing. We have to live with the fact that life inevitably carries a certain level of risk no matter what we do. If you take it to its ultimate conclusion then we'd all be locked up at home, unable to leave the house for fear of something bad happening. Then watch as we all develop rickets and heart problems associated with being sedentary at home. Let's face facts, not one of us is getting out of this (life) alive. Why do we not enjoy life for the limited time we're on this planet? The real reason this is all happening nowadays is not because of the risk of someone dying or getting hurt, it's because somebody somewhere is afraid to get sued. Sad fact.

[El Bunto]

it's because somebody somewhere is afraid to get suedWhich in this case is the CAA. Certainly no airshow display organisers that I know have been requesting these changes, and only a handful of display pilots seem to be in favour of the 'recommendations' of the AAIB-CAA cabal.

However in this case I think the Farnborough organisers are being reasonable; an exclusive uninhabited manouevring-zone is common at US airshows and does nothing to dampen display enthusiasm there. It might be more difficult to arrange in the UK, and may result in more shows moving to coastal locations, but I think we'd all be happier if organisers ( and their insurers ) had been permitted to self-regulate like that rather than have the CAA go into jackboot-mode.

Anyway, looks like the Isle of Man and Ireland now have a chance to become the display foci of western Europe...

[DaveReidUK]

Emasculated? Hardly.

Contrary to popular belief, the afternoon flying display is fairly incidental to Farnborough's raison d'être, that's to say the deals done and relationships cemented in the hospitality chalets after a boozy lunch. All those noisy fast jets doing aerobatics and commercial jets performing manoeuvres that they will never do in service are, frankly, a bit of a distraction from the business in hand.

So while the unwashed masses (including yours truly) are going to miss the aerial stunts, the show organisers and the exhibitors aren't going to lose any sleep if the Red Arrows are reduced to doing just a series of flypasts.

[chevvron]

Emasculated? Hardly.

Contrary to popular belief, the afternoon flying display is fairly incidental to Farnborough's raison d'être, that's to say the deals done and relationships cemented in the hospitality chalets after a boozy lunch. All those noisy fast jets doing aerobatics and commercial jets performing manoeuvres that they will never do in service are, frankly, a bit of a distraction from the business in hand.

So while the unwashed masses (including yours truly) are going to miss the aerial stunts, the show organisers and the exhibitors aren't going to lose any sleep if the Red Arrows are reduced to doing just a series of flypasts.
The normal 2.30pm start time for the flying display was always meant to allow those in the chalets to finish their lunches before it started.

I presume the organisers won't have to pay the Arrows so much if they don't do a full display. I don't know the present scale of charges for the Arrows but it has to be pretty steep.

[PAX richi]

while the unwashed masses (including yours truly) are going to miss the aerial stunts, the show organisers and the exhibitors aren't going to lose any sleep if the Red Arrows are reduced to doing just a series of flypasts.Well, I take your point about the weekdays, but the two weekend displays are a very different animal. While I'm not privileged to see the FIA books, a significant part of the business model has to be the weekend takings.

So what if the news gets around enough to stop a bunch of people buying tickets?

[Gulf4uk]

The SWAN and AVIATOR Are advertising Packages to view the show
and the Area by them at RAE road is not being closed so the usual crowds
will be there and as in past Shows FAST museum is closed.
Being a local the traffic diversions cause very little disruption most of
us know the short cuts and i place a card on Dashboard "LOCAL RESIDENT"
The new Layout at Queens roundabout with Traffic lights could be fun.
Most people do not come for the Red Arrows only so will make very little
Difference FIA Know this will have little effect people will still come.

tony
farnborough resident

[chevvron]

Most people do not come for the Red Arrows only so will make very little
Difference FIA Know this will have little effect people will still come.

tony
farnborough resident
The year the An225 appeared, one day it was scheduled last but one in the flying display with the red arrows following. When the '225 landed, from the tower we could see a mass movement of spectators towards the exit not bothering to wait to see the arrows!

[Warmtoast]

The SWAN and AVIATOR Are advertising Packages

The Swan to sit in their pub garden for £5, the Aviator does Airshow Dining from £30 per person or full hospitality packages from £85 per person.
Details from my local paper.

[bobward]

Surely everyone knows that the only reason the great unwashed are allowed in to the hallowed grounds on Saturday and Sunday is so that they can pay for the industry execs to have their private lunches on Monday to Friday......

From an airshow cynic...;););)

[Gulf4uk]

The year the An225 appeared, one day it was scheduled last but one in the flying display with the red arrows following. When the '225 landed, from the tower we could see a mass movement of spectators towards the exit not bothering to wait to see the arrows!
Yes the usual Mad Exit to get the Buses to Farnborough Main and Aldershot lets hope
they have the trains sorted out.