The latest revision of CAP 403, what does this mean for the future of Air displays in

Anyone know where I can get cheap flights to New Zealand?

The just-rolled-out Virgin Australia B777 longhaul refurb looks very good, so add them to the list of decent economy class airlines.
I suggest booking accommodation in Blenheim (for Omaka) at Easter 2017 pronto.

That is of course unless the second part of the EU legislation for deactivated weapons is rubber stamped into law by faceless unelected bureaucrats in Brussels. Not only will there be no deactivated weapons of any kind or anything that even looks like a weapon but also no weapons platforms. No flying ex-warbirds full stop.

Off now to make a cup of tea, I have of course filled in an Action Plan and Risk Assessment

Think I’d need something stronger.

Re the firearms directive, it went much further than was originally envisaged. Germany saw how stupid it is, it actually facilitates working weapon smuggling, and took advantage of an opt out clause. Our Government however is very keen to implement it. The danger for us, apart from increased terrorist acts and increased taxes to cover the cost of implementing it, is that not only will warbirds not be allowed to fly but it’s possible that they may not be possessed.

Anyone know where I can get cheap flights to New Zealand?

The Duxford airshows will continue as will the other large commercial shows. In much the same way that Gatwick and Heathrow are allowed to operate a solution will be found. Sadly this will affect the entrance prices and make such events even harder for the average air enthusiast to attend. This will lead to a decline in interest and hey presto! problem solved.

That is of course unless the second part of the EU legislation for deactivated weapons is rubber stamped into law by faceless unelected bureaucrats in Brussels. Not only will there be no deactivated weapons of any kind or anything that even looks like a weapon but also no weapons platforms. No flying ex-warbirds full stop.

Off now to make a cup of tea, I have of course filled in an Action Plan and Risk Assessment

It is likely to be that the only airshows that will remain, will be those held over some portion of the coast and supported , at least in part, by the local authority. Bournemouth, Eastbourne and Clacton come to mind.

Dawlish, over the sea and very much supported by the local authority, has been cancelled.

…….. inflicted by a risk averse, litigiously minded society…….?

So very true and regrettably affects public life across the entire spectrum of activities of every description. Are any other developed nations so adversely affected, I wonder.

It is likely to be that the only airshows that will remain, will be those held over some portion of the coast and supported , at least in part, by the local authority. Bournemouth, Eastbourne and Clacton come to mind.

The price to be paid for these closures, is the price inflicted by a risk averse, litigiously minded society. Why take the risk of other Shoreham’s occurring when it is possible to price these events out of business ?

So you are going to shut the M11 and divert all the motorway traffic off at Junc 11 to Junction 9?

Trumper yes you are quite correct, the flightline now has to be 230 yards from the crowdline therefore taking it outside of many airfield boundaries and over local roads. Due to CAA edicts these will probably need to be closed, you wont believe how hard that is and how much Councils’ want just to say yes. You then have to employ a Traffic Management company approved by the Council to police it during hours of operation. You really will get a better view outside of the airfield except the airshow cannot take place as there are people outside of the airfield who might be at risk.%

+1. Don’t forget that you have to get all the ‘stakeholders’ to buy into any road closures, ( Stakeholders means Police, Fire, Ambulance, local bus and Taxi services and so on), and then get the residents views, and make sure that the road closures don’t impact on any of the emergency response times (which would mean cancelling the Airshow) and that they are all happy with the diversions and the impact on traffic and any issues that would arise and that the residents are happy with any diversions (unhappy residents would mean cancelling the Airshow) and that the local council’s Safety Advisory Group are happy with the risk assessment that you can only complete once you have gathered all the responses from all the Stakeholders and their various departments and the residents, and occupiers and/or users of ‘Vulnerable infrastructure’ even though you can’t get a definitive answer as what exactly ‘vulnerable infrastructures’ means and then you can submit your application to the CAA who after all that work and effort still might reject the application and cause you to start the paperwork all over again. Only there isn’t time so you have to cancel, only now you’ve passed the cancellation deadline with the aircraft operators and you lose thousands of pounds of deposits, and the CAA application fee is non-refundable, so you lose that too.

The bureaucrats don’t care about income or jobs lost.
Their focus is to do everything possible to safeguard their positions.
If another crash were to occur, calls would come from the public, the media and their political masters for their heads. That must be avoided at all costs…”I’m all right, Jack.

It’s another result of living in a nanny state where everyone expects everyone to be wrapped in several layers of cotton wool. No matter how remote or unlikely a event happening, any conceivable (or inconceivable) threat must be legislated out of existence lest the BBC or a paper ring up your boss or inconvenient questions be raised in Parliament.

You would have thought they WERE for some other motive given the more sensible measures that I outlined – yes charities notably lose out badly who need every penny they can get, and the seaside towns and others who need such spend from shows will suffer regress. But the loss to the exchequer of income and VAT tax is also allied to the potential to send many people supporting such established events to the wall, or suffer drastic drops in living standards. This does cause the thought that for some unknown reason the air-show scene has been targeted despite the major effects it will now cause so many people to suffer – once again, we see that we’re not ‘all in it together’.

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The knock-on ramifications to people who make air-shows are all-encompassing – ticket collectors, food vendors, stall holders, printers, gift/souvenir/novelty goods manufacturers, toilet providers, refuse collectors, programme sellers, it just goes on.

Not to mention the charities who would have benefitted from the air shows that are now being cancelled, the economies of seaside town’s that put on air shows that are being cancelled, even the Government will lose out on taxes from profits that will not now be generated.

