Farnborough 2014 - Anyone on here going?

Farnborough 2014 - Anyone on here going?

Author
Discussion

Topbuzz

222 posts

179 months

Sunday 20th July 2014
quotequote all
We noticed that one of the Red Arrows had a second go. Good show today, well worth coming back to see it.

onyx39

Original Poster:

11,109 posts

149 months

Sunday 20th July 2014
quotequote all





RizzoTheRat

25,085 posts

191 months

Sunday 20th July 2014
quotequote all
Far Cough said:
Did I see one of the Red Arrows had to "go around" ??? At the end of their display they all landed in line but one of them ( couldnt see which as trees in the way ) reappeared under throttle and back up she went for a right circuit with gear down but a much tighter circuit than before ????? Curious ???
Yeah, Red 3 (or it might have been 4) caught a bit of turbulence from the one in front as he was about to land so went round again.

ecsrobin

17,019 posts

164 months

Sunday 20th July 2014
quotequote all
RizzoTheRat said:
Yeah, Red 3 (or it might have been 4) caught a bit of turbulence from the one in front as he was about to land so went round again.
He was very high prior to landing dropped low then aborted and went around. And they're meant to be our best pilots wink

I didn't think I'd ever say this but WOW the vulcan truly put on an awessome show after following the airshow circuit for about 5-6 years and seeing the vulcan return to flight the last 2 years the display has been somewhat disappointing for obvious reasons (of which I have very strong views on) so I generally switch off when they display. Being with friends that haven't seen it properly display we watched it and I was amazed how much better the display was than over the past few years, well done to the crew.

Qwert1e

545 posts

117 months

Sunday 20th July 2014
quotequote all
Hope you had a good day today. These big air shows are a great entertainment IMO.

RizzoTheRat

25,085 posts

191 months

Sunday 20th July 2014
quotequote all
Slightly underwhelmed to be honest. Still a good day out but nowhere near as good as it used to be when the Russians used to come over and there'd be loads of fighters displaying. F-18 and Typhoon were the only modern fighters, several airliners and transports did pretty good displays, and lots of nice historic stuff, but it's no substitute for a tailslide, cobra or kulbit.

Impressed by the F-35b's stealth capabilities though.


jmorgan

36,010 posts

283 months

Sunday 20th July 2014
quotequote all
My better half had never seen the Vulcan fly and did not know what to expect at this point.

Nearly fell over.






Edited by jmorgan on Sunday 20th July 22:40

ehasler

8,566 posts

282 months

Sunday 20th July 2014
quotequote all
I was slightly disappointed by the lineup beforehand, but I really enjoyed the day.

The Vulcan, F18, Typhoon, Lynx and Aerostars were really impressive. The Red Arrows were stunning as usual, and it was great to see a Harrier in action again. The other displays weren't poor either - and it was interesting to have aircraft like the Constellation and Great War aircraft mixed in with the more modern stuff.

Great day out, although I wish I'd put the sun cream on earlier redface

ecsrobin

17,019 posts

164 months

Sunday 20th July 2014
quotequote all
ehasler said:
I was slightly disappointed by the lineup beforehand, but I really enjoyed the day.

The Vulcan, F18, Typhoon, Lynx and Aerostars were really impressive. The Red Arrows were stunning as usual, and it was great to see a Harrier in action again. The other displays weren't poor either - and it was interesting to have aircraft like the Constellation and Great War aircraft mixed in with the more modern stuff.

Great day out, although I wish I'd put the sun cream on earlier redface
I was very disappointed with the show luckily I had a pass through work. It just felt that the paying public were not getting much for their money with the majority of stands being packed up or closed it was really hard to find what was open and what was not. And those that were open often had very little.

If I was a paying customer I would certainly not return or recommend going to farnborough. I understand its a trade show with a weekend of flying bolted on at the end but for a family I really can't see the appeal with limited viewing areas or places to rest and limited ground attractions.

However the diversity of the flying displays was very good if very small compared to the likes of RIAT, waddington, bournemouth.

ehasler

8,566 posts

282 months

Sunday 20th July 2014
quotequote all
ecsrobin said:
I was very disappointed with the show luckily I had a pass through work. It just felt that the paying public were not getting much for their money with the majority of stands being packed up or closed it was really hard to find what was open and what was not. And those that were open often had very little.

If I was a paying customer I would certainly not return or recommend going to farnborough. I understand its a trade show with a weekend of flying bolted on at the end but for a family I really can't see the appeal with limited viewing areas or places to rest and limited ground attractions.

However the diversity of the flying displays was very good if very small compared to the likes of RIAT, waddington, bournemouth.
I'd disagree - I would definitely return (this was my third visit), and my girlfriend really enjoyed it too (her first air show). It was a shame that the trade stands were closed, as I remember these being worth a visit when I first attended about 10 years ago, but there was enough to see to fill the couple of hours between us arriving and the display starting. I think if there had been a lot more to see on the ground, I'd have ended up missing some of the flying.

I'd paid for grandstand tickets and had a great view at the end of the runway. I also got to meet Andy Green, and a couple of WWII pilots (one of whom was on the Lancaster programme earlier tonight) - I really couldn't complain about that at all.

