Farnborough is a bit "defence heavy" I'm afraid. If your girlfriend has no special interest in air-to-air missiles and anti-tank ammunition she will not really enjoy herself there... I once took my wife along to Le Bourget many years ago. A mistake I am not going to repeat. And Le Bourget is maybe 50% defence, 40% civilian (10% of that GA) and 10% space technology. Farnborough is 90% defence alone...

If there's one thing worse than chatting to people on your trade show stand who aren't going to buy, it's having nobody on the stand at all.

Provided you make it clear you aren't buying, people running stands will normally be quite happy to chat to you when there are no real buyers in prospect, so long as you evaporate smartly when a real punter wanders into view!

No, G has it right.

I am off this morning to get the Armani suit back from the dry cleaners, I have purchased a new tin of Parade Gloss for the Church's and my Dege-Skinnershirt is freshly laundered, collar starched and ready to go. My Como tie is looking good and ready to go. I am looking forward to Farnborough.

Mind you, in the past I have seen some serious players appear at a stand, without formal attire (dressed in Jeans and T Shirt) and get some fantastic attention and hospitality after producing a piece of plastic (about the size of a credit card) with the magical words "MOD - Unrestricted" on it, no company, no rank, just their name, a photo and a few simple words...

In short, it matters more at Farnborough about who you are rather than how you are dressed.

Not sure which is worst, a naff off-the-peg armani suit, or somebody waving a fictional MoD document about.

You really believe anybody with any credibility at MoD would turn up to Farnborough in anything other than a suit or a uniform?

Of course if you really are Tom Cruise or Richard Branson, then you are recognisable as important and very rich. For the rest of us, a little effort to smarten up shows respect to the people you're dealing with. It's just how it is in the heavy metal industry.

G

You have never owned one then G.... The off the peg is significantly better than Burton's and the made to measure range exceptional

Strange - the people I have seen with them never seemed to have any hassle getting into the "invitation" only areas or the better hospitality chalets, rather than visiting the burger van!! Same seemed to apply at other shows such as Securisec..

:):):)

Does anyone know how many Friday tickets they have sold to the public?

Free view
 

If you are visiting Farnborough to see the air display, it is hard to beat this viewing point.
http://www.peewit.co.uk/IMG_0832.JPG
No traffic, no queues, no cost, and no suit required.

Peewit

Swan Inn?

G

Well, I will be going as a trade visitor on a trade day.

My online application required 'approval' before it would be accepted, so I don't know how anyone who isn't a genuine trade visitor will be able to obtain a ticket for the non-public days - except by lying.

Collar and tie, jacket if it's not too warm. I have a few people to visit; unfortunately I'll need a laptop for some of the day. But I'll probably leg it back to the car park and escape early, rather than leave with the madding crowd at the end of the flying display.

Nope.
It is a hilltop just at the south end of the runway.
Park in a Bourley Road car park, or on the side of the road if you arrive late.
A bit of a walk through Army land (public access is allowed, or at least it was at the weekend two years ago) to the best seat in the house. If the wind was in the north it could spoil things.
http://www.peewit.co.uk/IMG_0833.JPG

Peewit

Members of the public can buy tickets for Friday which is a trade day. I bought two without lying, and our badges give our non-aviation related professions on them.

Still be glad of suggestions on what to see.

If you get bored you could always go to the LAA Youth and Education Support stand and make some paper aeroplanes. ;)
Yes Flyers - Youth & Education Support

I was able to buy a ticket for Friday.

It asks "mandatory" questions about the company name etc. Fairly obviously you can just make something up...

I presume the bow tie will be on parade though, G ?

No tie will be on display this year, of any shape - I'm on holiday somewhere reasonably sunny and I hope entirely Olympic free. Missing the Olympics seems a reasonable bonus for the annoyance of missing Farnborough.

G

If there's an LAA stand then I shall certainly go to that. Never been to an arms fair before so shall enjoy recounting the experience to shock my friends.

abgd,
I've just checked the diary and they'll be there from Friday with the RAes/ Boeing build a plane project. Yately school near Farnborough is one of the groups taking part.
Boeing in the UK: Schools Build a Plane Challenge

I think they'll have one of the previously completed aircraft on show and I did hear mention of a couple of pedal planes being taken along. :ok:

I don't think it's really accurate to think of it as an arms fair - although certainly there will be weapons on display.

Farnborough is about two things: aerospace and money. That the show was originally organised by the "Society of British Aircraft Constructors" tells you a lot about that, although it's a lot of years since things had to be British to be on display at the SBAC (now Society of British Aerospace Companies) show.

Clearly both flying machines, and things for shooting either at or from them, fall into that double category. But, you'll find in the trade exhibition a massive range of "stuff" that also does that: flying clothing, jet engines, rivets, crashproof seats, hangars, insurance, avionics - absolutely anything you can think of, and much you can't. The only really common factor is that the more expensive things are, the more likely they are to be at Farnborough. There's not a lot of room for cheap aviation, and not many opportunities to buy things and take them home with you. There will be massive numbers of opportunities however to take home brochures about things you will never be able to afford.

G

I went today (Friday).

It was full of casual people, and loads of kids on school trips.

The indoor stuff, which I did 100%, was OK but basically same as every other time. Aerospace companies, and aerospace component/material suppliers. Interesting to an "engineer" :)

The outdoor stuff was much thinner than on previous shows. Very few aircraft on the ground to look at.

I am not into air displays but saw the A380 - an ugly monster which "anybody" could have built if they were given a brief to build a bigger jumbo than anybody else had done before. It was doing impressive slow speed flying, made possible not by pilot skills but by the computer holding it right on the very edge of the stall and the pilot only needs to pull the stick all the way back :)

The car parks were far away, with free buses laid on. This worked well, but only because the crowds were thin. Catering was good too.

Lots of black limos driving VIPs round the place :)

I went yesterday to talk with a potential customer on board his aeroplane - and the hospitality was superb without being over the top. Then across to the exhibition halls which were virtually empty. I've never seen Farnborough so quiet.

An hour on board the A400M Atlas was good though - it has a superb flight deck and some extremely clever attention to detail in the cargo bay.

But the weather was utterly miserable, so I didn't bother to nose around the A380 (which is an ugly looking thing - the AirSlug) as I was getting drenched. I'd been advised not to go by car, because the car parks were in danger of becoming swamps. But the train journey to North Camp was very easy, with a return ticket only £17.30 from Didcot. Then a free shuttle bus from North Camp to the show, which was great. But there was absolutely no shelter at the bus stop for people taking the bus back to the station, so everyone stood there getting bl**dy soaked.... An unforgiveable omission!

The flying display yesterday was very brief. But I want a Gripen for Christmas!