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New Scottish Airshow

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Tiger Tim
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New Scottish Airshow

Post by Tiger Tim » Sun Sep 08, 2013 4:37 pm

I read on the BBC Ceefax service that the RAF are "looking" into the idea of having a Scottish Airshow to replace the Leuchars one. :thumbs:

I hope that they succeed - but where will they hold it has Lossiemouth is way out range of alot of people who travelled to Leuchars. ;)

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Thunder
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Re: New Scottish Airshow

Post by Thunder » Sun Sep 08, 2013 5:13 pm

Yes because Lossiemouth is located just South of the Arctic circle, and you will need to take a weeks holiday to reach there.

Seriously Lossie is 2.5 hrs from Leuchars not in another time zone. If Lossie is way out of range for those from the South, then Leuchars is way out of range to those from the North of Scotland but from the numbers that traveled down each year obviously it wasn't.

Lossie all the way :clap:

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Mike
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Re: New Scottish Airshow

Post by Mike » Sun Sep 08, 2013 5:24 pm

Tiger Tim wrote:I read on the BBC Ceefax service that the RAF are "looking" into the idea of having a Scottish Airshow to replace the Leuchars one. :thumbs:

I hope that they succeed - but where will they hold it as Lossiemouth is way out range of a lot of people who travelled to Leuchars. ;)
Have you any idea of the amount of people from the North of Scotland that have travelled to the Leuchars airshow every year?

Maybe Prestwick and Lossiemouth could host airshows - Prestwick one year and Lossie the next.

EDIT :- Very well said Scott. :thumb:
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Unknown74
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Re: New Scottish Airshow

Post by Unknown74 » Sun Sep 08, 2013 6:31 pm

Hey Mike, that might be a good idea. Lossie one year and Prestwick the other.

ArabJazzie
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Re: New Scottish Airshow

Post by ArabJazzie » Sun Sep 08, 2013 9:21 pm

How are you gonna get 40000 people up to a place that is served by 2 of the most dangerous roads in Scotland and a single track railway system? As mentioned elsewhere, a crash on the A9 effectively closes that route, same the A96. The A90 is hardly free from trouble as well.

With the prospect of SPECS cameras and trucks travelling at 40mph, its a recipe for a disaster. Add to that in the next couple of years, the prospect of miles n miles of roadworks on the A9 and the Aberdeen area, its not gonna be too appealing for 95% of the current Scottish Airshow going public!!!

Now considering PIK. As a venue its a great idea and probably has a better catchment area than Leuchars and Lossie put together. But its a commercial airport with scheduled movements that is loosing money hand over fist and is up for sale!!! I would like to be proved wrong, but i cant see the management giving up a Saturday every year to something that they wont make any money on! It also has quite a few built up areas very close to the perimeter that might be a negative in some peoples eyes.

At the end of the day, Leuchars is still gonna be an operational base with some infrastructure in place that could easily be topped up for a week or 2 in September. They so it a Fairford so why not Leuchars!
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honest man
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Re: New Scottish Airshow

Post by honest man » Sun Sep 08, 2013 10:27 pm

Its in the early days of planning at the moment but we have just ended a festival of flight in the area celebrating 100 years of aviation at Prestwick and i spoke to 1 of the organisers last night when the catalina landed and he said they are certainly looking at some kind of show next year,what he said it would be a seafront flying display with some sort of static at the airport as i said its early days but i believe wheels are in motion time will tell

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DaveG
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Re: New Scottish Airshow

Post by DaveG » Sun Sep 08, 2013 10:49 pm

ArabJazzie wrote:Now considering PIK. As a venue its a great idea and probably has a better catchment area than Leuchars and Lossie put together. But its a commercial airport with scheduled movements that is loosing money hand over fist and is up for sale!!! I would like to be proved wrong, but i cant see the management giving up a Saturday every year to something that they wont make any money on! It also has quite a few built up areas very close to the perimeter that might be a negative in some peoples eyes.
Its had airshows in the past when it was more commercial. I remember going to a couple of shows with the family back in the 70's. I'm sure PIK can host a show and if commercial traffic has to land it would not be that hard. Airshow on HMS Gannet side and leave PIK to normal ops.
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toom317
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Re: New Scottish Airshow

Post by toom317 » Mon Sep 09, 2013 10:51 am

Lossie... if you show it, they will come. Lossie has had airshows in the past, and they were well attended. I think this has more to do with greetin faces, loosing the show on their doorstep. There seem to be plenty of folk willing to go from Scotland, to Fairford for Riat, but not willing to travel a bit further North. Lossie also has better weather, and if they also moved it to August it may prove more beneficial. And as a happy snapper, it's the best base in Britain to get photos at.
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Thunder
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Re: New Scottish Airshow

Post by Thunder » Mon Sep 09, 2013 12:17 pm

ArabJazzie wrote: At the end of the day, Leuchars is still gonna be an operational base with some infrastructure in place that could easily be topped up for a week or 2 in September. They so it a Fairford so why not Leuchars!
Arabest,
Geoff.

