RIAT, Fairford this Sunday?
....I shall consider myself quite lucky then. Attended on Sunday - took about 2hrs to get in from joining the queue on the A419, we were still in by 10am (security seemed to be doing bag scans on a small sample, which may have speeded things up, with consequent oppositive effect on security effectiveness!)
....on leaving, we were out of the Car Park (blue) and on our way within 10 mins!
As we were leaving, there was a statement to the effect of "we know we've got it wrong, and will do something about it for next time" on Vulcan FM.
I guess a lot of the locals (who didn't travel to Cottesmore) who were waiting for the return of RIAT after 3 years will have been sorely disappointed.
Hope you're reading Paul & Tim!!
....on leaving, we were out of the Car Park (blue) and on our way within 10 mins!
As we were leaving, there was a statement to the effect of "we know we've got it wrong, and will do something about it for next time" on Vulcan FM.
I guess a lot of the locals (who didn't travel to Cottesmore) who were waiting for the return of RIAT after 3 years will have been sorely disappointed.
Hope you're reading Paul & Tim!!
Join Date: Sep 2000
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Got into the car park at about 6.30am, no messing about and straight in, getting out at about 7.30pm was a bit of a pain.
There is no point moaning about the traffic, the rest of the day more than made up for it !!!. Where else can you see a B-52, F-117 and a B1-B take of in the space of a few mins.
I've got to say this year the Reds, kicked-Ass, all the other display teams through the day were amazing and set a high standard for them to follow. But the Reds, blew them all away, the syncro pair seemed busier than usual and the Jubilee break was something else, (climbing down from soap box) I've got to say as the tribute to the bomber crews was very well done.
Roll on next year
There is no point moaning about the traffic, the rest of the day more than made up for it !!!. Where else can you see a B-52, F-117 and a B1-B take of in the space of a few mins.
I've got to say this year the Reds, kicked-Ass, all the other display teams through the day were amazing and set a high standard for them to follow. But the Reds, blew them all away, the syncro pair seemed busier than usual and the Jubilee break was something else, (climbing down from soap box) I've got to say as the tribute to the bomber crews was very well done.
Roll on next year
Join Date: May 2002
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It was the blue car park that had all the problems on saturday. Wycombe... did you get routed back into the airfield and to another gate or did you go back the way you had come in to the A419? On saturday the car parks simply didn't move for three hours or more until somebody obviously decided to open up the route through the airfield - at which point the whole thing cleared in a fairly short time.
As for the security thing... I was talking to somebody this afternoon who got all the way into the blue car park on saturday and then turned around and came straight back after being told that the queue to get through security would take 3 hours.
It sounds as though they reduced it all to spot checks on the sunday to avoid the chaos, and quite possibly somebody pointed out to them what they were doing wrong in the blue car park!!
For anybody who was there on sunday.... did the B2A Spirit make a return trip?
As for the security thing... I was talking to somebody this afternoon who got all the way into the blue car park on saturday and then turned around and came straight back after being told that the queue to get through security would take 3 hours.
It sounds as though they reduced it all to spot checks on the sunday to avoid the chaos, and quite possibly somebody pointed out to them what they were doing wrong in the blue car park!!
For anybody who was there on sunday.... did the B2A Spirit make a return trip?
GRP,
Great pity you didn't get to fly in after all that planning & paperwork!
No, didn't get routed onto the airfield on leaving, just drove out (the bottom of) the field into Kempsford, then along the lanes back to the A419. Only queue we hit was running up to the M4 J15 (about 15 mins slow-moving before getting to the M-way).
Yes, the Spirit did return on Sunday, with 4 F15's from Lakenheath. Interesting that as it departed to the NE after the fly-through, it seemed to leave them behind a bit
(anorak on)
Apparently, it was supposed to be the same airframe both days (with a 3hr turn-around at Whiteman between the trips), but the word from the spotting world is that it was a different one on Sunday
(anorak off)
Great pity you didn't get to fly in after all that planning & paperwork!
No, didn't get routed onto the airfield on leaving, just drove out (the bottom of) the field into Kempsford, then along the lanes back to the A419. Only queue we hit was running up to the M4 J15 (about 15 mins slow-moving before getting to the M-way).
Yes, the Spirit did return on Sunday, with 4 F15's from Lakenheath. Interesting that as it departed to the NE after the fly-through, it seemed to leave them behind a bit
(anorak on)
Apparently, it was supposed to be the same airframe both days (with a 3hr turn-around at Whiteman between the trips), but the word from the spotting world is that it was a different one on Sunday
(anorak off)
Join Date: Jun 2002
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It sounds dreadful! I went to RIAT at Cottesmore the last two years and I only queued for about 15 minutes each time - and I got there at about 9ish both times, not some stupid time in the morning. I have to say I'm really put off going to Fairford after what people have said.