I’m more of a mess up theory man than a conspiracy theory man but like many others I’m beginning to wonder if these changes are for a purpose other than improving safety, which they don’t, and funding the proper operation of the CAA

THOUGHTS & CAA EFFECT ON LITTLE GRANSDEN …….

I’d like to comment more fully on this later, but thought I’d make people aware of the Little Gransden protest first.

EFFECT ON LITTLE GRANSDEN …….
I signed the petition against this blatant CAA rip-off via a link on the Little Gransden website which is easy to use, it was only on 14,000+ at the time however which was worrying given that many more people than this regularly go to shows – SO PLEASE OBJECT! – Their own increase was explained very plainly on the LG home page thus :

‘If you object to the Civil Aviation Authority receiving over 10% of what we give to Children in Need please sign this petition.’

‘The CAA paperwork takes approximately 30 minutes to issue. £1497 is extortionate but £6994 is eye watering.’

http://www.littlegransdenshow.co.uk/

UNITING AVIATION AGAINST CAA
There HAS to be a way of uniting the aviation fraternity/industry or whatever you wish to call it as so disastrously affected by this truly penal legislation, to protest EFFECTIVELY against it. Can we assume there is a WILL however? If so, then there has to be a WAY of bringing the public and aviation companies/groups together via modern social media and others, to make both local and national news media aware of this attempt to put so many people out of work while depriving the British public of a good day out – yes we want to be safe, but you CANNOT wrap people up in so much cotton wool and legislate for everything, and we STILL await the report on the pilot and the general thoughts of the board of inquiry as to the actual CAUSE of this crash.

The previous safety record at nationwide events was exemplary AND for this a/c type, and you have to think therefore that this ONE incident has been used as a springboard for some reason, to ruin aviation events at local levels all over our country. If the pilot lost control doing the loop that led to the crash, then ban such a loop but keep this a/c type cleared for its normal routine across the UK.

Differing a/c types haven’t crashed due to a loss of control doing such a loop, so you would have assumed that should stay as normal for them, with the earlier general regulations being applied to all events as successfully proven up to the accident occurring – unfortunately this is all common sense however, a quality sadly lacking today in this country and it makes seemingly the last of us who were imbued with it as kids more than angry.

The knock-on ramifications to people who make air-shows are all-encompassing – ticket collectors, food vendors, stall holders, printers, gift/souvenir/novelty goods manufacturers, toilet providers, refuse collectors, programme sellers, it just goes on.

OOOPS! Yes you’re quite correct Consul! late night at the keyboard! I hope folks who don’t already know read the post.

Trumper yes you are quite correct, the flightline now has to be 230 yards from the crowdline therefore taking it outside of many airfield boundaries and over local roads. Due to CAA edicts these will probably need to be closed, you wont believe how hard that is and how much Councils’ want just to say yes. You then have to employ a Traffic Management company approved by the Council to police it during hours of operation. You really will get a better view outside of the airfield except the airshow cannot take place as there are people outside of the airfield who might be at risk.

Refuse lorries crash into Christmas shoppers, Police helicopters run out of fuel and crash into pubs, and sadly every day there are accidents on our roads yet none of these modes of transport are banned. Just what is the secret remit behind the draconian measures being implemented by the CAA?

Is it really just a*se covering, and / or a blatant way of hiking prices? if so simple economics dictate that not many airshows will take place with the CAA increasing prices by 1000%

I saw a Spitfire flying last week at Duxford ,i had the impression it was a bit further away from the crowdline so i suspect you will ironically get a better view away from the airfield or you will need big lenses .Pre booking tickets and then bad weather ,or bad luck could also make people think twice about spending money.

Fly.Buy is absolutely right the airshow scene is sadly finished, I guesstimate 80% of airshows/fly-ins will never take place again.

As somebody who is currently trying in a small capacity to arrange a small airshow I can tell you the problems are proving next to impossible. Sadly the only airshows that will survive will be the major commercial ones.

I think the CAA would rather everybody just forgot the whole thing, everybody has their head buried in the sand and nobody will make any sort of decision. Read the Facebook post by Peter Tallichet for an informed opinion.

The only way the whole thing can be averted is if somebody forces a Judicial Review, that’s the only way the CAA can be forced to stop exterminating the entire industry/ hobby

I have to agree with these comments.

Money talks, the Farnboroughs and RIATS will come to an arrangement with the CAA but the smaller less commercial, and for many more interesting and entertaining, shows will be forced out of business by the fees and regulations, some of which are fine but many are ill considered and appear to have no scientific basis.

A judicial review is probably the only way left to deal with this situation and bring some sense back into air show regulation but I can’t see it happening. In general, the aviation fraternity seen disinclined to work together to resolve any problems, even when it’s for their common good.

Alf

Peter Tallichet? Did you mean to say Peter Teichman?

Fly.Buy is absolutely right the airshow scene is sadly finished, I guesstimate 80% of airshows/fly-ins will never take place again.

As somebody who is currently trying in a small capacity to arrange a small airshow I can tell you the problems are proving next to impossible. Sadly the only airshows that will survive will be the major commercial ones.

I think the CAA would rather everybody just forgot the whole thing, everybody has their head buried in the sand and nobody will make any sort of decision. Read the Facebook post by Peter Tallichet for an informed opinion.

The only way the whole thing can be averted is if somebody forces a Judicial Review, that’s the only way the CAA can be forced to stop exterminating the entire industry/ hobby

Have a look on UKAR……

No need to spend time worrying about the demise of air shows, it’s already happened as a result of this, I would be interested to know how many air shows have been cancelled this year so far.