Because they won't have the personnel to do it. It's proven to be very hard to get the required amount of RAF personnel for the last 10 years to man the shows and that was when there was over 1500 RAF personnel on station, the rest had to be taken in from Lossie,Kinloss, Leeming and just about anywhere else that they could get them. Even if you could get the personnel where are they going to stay for the 4 days over the airshow weekend as the Army will be in the base accommodation. If you think it could be easily be topped for a week or two then your wrong. Do you really expect service personnel whom are over stretched as it is to go to the East Neuk of Fife for a week or two away from their own lives/families and what about their unit/squadron commanders? They aren't going to be too happy about losing their personnel for that amount of time in order to put on airshow.

The reason Fairford manage it is because it is run and organised by the RAFCT and not the RAF and relies not just on volunteering service personnel but civilians alike.

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Angel15
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Re: New Scottish Airshow

Post by Angel15 » Mon Sep 09, 2013 12:24 pm

I would be delighted to have the BB weekend at Lossiemouth as it would make a change to having the trek to Leuchars for these many many many years. I do recall the last airshow at lossie I attended was 1986 and it was a fabulous day out with a very well run event (must scan those old pics now).

As regards to road conditions getting North, well please support getting the roads upgraded to dual carriageway as this would greatly benefit the thousands of people who have endured these sub standard roads for probably most of their lives. (A9 A96)
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leuchars12
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Re: New Scottish Airshow

Post by leuchars12 » Mon Sep 09, 2013 1:09 pm

i would say lossiemouth is out the question as unfortanlly where it is based its not an ideal place to get to and from
Elgin would grind to a hault as its a traffic jam at best of times
the logistics just isnt there for a major airshow
the road structure just isnt there

ArabJazzie
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Re: New Scottish Airshow

Post by ArabJazzie » Mon Sep 09, 2013 1:40 pm

Didnt know any of that Scotthldr! :whistle:

Suppose when we get the promised 5000 troops at Leuchars.......... :lol:

Lucky if we get 500 so there will be plenty space! Like you say, they have been drafting personnel in for the last 10 years!!! Oh and seen as you mentioned it, when did the RAF start worrying about where people with family were getting deployed? And yes i do know there are exceptions!!!
Arabest,
Geoff.

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vulcanxl425
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Re: New Scottish Airshow

Post by vulcanxl425 » Mon Sep 09, 2013 2:15 pm

Agree fully with Angel15,Thunder and Toom317 that Lossiemouth host BofB display in future.Possibly on a smaller scale than that of Leuchars .I am of a certain age and can recall displays held at Kinloss and Lossie in 60s onwards attracting good crowds. With regard to the roads A9 and A90 for many years to come will see little or no improvement as the money is simply not there.
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Thunder
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Re: New Scottish Airshow

Post by Thunder » Mon Sep 09, 2013 3:12 pm

leuchars12 wrote:i would say lossiemouth is out the question as unfortanlly where it is based its not an ideal place to get to and from
Elgin would grind to a hault as its a traffic jam at best of times
the logistics just isnt there for a major airshow
the road structure just isnt there

And the road structure was at Leuchars right. For a start you wouldn't have to go through Elgin unless you stayed in Elgin. There are roads from the West and the East that avoid Elgin and with good traffic management you wouldn't/shouldn't have any problems. The problems with regards to the A9/A90/A96, yes they are there but it didn't seem to put off people travelling up North for the Scottish Open golf tournament over the last 3 years.
ArabJazzie wrote:Didnt know any of that Scotthldr! :whistle:

Suppose when we get the promised 5000 troops at Leuchars.......... :lol:

Lucky if we get 500 so there will be plenty space! Like you say, they have been drafting personnel in for the last 10 years!!! Oh and seen as you mentioned it, when did the RAF start worrying about where people with family were getting deployed? And yes i do know there are exceptions!!!
Arabest,
Geoff.
The RAF have always paid attention to time away from families etc.. more so than the Army/RN. However there is a difference between an operational deployment and staffing an airshow.

balamorybuzzed
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Re: New Scottish Airshow

Post by balamorybuzzed » Tue Sep 10, 2013 9:37 am

Next years move to Lossie is a convenient excuse not to have the Show at Leuchars in 2014 although up until Friday I firmly believe the Airshow Team were probably looking at 2014 going ahead and this was a surprise announcement and ridiculous timing by the MOD. This blank year also gives the Govt time to digest the Vote next September before thinking of any long term plan for an airshow in Scotland. If you read between the lines, the statement does mention its the last show of its kind at Leuchars and seems to hint that it will remain there in a different disguise. Leuchars will remain a fully operational airfield and I cant see how Prestwick will be a better alternative.

honest man
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Re: New Scottish Airshow

Post by honest man » Tue Sep 10, 2013 11:19 am

As predicted the Prestwick world festival of flight have confirmed on their website that they will return 4th-7th sept2014 including a full air display

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tim_raper
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Re: New Scottish Airshow

Post by tim_raper » Tue Sep 10, 2013 12:43 pm

you'll need a passport soon anyway :thumbs:
or rather, we will

Contrail1958
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Re: New Scottish Airshow

Post by Contrail1958 » Tue Sep 10, 2013 3:07 pm

Grey Typhoon already pencilled in for Static display :clap:

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