Anybody else think Farnborough's Cr*p?

[Warmtoast]

I'm in Fleet about five miles from Farnborough and was very impressed with the Black Eagles display team of the Korean Air Force which did their practice for next weeks Farnborough Air Show this morning. Eight aircraft to start with then down to six - all low and very noisy.
Never seen Korean Air Force aircraft before so quite an occasion.
WT

[chevvron]

Originally Posted by Rated De

As others have commented, the trend has been clear for a while now.
Recalling a trade day 2006, it was rather dull, although the public were indeed present one sensed there was the beginnings of what ultimately transpired: More a trade show than anything else.

Yes the 2006 trade show was dull it being the first time since 1974 that I hadn't designed the flying programme.
Farnborough International decided to dispense with my services and employ a so called professional who left large gaps in the display whereas I always timed it VERY tight. I tried to 'suggest' how it should be done but was totally ignored.
I retired after the 2008 show and have never been back.

[DaveReidUK]

Originally Posted by chevvron

Farnborough International decided to dispense with my services and employ a so called professional who left large gaps in the display whereas I always timed it VERY tight.

When I used to attend the Farnborough show for the whole week, on behalf of my then employer, I used to find the short gaps between successive display items very annoying as it often didn't leave enough time to replenish one's G&T.

[chevvron]

Originally Posted by DaveReidUK

When I used to attend the Farnborough show for the whole week, on behalf of my then employer, I used to find the short gaps between successive display items very annoying as it often didn't leave enough time to replenish one's G&T.

There were no gaps in my day as no-one had time for G & Ts and anyway, why didn't your chalet have waitresses?
The display started every day at 2 pm because that's when the pilots finished lunch and everybody moaned about having to fly late in the display, thereafter they all wanted to get away early in order to go on the p1ss at their hotels in London.

[G-ARZG]

Too soon to say if the show lives down to the Cr*p in the header, but the show's app certainly does. Probably written by an intern who's never seen an aircraft. The static display includes a DCH2 Beaver and a 'USAF' AH-64E, CH-47F and P-8A Poseidon. Grrr!

[SimonPaddo]

Well as its free for me, I certainly like a 777X or Embraer 195 over the house with 80% bank angle at 1500 ft. A welcome distraction when working from home. ATC certainly earning their keep so far this week.

[bobward]

I made the mistake of trying to get to the show by driving through Farnborough town on Monday.
A bad move as I took two hours plus to travel 1.5 miles from the edge of town to the car park. The whole jam being caused by cars turning off into the exhibition area at the roundabout by the Hilton Hotel.
It got so bad that if I could have turned around and gone home, I would have. Around lunch time the traffic cleared, and by the time we left, 1500, we had a clear run out.

The other strange thing was that there were so few people around as we left. Mind you, with the heat and traffic aggravation, maybe everyone else had given up.
As for the static park, not a lot to excite the palette I'm afraid, or maybe I'm just getting too old for this stuff?

[Jump Complete]

Spoiler

 

 

I’ve only attended Farnborough once, in 2000. (On the day of the Concorde crash - I heard about it on the Farnborough radio station when I returned to my car.) I went on a trade day, you could apply for a trade ticket on the basis of having a pilots licence (just a PPL back then.) Is that still the case?

[DaveReidUK]

Originally Posted by Jump Complete

I’ve only attended Farnborough once, in 2000. (On the day of the Concorde crash - I heard about it on the Farnborough radio station when I returned to my car.) I went on a trade day, you could apply for a trade ticket on the basis of having a pilots licence (just a PPL back then.) Is that still the case?

Trade tickets are now £65, up from the early bird price of £45, which might take a bit of justifying But if you're determined to go regardless of the cost, I suspect the vetting of applications is pretty cursory and they would rather just have your money.

Here's the information needed to apply for a trade ticket:


As I said in a previous post, anyone with a bit of imagination shouldn't find it a problem to supply suitable information - just be creative with the "Organisation Name" and probably best not to try to register with your Hotmail address.

[Jump Complete]

I doubt the trade tickets were that much then, (allowing for inflation) as I was pretty broke at the time! But also keen. Talked my way onto the 757-300 demonstrator. ‘Are you aircrew?’ ‘Yes!’ ..well pretty much true. The A380 (then the Airbus XXX) was just a plywood cut-out on the far side of the field.
EDIT: Airbus 3XX, not XXX. Don’t google Airbus XXX at work, the results are… interesting.

[Less Hair]

I think they moved it too far into summer. Main vacations at many places and school breaks prevent people from attending.

[SimonPaddo]

Can't speak for the static display but the flying display certainly isn't worth £65, if you want to see it stay outside would be my recommendation.

[SpringHeeledJack]

I've gone to the pub garden at the end of the runway in the past. Where would you recommend as a local ?

[DaveReidUK]

The top deck of the multi-storey car park on Fowler Avenue used to be a popular spot for watching the display, though not necessarily so good for photography as you're facing south.

Whether it's as good now that the big Gulfstream building has gone up, I'm not so sure.

[chevvron]

When they moved the Farnborough show from September to July, the thinking was that it would naturally 'follow' on' from RIAT.

[SpringHeeledJack]

Just back from the 'airshow'. What a load of rubbish that was, with all due respect to the skills and daring of the aircraft crews who did show up. Maybe I don't understand the costs of the flying displays, but really the flying programme was so meagre and so interspersed with long gaps that it ranks (for me) as the worst large airshow I've ever witnessed. Yes, the weather was a bit uncharitable for the first hour (Red Arrows flyby cancelled), but there were no fast jets or any jets, apart from the A350 who made mockery of the laws of flight so graceful was it's display. All other participants were either rotary or propeller driven. Almost forgot, as it was rather anti-climactic, there was a flypast of (I think) Korean fast jets at the end.

Truly, the organisers should just have the 54 days for the trade and be done with it.

[treadigraph]

Originally Posted by SpringHeeledJack

(Red Arrows flyby cancelled)

Just read a thread in the Mil bit that says Reds and various other Hawks/Typhoons temporarily affected by a ejection seat snag... might be why they were non-showers.

Re the A350, no 777X as well?

[SpringHeeledJack]

No, nothing other than the A350, unless they were flying in the morning, but I arrived at 12 noon and didn't see/hear anything else. There was a dearth of commercial/mil larger aircraft. You'd have thought that the organisers might have arranged some 'training flights/sorties' by the RAF/RN/ARMY and USAF to go by FAB today, but no......As I was leaving the 737-10MAX took off, but heading back to Seattle rather than displaying of any kind.

[SimonPaddo]

SHJ. Sorry been travelling, think Boeing exited early. Swan is right at end of runway, so good view. We tend to take chairs and picnics to Rushmoor Community FC next to the Premier Inn off the A327. Tweseldown would be good, but not sure if folks discouraged from going there. Was ok given I was there anyway but not worth going out of your way for.

[bobward]

Isn't there a ban on teams displaying at FB due to housing encroaching the area?