Nice one, RAFAT!
As others have said, the cockpit footage shows just how good a job they did.
If conditions were only suitable for a single formation of fast jets, RAFAT was the right choice. More familiar to the public, more closely associated with pageantry, and (most crucially) a lot easier to see against a murky grey background.
If conditions were only suitable for a single formation of fast jets, RAFAT was the right choice. More familiar to the public, more closely associated with pageantry, and (most crucially) a lot easier to see against a murky grey background.
Would have been awkward if the Typhoons or F35 got through, but the Reds aborted...
Wasn't watching TV at the time but I was at home NW of Woking when I heard them (distinctive noise compared to civil flights) departing from the Heathrow CTR; didn't see them as they must have been in cloud but a look on FR24 about a minute later showed they were just south of me turning west indicating 2,000ft so somehow they got from Buck Palace to somewhere near Fairoaks climbing into IMC.
The weather shown in the cockpit video was not, in itself, a problem. 10k+ visibility and a well-defined cloudbase meant that it was probably a pretty routine run-in. What had to be considered was the possibility of a screw-up with a lot of mis-matched formations and little chance of a vertical-plane abort. I am glad that the Arrows got through and I think the decision was correct, albeit disappointing. Better to have a reduced fly-past than to generate noise complaints caused by falling metal.
And no, I have never been an Arrow (of any colour) or even flown the Hawk but I have displayed most things from helicopters to fast-jet, pistons and vintage for nigh on 50 years.
Vivat Rex!
Mog
And no, I have never been an Arrow (of any colour) or even flown the Hawk but I have displayed most things from helicopters to fast-jet, pistons and vintage for nigh on 50 years.
Vivat Rex!
Mog
Gentleman Aviator
Used to have a guy work for me in the late 80s - before he retired at 58 - who had flown a Meteor in the 1953 flypast.
Over 600 aircraft were involved (!!!) and all from the UK.
He said the biggest problem was the Sabres, quite a few of whom flamed out, left the formation, relit and rejoined!
Can you imagine the R/T?
Red 437 - Mayday - flameout - leaving formation.
Red 437 - cancel Mayday - successful relight - rejoining.
O tempora o mores.......
Over 600 aircraft were involved (!!!) and all from the UK.
He said the biggest problem was the Sabres, quite a few of whom flamed out, left the formation, relit and rejoined!
Can you imagine the R/T?
Red 437 - Mayday - flameout - leaving formation.
Red 437 - cancel Mayday - successful relight - rejoining.
O tempora o mores.......
The following 4 users liked this post by teeteringhead:
The weather shown in the cockpit video was not, in itself, a problem. 10k+ visibility and a well-defined cloudbase meant that it was probably a pretty routine run-in. What had to be considered was the possibility of a screw-up with a lot of mis-matched formations and little chance of a vertical-plane abort. I am glad that the Arrows got through and I think the decision was correct, albeit disappointing. Better to have a reduced fly-past than to generate noise complaints caused by falling metal.
And no, I have never been an Arrow (of any colour) or even flown the Hawk but I have displayed most things from helicopters to fast-jet, pistons and vintage for nigh on 50 years.
Vivat Rex!
Mog
And no, I have never been an Arrow (of any colour) or even flown the Hawk but I have displayed most things from helicopters to fast-jet, pistons and vintage for nigh on 50 years.
Vivat Rex!
Mog
Multi-element flypasts have the successive formations stacked up and down by a couple of hundred feet to minimise wake turbulence issues and to provide a margin of safety in case of timing errors or loss of visual contact. When the cloud is as low as it was today, the number of available flypast levels between the minimum safe (dictated by the City skyscrapers, which are close to the flypast line) and the maximum legal (dictated by whatever margin from the cloudbase has been agreed between the various authorities) is reduced to the extent that aircraft have to be removed from the flypast in order to avoid stretching it out into an over-long snoozefest with IFR separation between elements sharing a single level. It's nothing to do with the all-weather capability of the individual aircraft involved; any of them could have flown through at the level used by RAFAT.
The following 2 users liked this post by falcon900:
We had a nice loose formation low-level rotary flypast view from my front window as they returned to Benson. Full marks for decision making on the part of whoever had the unenviable job, and the impeccable timing. I think Prince George has decided which service to join.
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ISTR the Flypast in 1953 (all 600!) was across The Mall rather than down/up it'. Good positive clearance' of weather too, post Cold Front? Suspect it was a coldish Warm Sector 'for most of the morning and early afternoon but, perhaps our resident Met Man could do an aftercast' please? All recalled distantly from the memory of a 16 year old Programme Seller' at the time.
AD.
AD.
Ive always believed there’s a time and a place, and I know its not an airshow, but there is definitely scope for everyone to run through a tad lower!
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Just found my pic of us on the way to the assembly area for our GW1 flypast. The weather does not look too promising and the VC10 and the Tristar are just visible down in the weeds'
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You wouldn't believe what we used to call them at Farnborough after I'd done 18 airshows there plus other 'events' associated with them.
But an announcement was made during the morning that this was cancelled, so I assume that the destination was changed to Brize Norton at that stage.
ISTR the Flypast in 1953 (all 600!) was across The Mall rather than down/up it'. Good positive clearance' of weather too, post Cold Front? Suspect it was a coldish Warm Sector 'for most of the morning and early afternoon but, perhaps our resident Met Man could do an aftercast' please? All recalled distantly from the memory of a 16 year old Programme Seller' at the time.
AD.
AD.
Will PM if I succeed but not until next weekend.
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VMC Redefined? 😉 Well done. 🫡👍🏼🇬🇧
The following 2 users liked this post by oldmansquipper:
The weather shown in the cockpit video was not, in itself, a problem. 10k+ visibility and a well-defined cloudbase meant that it was probably a pretty routine run-in. What had to be considered was the possibility of a screw-up with a lot of mis-matched formations and little chance of a vertical-plane abort. I am glad that the Arrows got through and I think the decision was correct, albeit disappointing. Better to have a reduced fly-past than to generate noise complaints caused by falling metal.
And no, I have never been an Arrow (of any colour) or even flown the Hawk but I have displayed most things from helicopters to fast-jet, pistons and vintage for nigh on 50 years.
Vivat Rex!
Mog
And no, I have never been an Arrow (of any colour) or even flown the Hawk but I have displayed most things from helicopters to fast-jet, pistons and vintage for nigh on 50 years.
Vivat Rex!
Mog