vancouv
11th Jan 2020, 11:52
I'm looking to go to RIAT this year (haven't been before) and was wondering what the Friday is like. It says there is a 4 hour flying display (compared to 7 on the weekend days) but there are also lots of positioning flights - I imagine quite a few things will be arriving on the Friday. I would have thought it would a lot less busy than the weekend shows.
Does anyone have any thoughts about it?
bobward
13th Jan 2020, 15:24
I went to the Friday opening last year for the first time. This coincided with a two hour 'shower' around lunch time curtailing a lot of activity. Standard problem on any day of a UK outdoor activity in summer.
Plus point being some superb shots of the Spanish harrier taking off and landing.
Good points: Very few people getting in the way of static shots; the chance to shoot late arrivals; very short queues for food, drink and 'facilities'; very short traffic queues going in and out.
Bad points: A large part of the western static park was not open; only a part of the flying display was offered, so any special flypasts are not likely to be seen.
I'm booked to go on Friday again this year. These days there is only a limited variety of aircraft on display, compared to that which was offered 20 - 30 years ago, so I'm unlikely to miss very much.
One of the advantages of being an old spotter I guess.
As with all things, that's just my view - others may differ.
Hope it helps
Cheers
Bob