OK, the lineup was a little light, but there were aircraft at Farnborough (the Harrier in particular) that I really wanted to see that weren't at any other shows. It would have been nice if some of the static aircraft like the F15 and F16 had flown, and it's a shame that the US Air Force didn't have more aircraft flying - I still remember the F117 at my first show, and the B-52 lumbering over 4 years ago - but I didn't feel like I'd missed out.

ecsrobin

17,019 posts

164 months

Sunday 20th July 2014
quotequote all
I've done Waddington and RIAT this year prior to Farnborough and just felt disappointed but each to there own, certainly my friend proffered it to RIAT. It's certainly better than Cosford which is at the bottom of my airshow list.

anonymous-user

53 months

Sunday 20th July 2014
quotequote all
ecsrobin said:
He was very high prior to landing dropped low then aborted and went around. And they're meant to be our best pilots wink

I think you will find he may have aborted due to birds flying across the runway. There have been two bird strikes at Farnborough in the last week or so and a bird strike at Waddington earlier this month, which I believe has written off the aircraft involved.

Here is a photo I took today, and you can see the birds in the photo.



ecsrobin

17,019 posts

164 months

Sunday 20th July 2014
quotequote all
anonymous said:
[redacted]
Didn't realise the birds were still about, was watching them during the show thinking they were deciding which one was going to be a martyr. And then deciding if they would go for red9 as it's so far gone 6, 7, 8.

ehasler

8,566 posts

282 months

Monday 21st July 2014
quotequote all
anonymous said:
[redacted]
The commentator said it was because he'd dipped a wing on approach due to the jet wash from the jet in front and decided to go around. He had just been explaining how they land in a particular pattern to avoid this.

GreatGranny

9,097 posts

225 months

Monday 21st July 2014
quotequote all
Was there on the sat all eady for rain but ended up with a great tan :-)
Had free tickets through my B in L's partner and had a great position on the balcony in the Media Centre.
Thought the A400 was superb, Red Arrows were great as usual, F18 fantastic but Typhoon IMO on another level. It just turns so much tighter. Having it do its full display rather than the low level one 2 years ago made the day for me.
Vulcan was going for it and the Sea Fury (?) and Spitfire both sounded superb.
All in all a great day.

jmorgan

36,010 posts

283 months

Monday 21st July 2014
quotequote all
My take on it. First air show for many many years and we did try for RIAT but could not get the leave sorted. So Farnborough it was, that and I wanted to see the Vulcan fly so this ended up as the better choice.

We probably paid over the odds but had a good day on Sunday. Overall I think it was a two day event to get it all in but next year we will be trying for RIAT as it is closer and we would not need an overnight. We enjoyed it, that was probably due to not going for many years, the other half thought it was great.

The only down side was trying to find out what time to get there so got there early and in when it opened.

Eric Mc

121,779 posts

264 months

Monday 21st July 2014
quotequote all
I enjoyed it too. I really enjoyed talking to lots of people - especially those who were there to look after the aircraft in the display -

An RAF Squadron Leader who is on secondment to the US Navy and was flying US Navy Boeing P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft (the P-8 is based on the Boeing 737 so is a pretty big aeroplane to be horsing about - which he did brilliantly). It's quite odd to see what is essentially an airliner kitted out with underwing mounted anti-shipping missiles - and a bomb bay in the rear fuselage.

A guy who has personally restored to airworthy condition a 1950s Hawker Hunter jet fighter. He flies it as his personal aircraft and he told me the difficulty he had in getting the Royal Navy colour scheme just right. I gave him a few contacts in the modelling fraternity who might be able to help him regarding colour schemes. He was really grateful

The lads from Classic Jets who are based at Newquay and Coventry and were displaying a Canberra, a Vampire, a Gloster Meteor and also had in the static park a Jet Provost and a Gnat.

A chap who had flown down in the back of one of the two seat Spitfires that were displayed

And various chats with ordinary punters.



sanguinary

1,344 posts

210 months

Monday 21st July 2014
quotequote all
sanguinary said:
ecsrobin said:
Latest weather locally would suggest don't bother on Saturday. You might see something fly at the end of the day if the forecast is correct.
I fear you may be correct. frown
Well, we took a chance and drove down from Newcastle, arriving at the show for 9:30. My Uncle got us into the exhibitor's car park at the end of the runway, which kept us away from the crowds. We even got a quick look around the trade halls.

The weather still looked ominous until early afternoon. From there on though, it was blazing sunshine, which cooked us nicely.

We stayed until the end of the show. - I was a little sad that so many people left before the Spitfire had finished displaying. It was a 20 hour day and two tanks of fuel for us, by the time we got home, but well worth the effort.

Roll on Sunderland next week - at least we don't have to travel too far for this one!

jmorgan

36,010 posts

283 months

Monday 21st July 2014
quotequote all
Eric Mc said:
t and a Gnat.
On the rifle range at St Athan (air cadet) and a Gnat in red arrow livery was strutting its stuff, probably just had an oil change and new exhaust being what St Athan was, and it did a run down the run way, that is it was already airborne and seemed to do the run way around 20 ft off the ground (in appearance from our position so probably higher) then went vertical. And did some more stuff. Our own one plane display.

Eric Mc

121,779 posts

264 months

Monday 21st July 2014
quotequote all
The Farnborough example was in Yellowjacks livery.