Farnborough Public Weekend Axed
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
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Farnborough Public Weekend Axed
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hampshire-47463443
The Farnborough International Airshow will no longer host a public weekend after "negative and vitriolic" feedback for displays, it has been announced.
Organisers said the Shoreham air crash had "expedited" the decision, which comes amid a "dwindling number" of spectators.
A spokeswoman said organisers could "no longer provide an airshow the public want".
The event will focus on its five-day trade show.......
The Farnborough International Airshow will no longer host a public weekend after "negative and vitriolic" feedback for displays, it has been announced.
Organisers said the Shoreham air crash had "expedited" the decision, which comes amid a "dwindling number" of spectators.
A spokeswoman said organisers could "no longer provide an airshow the public want".
The event will focus on its five-day trade show.......
Really?
That's an absolute tragedy.
I'd be interested to know how much of it was due to lack of $$$ because of dwindling numbers.
And as to the bleating - the whinging of anti-war lentil munchers and NIMBY snowflakes with sensitive hearing (or a desire to eliminate any risk from life) wins out again.
Fond memories of the Bona-jet deafeningly bowing to us in the stands are now just memories.
That's an absolute tragedy.
I'd be interested to know how much of it was due to lack of $$$ because of dwindling numbers.
And as to the bleating - the whinging of anti-war lentil munchers and NIMBY snowflakes with sensitive hearing (or a desire to eliminate any risk from life) wins out again.
Fond memories of the Bona-jet deafeningly bowing to us in the stands are now just memories.
I take on board the negative aspects from local residents due to noise and the Shoreham incident but the air display last year on the trade days was very poor with little of interest from a military perspective. I didn’t see a lot more planned for the public days so I’m not surprised attendances were down last year. From my own experience I’m sure trade show numbers were also greatly reduced which I’m sure has come as a major disappointment to ADS because this show is their major cash investment every 2 years. The Farnborough Site has been reconfigured into an exhibition centre not just for an air show but I fear for its future.
I don’t know for sure but just think ADS could have tried a bit harder.
I don’t know for sure but just think ADS could have tried a bit harder.
I haven't been to Farnborough for a while now. On the last 2 occasions I had to queue up for some security check - first time I'd ever seen that at an air show. Last time the grass was so wet that everyone advised that the car parks were seas of mud, so to go by train as there was a free bus to the show from the station. So that's what I did - except that when queuing to come out there was no bus shelter of any kind and everyone got soaked - very poor organisation.
As for the show itself, the pavilions were virtually empty (this wasn't on a 'public' day) with people manning the stands hanging around looking bored. A few aircraft flew, but nothing very impressive.
Expensive too. But the fat cats in the chalets were no doubt wooed by the bigger manufacturers as ever....
As for the show itself, the pavilions were virtually empty (this wasn't on a 'public' day) with people manning the stands hanging around looking bored. A few aircraft flew, but nothing very impressive.
Expensive too. But the fat cats in the chalets were no doubt wooed by the bigger manufacturers as ever....
Farnborough is in the middle of a densely-populated area. The post-shorham display regs make almost impossible to legally do an interesting display in anything much bigger than a Pitts S1*, so I can see the argument for not even trying, frankly.
PDR
* I exaggerate, but only a little
PDR
* I exaggerate, but only a little
Ahh not like the old days when Roly Falk used to have lunch with customers in the chalets, then pop out, get into a Vulcan fully suited and booted in his finest pinstripe suit, and fly it like a fighter.
Wish I'd been there to see that.....
Wish I'd been there to see that.....
Last edited by Treble one; 6th Mar 2019 at 07:19. Reason: Added video
They are opening up the Friday trade day to the public though, so they will now have access to the stands.
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So that just really leaves Cosford, or Duxford and bar the 100th anniversary, Cosford has been pitiful over the last few years, the only real advantage is the punters have the museum to fall back on, but once you've done that a couple of times then the content is miminal, Duxford flying legends however is superb.
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My first experience was as a young sprog in 1960. I visited both trade and public shows throughout my childhood with my father and then with the Air Training Corps. Those shows gave me my love of aviation in its many guises, so much so that at the age of 20 I moved from ATC to ATC!
The shows in those days were spectacular, in '60 the Black Arrows displayed with sixteen Hunters. But now money and health and safety have turned it into a safe, expensive shadow of those noisy, pioneering shows. Very sad!
The shows in those days were spectacular, in '60 the Black Arrows displayed with sixteen Hunters. But now money and health and safety have turned it into a safe, expensive shadow of those noisy, pioneering shows. Very sad!
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My lasting memories of trade days was watching a bunch of well dressed, suited and booted older gentlemen fighting like children to get to the free cheap pens Boeing would put out occasionally.... It always struck me as both childish and pathetic.
...which comes amid a "dwindling number" of spectators.
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Correct, look at Flying Legends, it sells out in a heartbeat.
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Airshows are on borrowed time in the UK, at least anything that resembles an "air" show. The combination of Shoreham and rampant development of, and around, airfields is a pretty fatal one. If RIAT ever do get the push from Fairford that will be the end of that one as well, as there is literally nowhere else suitable left in the whole country for a sizeable airshow to take place.
Sad times and its all happened on our watch....
Sad times and its all happened on our watch....