So, we work into the small hours in the hangar just to fly an aircraft in to a field, then stay away from it all the time its parked up just in case we irritate someone. If they own it why shouldn’t they stand by it? It’s not going to display If we don’t check it, fuel it, oil it etc, how long do you think it takes to pre-flight & service a warbird?
I have always had the thinking that ‘my’ aircraft lands, it’s re-fueled as soon as possible checked over from it’s flight, pilot & I brief, pre-flight before display, check with pilot, display, land, check over from flight etc, etc, that is for the pilots safety AND the publics safety we double check things as things at a show HAVE to run as smooth as possible that is what we are there for, that is what we do! so please don’t ask us to move & break our check system, we might forget where we were & have to start all over again!

I find the ‘Flightline Walk’ is a waste of time and money as all the aircraft are parked too close together and even then, many of them are too far away with ground-crew and ‘miscellaneous people’ ruining the shots.

Good, bl00dy grief! We have just had quite a few good comments about folks slagging off ‘drama queens’ & Albert comes on here with the above! Ground crew have a job to do, period, If you don’t like the idea of the ground crew doing what they are paid (& mostly un-paid) to do I suggest you go walk round the museums at Hendon or Cosford. (The you can complain about other visitors being in front of you) ground crew & miscellaneous people? How dare you show so little respect to them!!!

Another thing to remember, is that out of every 1000 visitors to the Duxford weekend show only probably 100 or so are enthusiasts, the others are there for a day out with the family, not there to take their stepladder/trolley/trailer with equipment for a day in the country.
Live & let live, otherwise the folks who flew these aeroplanes for real and died doing so will have had a wasted sacrifice!

You guys to much better job than the BMW or merc guys do in my view.

Thank you, We try!!
Cheers………… 🙂

I have always have a lot of time for the guys ‘n gals who flew, armed & serviced these aircraft for real back in the dark days, If it wasn’t for them you may not have the freedom to have a gripe & moan! This is what most of us engineers working on warbirds do it for ( It can’t be for the money!!) I think most BMW or Merc mechanics (sorry, Technicians) earn more, but we enjoy what we do, Don’t we??
Cheers……………………

The criticism :
1.As already commented on in other threads all those people who blag their way out to the flightline,the drama queens in period clothes,jobsworth marshall’s who refuse to move for punters to take their pics,and of course all the unknown press photographers,while i was doing the flightline there was some pretty nasty abuse being hurled ,and it was the same last year.
2. The dreadful commentator(the english one) ,also mentioned elsewhere,it was bad enough suffering him on the legends video’s,but now we have him all day,get shot of him before next year.Jerry Mead and other previous commentators must be appalled.
3.This nasty new idea that we put up a grandstand ,fence off even more of the free taxiway viewing area and charge,another 15 quid for the priviledge,in the hope of clawing a bit more cash out of the punters, and then stick a food van just in front of the bank by the land warfare museum thereby obscuring more viewing area.I don’t have a problem with the admission fee,programme flightline charges,but if they carry on like this it will very soon be difficult to get at the crowd line with out another bung.

Your thoughts please

Steve

Steve,
First of all, how much do you think it costs to put on an event like that? Visiting aircraft have to be paid for, fuel, insurance, maintenance, CAA payments etc, think of those costs per hour & work that out then there is the CAA charge to put the show on, the signage to get you there, the Insurance, It all adds up to a massive amount of money the show going public know nothing of.
As for ‘the drama queens in period clothes’ you have your hobby, they have theirs, why knock it? After all, they add a bit of nostalgia for a lot of people. You will find their kit is very well researched and expensive so please be a bit more tolerant of others interests, folks could say the same about ‘Spotters’ there is a place for everyone at air shows, as long as they know where that is!
As for the ‘jobs worth Marshall’s who refuse to move for punters to take their pics’ usually If asked in a polite manner, they will move, the shout of ‘get the f*** out of the way’ wins no friends anywhere, I’ve had abuse from folks wanting to take pictures when I’ve been doing a pre-flight check, even after explaining in words of one syllable, they still couldn’t understand that unless I carried out the check, the aircraft wouldn’t be in the flying program. I may add that these folks are, in the main, unpaid & have to still be there when it is p*****g down & everyone else had hightailed it to the beer tent! There are also CAA requirements as to crowd management. As for the Grandstand, Organisers need to get as much revenue as possible, what profit they get this year will pay for next year. Have a think about it, then tell me i’m wrong.
Cheers………………………………..

Hi Willow,
Glad I’m not the only one who thinks just taking the numbers is strange! I am quite happy to talk with any aircraft enthusiasts, as some will know, I’ve even been known to bring them over to our hangar!
As long as they don’t think it as ‘a right’ I have no problem.
I can’t stand football but even I got the hump about THAT goal!!
Cheers………………………………..