RIAT

[DOC.400]

Who's going on Saturday?

Will be staying overnight tonite in the 'Early Bird' car park.

Have one spare comp ticket for Sat or Sun. Collect from Egham b4 2000 tonite.

DOC
07860 595355

[treadigraph]

Not I, had my fill of crowds, queues and wall-to-wall jets...

But I hope you enjoy a safe and exciting display!

[DOC.400]

'Wall-to-Wall jets'

Yeh, can't wait. What with wall-to-wall piston engines at Duxford and Goodwood last week, I can hack it!!

Crowds? Fairford seemed so vast last year it wasn't a problem. Most of them were still queuing to get in (5 hours M4 to entrance.....)

Was a shambles last year. Two hour queue to walk in as only 2 X-ray scanners. We got back to car park at 1800, it was empty by 2300..... Watched a BMW travel five car lengths in three hours........

Fortunately, had dinner in motorhome so not a prob -way to go!

DOC

[treadigraph]

Last time I went (95? - year the MiGs collided) I went by train and special bus, still queued to get in, missed everything I really wanted to see fly apart from the MiG 21s, huge crowds milling everywhere near the static... it's just got too big for me. Give me the gentle delights of Shuttleworth or Duxford any day! :)

Looks like the weather will be good for you!:ok:

[DOC.400]

Can't but agree on Shuttleworth. Love the evening fly-ins. leisurely picnic during the afternoon while their historic cars waft around with occupants in period costume.

The flying is superb, and by the fence one is very close to the start up and shut down procedure. I love the ripple of applause that breaks out after a display when the pilot has shut down.

Many, many years ago, when my youngest was 9 months old, he was in my arms as we watched the clip wing Spitfire go about it's steep turns and fly-pasts -his eyes NEVER left it!! Thasmaboy!!!

DOC

[DOC.400]

Absolutley brilliant day Saturday. Walked straight in, no queues. They'd halved the number of X-ray machines but doubled the squaddies on bag and body searches.

Patrouille and Flecce brilliant, but for me the Sparrows stole the show as usual with their oh-so-tight formation flying. The new 'Champagne Split' is a stunning manouvre and I'm STILL trying to work out how they did it........and missed each other!! Treat to see the F117 and Sparrows in formation, the latter in a dart around the stealth bomber echoing it's 62 degree sweepback, flew past and turned into a lovely slow roll as one....

Four ship F-16's taking off was a sight and sound to remain in the old DOC memory -one after the other, held down below the line of the marquees, then a pull up into the vertical with a gentle rolling left off the top in to line astern -wow!!

Flecces box manouvre interesting, one upside down, one below, two either side in a knife edge....

Shattered, DOC's poor little legs still ache........

Car park two thirds empty by eight pm and no hold ups on the drive away.

I may go again.....

DOC

[AerBabe]

My first outing to a RIAT, and had a great time. The crowds and traffic were nothing compared to Farnborough and Paris. I was pleasantly surprised how accessible the aircraft were. We managed to get a look round a Sea King, as well as the 'official' exhibits.

But

There were no signs to the park and ride if you weren't on the motorway.
The 'dedicated' 'VIP' route for park and ride busses wasn't.
The park and ride was more a park, ride and walk.
There were very few signs around the show.
There weren't people at the show to ask directions from.
The first aid points were extremely poorly signed (luckily we didn't need one).
The shuttle busses around the site weren't free.


Most of the gripes were pretty minor though, and we had a good day out. I'd definitely go again, and recommend it to other people. :ok:

[Grob Driver]

Hi,

I’ve just got back from a weekend at RIAT, and I have to say, I have mixed views… The static display was fantastic… I think they did really well with the 100 years of flight area, but the flying was abysmal… They had some great machines in the sky, but it was all very patchy... Long periods of not a lot!

I wonder if the problems of last year put a lot of people off going? I’ve never seen an IAT so empty. There were gaps in the flight line… That is normally unheard of. And you could walk down the static without bumping into people. I heard that they were 30,000 people down on Saturdays attendance compared with last year. Not sure how true that is, but I can well believe it!

All in all thought, I thought it was a nice show.

[DOC.400]

It was empty!! But I think I would have been put off from last year of I had queued fro three hours from the M4 and then 2 hours from the car park to the entrance!!!

That's outrageous that the shuttle buses weren't free!!

Accessibilty of aircraft on the line was great, got many internal visits and crew always more than happy to chat. They are very proud of their machines!!

Forward your points to RIAT, Aerbabe -you never know what you may get in return........;)

DOC

[AerBabe]

The worst thing about the shuttle buses was that when we got on, we were told they were free. So went all the way to the far end of the flight line on one. Then, when it reached the end, a different driver got on and told us we had to pay £3 ... yes £3 if we wanted to go back.

We walked.

Have to agree that much of the flying lacked imagination. It seemed much of the team flying involved an unusually high amoung of straight and level. Oh, but with grey smoke, which made ALL the difference. :rolleyes: At Farnborough, for example, when I hear an engine I always look up, and come into the open to see. At RIAT I didn't bother much of the time...

DOC.400 - I would love to let RIAT know what I thought (both good and bad, honest ;) ). Any idea who is a good contact, so as not to have my opinions lost in a pile of paperwork?