Is Biggin Hill Airshow Dying A Slow Death

[Established ILS 27L]

I found Biggin so so dissapointing this year for may reason... There old stuff is great but what happened to all the new kids on the block.... Typhoon would have gone down a treat and attracted a lot of people.....

I must say it is a well organised and safe show
comments please.....:O :) :D :cool:

[DamienB]

Looking at the line-up beforehand I thought it was going to be a bit thin but I enjoyed the show a lot - some really great flying which I thought more than made up for any perceived lack of 'star' attractions, and any missing items (sadly of course one of those should have been Pierre Hollander in the Ryan replica).

Mikael Carlson in the Tummelisa on Saturday was awesome - pity he got told to tone it down a bit for Sunday! Breitling fighters are always fantastic but with 3 Spits seemed even better than usual - and those low take-offs and popping up from behind the trees reminded me of the 'Gosh' factor (polite version) of some of the less restricted shows of the 1980s. Ray Hanna closing the show both days with a solo Spit display was also sheer perfection - I don't think there's another living soul with that sort of mastery of the type. F-86 and Firefly formation was clearly a challenge (best on Sunday!), the A340 demo was just hugely impressive (wonder how many 999 calls it prompted). T-33 and F-86 demos both very crisp and belied both types' age and performance - put to shame some of the fast jet demos you see. Nice to see a Jag T-bird displaying for once too. I could go on... :)

As for organisation - getting in a breeze, getting out - ouch. No marshalling going on so it was just a fight to get out involving much driving across the carpark area if you had any sense and wanted to avoid queuing for hours. It's getting to be very expensive for the single-bloke-in-a-car though!

Would be interested to find out why the Tornado F.3 aborted his display on Sunday about half-way through, as the general opinion from those watching seemed to be that it was rather rough around the edges (on the Saturday morning practice it even looked like they'd lost it at one point and were going to hit the deck when setting up for one of the passes - very scary).

Obligatory self-plug - there's a pile of piccies in the Av. History & Nostalgia forum.

[Dop]

I was actually wondering if all the uncertainty over whether there was going to be an airshow this year affected the show at all. Things that might have been arranged not being able to arrange because of the delay and uncertainty, that kind of thing.

Still. I enjoyed the day out, and at least this year they didn't have those boring moron-tax blimps....

[Established ILS 27L]

DOP

I agree with you and i think that was an important factor to the show this year.... My point quite simply is that the flying display has not changed much over the last three years..... I have seen the utterley butterly girls 3 years in a row now... i know many people enjoy that kind of thing but its not for all.....

All i am saying is that some life need to be injected into the show.... Typhoon enters service this year,,, will it be at Biggin next year, what are the odds... USAF love doing shows.... didn't see one USAF jet at the show... I cant knock the old stuff like the Bleriot... I thought that was class but some more fast Jets, modern Multi engine platform would go down a treat.....

[stiknruda]

Great photos Damien B! Will you be attending any aero competitions this year with your Instamatic - as I'd love some of my Pitts!?

Stik

[DamienB]

I tend not to bother - most of the flying is so distant from any spectator area, so good photos are impossible - particularly with aircraft as small as a Pitts! But other things could be arranged...

[Max AirFactor]

It was great. I'm sure the content will fluctuate from one year to the next depending on what's available but there was a reasonable programme. That Virgin Airbus (with 'Concorde - BA cant keep it up' slogan) doing a tigher circuit than I've ever managed at Biggin. Even the Arrows doing their height restricted show were superb - look at DamienB excellent piccies in the Av. History & Nostalgia forum.

[t'aint natural]

To be fair, I think Biggin Hill is holding up well at a time when the general public is blase about flying and jaded with aircraft. There was a surprisingly good turnout for a good show; but at £22 a ticket, and £7 for each kid, it's getting to be very pricy.