The spotters will be livid!

[penfold93]

Announcement of no public airshow at Farnborough this year (link)

 

[Stevienics]

No Hunter Hawker jet?


RIAT is going to be mobbed.

 

[Tin basher]

I hope this leads to a reduced need for those still serving to support this corporate junket and sales event.

 

[Late & Tired]

No doubt a great sigh of relief, from all at SO3 and below.
DT_Xtremez_14:

 

[Witty_Banter]

They're only chopping off the public weekend, so there'll still be 5 days of plane spotting - do people still get roped in for the trade bit?

Also interesting that the Red Arrows can't to displays any more, and are limited to fly pasts due to new CAA and RAF restrictions. Does that mean we can dispose of the pointless moneypit that is the RAF 'display' team (as they can't 'display' any more!) and put the war-dodging pilots back into operationally useful airframes???

 

[Late & Tired]

Also interesting that the Red Arrows can't to displays any more, and are limited to fly pasts due to new CAA and RAF restrictions. Does that mean we can dispose of the pointless moneypit that is the RAF 'display' team (as they can't 'display' any more!) and put the war-dodging pilots back into operationally useful airframes???

Don't start attacking RAF financially wasteful projects with logic.
Totally the wrong approach, - you must introduce Gp Capt tangent.
I do agree though - past their value, for me no added value now.
Get the drivers and a Sqn full of engineers and support into a more useful role.

 

[Stevienics]

Forget it. They are worth literally billions in exports. Even I can see their value.

 

[Witty_Banter]

Forget it. They are worth literally billions in exports. Even I can see their value.

Correction, they have been worth billions in exports, and you can recognise their current value...

Now that they've had their wings clipped and are essentially just little red 'planes with smoke dispensers, will they have the same effect? Will there be further investment in airframes that aren't allowed to do what they were designed to do any more?

They may have brought in cash in the past, but they also cost a pretty penny to keep running. They've been offered up for the chop by the big wigs plenty of times in the past when the budget axe has swung, but nobody wanted to kill of a money maker.

If that ability to generate cash starts to dwindle, do you really think the Arrows would survive the next chopping block?

 

[Tin basher]

Forget it. They are worth literally billions in exports. Even I can see their value.

Even if the reds can't make the same pretty patterns in the UK skies as they did in the past, they can still fly the UK corporate flag at overseas events where perhaps different airshow restrictions apply. They could still be generating earnings for BAe whilst abroad. Do we need the reds anymore? No of course not but the public outcry at the mere suggestion they get the chop would be loud.

 

[dctyke]

Even if the reds can't make the same pretty patterns in the UK skies as they did in the past, they can still fly the UK corporate flag at overseas events where perhaps different airshow restrictions apply. They could still be generating earnings for BAe whilst abroad. Do we need the reds anymore? No of course not but the public outcry at the mere suggestion they get the chop would be loud.

All well and good however where will they practice for these overseas events. If display restrictions apply to everything in uk airspace where will we base them, full time in Cyprus ?

 

[GD on Wheels]

Am I missing something here? I saw the report on my local TV station. And as far as I can gather it's down to the flying restrictions imposed by the local authorities, due to housing being close by. Unless someone knows something different it only applies to Farnborough and the Reds performance there.

 

[Stevienics]

It'll probably be just Farnborough, though how Duxford escapes the same attention I do not know.

 

[Late & Tired]

Not wanting to be seen as a constant source of negativity, but a recent quote on another forum hit home
...Airshows are on borrowed time...

 

[StickyFingers]

Not wanting to be seen as a constant source of negativity, but a recent quote on another forum hit home
...Airshows are on borrowed time...

Fingers Crossed.

Scampton managed to screw the Lincolnshire one up proper, managing to make a loss with a rent free airfield and free manpower.

Hopefully the rest will die a death too.

Been going downhill for years, now it just tail draggers with the pilots having far more fun that any spectator watching.

 

[Stevienics]

It'll be a while yet. Especially tail-draggers - the nostalgia element is highly lucrative and very, very popular.

 

[FOMz]

Farnborough is a trade show first and foremost.... and considering we won't have any trade deals in place this year because of 'you know what'... well.....

DT_Xtremez_14: