Red Arrows and Farborough

Sadly I believe Farnborough is no longer a site that can host modern, safety conscious, flying displays. I live about 1 mile to the north of the airport and the reds come over me at about 500ft, they probably flew over around 20,000 peoples homes. The airshow will become Mon-Thurs trade only, and I have been saying that for years. The airshow are building a new ,permanent, exhibition center after this years so and plan to have lots more exhibitions there. TAG will be happy because more bizjets will visit during show week and it wont impact their business. The only looser in the airshow punter. The public days have been going down hill fast. Thing is it’s so accessible from London. Hour from Waterloo and you can be in the show. Even Biggin Hill is not that easy to get to by public transport from London.

I was passing along the M3 during a Farnborough show a few years back and because of the slow-moving traffic got to enjoy an extensive display by the Red Arrows. What I remember though is that they primarily changed the formation shape everytime they crossed overhead my car, there didn’t seem to be any vertical manouvres within the display. I cannot remember if the weather was the culprit on that day but with the proximity of airliners above and houses nearby, the decision to use a similar show this year does not surprise me. Are we sure that this decision is in fact linked to Shoreham? Or is that perhaps a conclusion drawn by the media?

Farnborough is prmarily a trade show and the public displays are an afterthought. There was a time when apart from RAF Bof B at home days there were few other big displays.For the enthusiast Farnborough is not worth the cost IMHO, far better to travel to Paris for the new items and IAT for exotic aircraft. The main reason Fboro attracts the public is massive advertising and a large catchment area. there is also a growing trend for aerospace trade shows across the world which attract better prospects for sales.

Oily,
Actually, that’s a pretty good point. Farnborough is a far busier airport nowadays due to the extensive Biz Jet activity thanks to TAG et al; when I was flying out of Odiham we were constantly aware of increasing traffic and of attempts by Farnborough to grab more airspace (more airspace makes it easier for Biz Jets to operate avoiding Class G Open FIR – Insurance companies like that as it minimises the mid air collision risk…). Big Industry might like the switch as well – they have to assemble corporate hosting pavilions at both events at the same time as they run into each other. A more developed Trade part of Fairford might work. However, for the enthusiast, I think it would change RIAT out of all recognition due to the space requirements if the exhibition halls. It would likely dramatically reduce the size of the available static park.

Is Farnborough still concidered a trade show? I’ve never really thought of it as a true air show. With the demise of the Cold War, and war in general there’s not much of interest (for me).
As to safety. Farnborough is in the centre of a major town. An aircraft doing 400 knots in distress could land anywhere. The notion it will crash in a designated area is debatable.
Either have air shows or don’t. The risk won’t be removed totally.

Been fine for fifty years….!

The RAF seem so risk-averse it had better not go to war right now!

If that’s the case, then why allow any form of low level demonstrations at Farnborough at all? The template won’t allow many other shows, so why this one? Oh, UK PLC and £££.

Just watch – Fairford will be picking up this show in 2018. Ladbrokes, please take my large bet 🙂

Makes a lot of sense to restrict their type of display in built up areas, just not worth the risk of a crash .

I should think too that it is connected with the new display line limits / alignment and the impact on the surrounding area regarding built up areas.

They gave a cracking display at Arbroath Festival of Heroes.

Cutting the Reds’ display at Farnborough, given the rich aviation history tied up in the place, seems deeply symbolic of the fairly bloodless displays we will see this year and beyond I feel. As much as people denigrate the Reds as either the time for a toilet break or to head to the car, they do a wonderful job of grabbing the attention of those even with a minimal interest in aviation. It is hard to describe how proud the people of Arbroath were to be getting THE Red Arrows to display at what is otherwise a quiet wee fishing village. Seeing kids running around with toy Hawk T1s is quite positive really.

I feel things are a bit gloomy looking to the long term as well. This year we are losing the Grob and Hawk T2 displays, and the King Air display team have pulled out of all 2016 appearances as well. Farnborough is a major draw, and the Reds are relegated to a flypast. As dull as seasoned spotters may consider these displays, they must inspire kids and teenagers on some level… but only if you actually see them.

They do a full display at Eastbourne – or, appear to do so, but commercial traffic is inbound at anywhere from 12 – 15,000 feet.

Their first display of the season, at Old Warden, was going fine…

…until a private helicopter blundered into the display zone!

These days you are lucky to get a full display by the Reds due to airliner traffic.

I thought they were always limited on what they could do at Farnborough by airliner traffic overhead. So no loops unless you can divert an awful lot of airliners.

yes,fly bys only.