Royal International Air Tattoo 2018 Discussion Thread

[Nighthawke]

Ah but I don't think he will James. Seems to be one of those who complains just because he can. Come on hernaman86 lighten up a bit please your posts really are a tirade with no give whatsoever. As has already been pointed out, you do have a choice. I haven't been to an RIAT , or any other major UK event since 1993 but I am well aware that the world has changed greatly since then. Many military forces these days are busy doing what they exist to do and that does not include entertainment.

[James Cutting]

Exactly Nighthawke, thank you.
We all need to remember, all military forces are here to carry out a cause, and protect us and others...Not entertain us.

[bizfreeq]

In 20 years time, you lot will be going to RIAT, and there won’t be a flying display, it’s not that I’m ungrateful at all you melt, I’m just a enthusiast! Air shows are dying and are a shadow of what they used to be and I don’t like the way it’s going!!! That’s all! Sorry standing there looking at a plane year on year on the ground won’t do it for me, and a lot of people, if they don’t fly it’s boring and not a show is it!

They don’t need to throw a tornado around like a euro fighter, just a few fast passes as a good bye tribute, they seem to be flying pretty fast over cad West, and dont give me that about enough pilots, I’m told flying hours have been slashed so I’m very sure there would be pilots begging to fly over the weekend! Also I don’t care if there has not been a demo team for years!!! They knew the day was coming for the tornado to end so they should have started one last year ready for it, not rocket science is it!!! I’m sure you will come back with some boring examples why with your boring attitudes

Must be great fun round your house at Christmas!
No offence intended but lighten up a bit mate, it ain't all that bad!

[James Cutting]

[slogen51]

I can empathize with Heniaman. I am surprised there is not at least a four ship launch and some low passes.

We have seen it all before but most of Joe public won't have seen multiple tornado launches with full afterburners followed by swept approaches.

Not too difficult to organise?

[Andy_99]

God don't some people winge.

The line up as far as I've seen is excellent with loads of interest.

On the USAF Front

B1b cannot be flying as last I read it's been grounded
Last year didn't they send a B2 all the way from the states to do a flypast, hardly small potato's to sort
F22 last year on the Saturday was scuppered by the weather on the Saturday & on the Sunday had some tech issues but still did a limited display

Pilots all need to have displays certified, with the Tornado & it's operational commitments it's just not possible to acheive. F35 isn't fully operational yet so no doubt there's not been time to get display authority yet, heck they may have been a tad busy getting it into service.

Don;t forget we're no longer in the 80's/90's where defence budgets were larger & we didn't have assets posted everywhere on ops. We had far larger numbers of Aircraft available, the USAF for sure had far more UK/Europe based aircraft to choose to send.

3 weeks to go can't wait maybe some suprises will appear in the next couple of updates.

[MRTT]

Couldn't agree more.

Slight correction, B-1 is no longer grounded but the point stands.

[James Cutting]

I can empathize with Heniaman. I am surprised there is not at least a four ship launch and some low passes.

We have seen it all before but most of Joe public won't have seen multiple tornado launches with full afterburners followed by swept approaches.

Not too difficult to organise?

And how do you know there isn’t???

There is a MASS flypast Friday which includes Tornados. Saturday and Sunday also includes flypasts. NOBODY knows what will be there exactly. This is not the “Tornado Air Tattoo” now is it...

[slogen51]

Fine

I haven't read the whole thread I just thought it was inferred from recent posts that there wasn't a flying Tonka.

I have absolutely no idea what is happening at RIAT - I just turn and see.

This is a discussion thread after all.

[James Cutting]

Everyone should tbh

[EF-111]

Well I'm looking forward to wandering around the static park, chatting with some of the crews, and getting pictures of the aircraft close up. Oh yes, also over 7 hours of flying display!!

Regards, Steve

[Droptank]

I can't believe the naive expectations of some of the contributors to this thread, relating to the perennial issue of what will or won't be going to RIAT.

This year's line up so far is fantastic as mentioned by others in the thread and RIAT continues to be the best military air show in the world despite your viewpoint.

To deliver such a wealth of military displays and variety of aircraft from so many countries and air arms is an unbelievable feat, moreso in this day and age of
reduced budgets, military commitment, political disagreement and the annoying fact that many of the forces are actually in conflict!

"Why can't this or that come" is wearing thin to be honest and undermines the mainly sensible and respectful nature of this forum by making it sound like a schoolboy
facebook page, also with similar spelling and grammatical mistakes.

The essence of the frustration directed to RIAT is that the dissenters perceive there is a lack of commitment, not displaying a Tornado exactly to the liking of some people
who have posted.

Well there is a flip side to this.

The Tornado fleet of around 170 aircraft has been in service since the mid eighties, where were you?

Secondly, if RAF commitment is the issue, why not make a commitment yourself???...if you want to see Tornadoes away from the static you hate, why not spend more time
at RIAT at which point you will be able to witness more than one Tornado arriving, taxiing and spectacularly departing on the Monday?..German and Italian too probably!

You don't even need to buy a ticket for the arrivals/departure days as the viewing points from outside the airfield are good.

I imagine the answer to the personal commitment question will be "I can't get time off work" or "I can't afford it" or "I can't get there"...sounds a bit similar to the level of
excuses you are accusing the RAF of making.

So grow up and get on with it or don't bother at all.

I'll be there all week and may post some shots to show you what you missed.

Droptank.

[anthony martin]

Well said

[TREBAX_RAVEN]

18 days 23 hours 8 minutes 10 seconds
I can hardly wait!!!!

[slogen51]

I can't believe the naive expectations of some of the contributors to this thread, relating to the perennial issue of what will or won't be going to RIAT.

This year's line up so far is fantastic as mentioned by others in the thread and RIAT continues to be the best military air show in the world despite your viewpoint.

To deliver such a wealth of military displays and variety of aircraft from so many countries and air arms is an unbelievable feat, moreso in this day and age of
reduced budgets, military commitment, political disagreement and the annoying fact that many of the forces are actually in conflict!

"Why can't this or that come" is wearing thin to be honest and undermines the mainly sensible and respectful nature of this forum by making it sound like a schoolboy
facebook page, also with similar spelling and grammatical mistakes.

The essence of the frustration directed to RIAT is that the dissenters perceive there is a lack of commitment, not displaying a Tornado exactly to the liking of some people
who have posted.

Well there is a flip side to this.

The Tornado fleet of around 170 aircraft has been in service since the mid eighties, where were you?

Secondly, if RAF commitment is the issue, why not make a commitment yourself???...if you want to see Tornadoes away from the static you hate, why not spend more time
at RIAT at which point you will be able to witness more than one Tornado arriving, taxiing and spectacularly departing on the Monday?..German and Italian too probably!

You don't even need to buy a ticket for the arrivals/departure days as the viewing points from outside the airfield are good.

I imagine the answer to the personal commitment question will be "I can't get time off work" or "I can't afford it" or "I can't get there"...sounds a bit similar to the level of
excuses you are accusing the RAF of making.

So grow up and get on with it or don't bother at all.

I'll be there all week and may post some shots to show you what you missed.

Droptank.

I beg your pardon

I simply said that I would be surprised if there is not a tornado 'fare well' mainly for Joe public to whom the show is quite rightly aimed. It doesn't bother me - spotters and "enthusiasts" can visit Marham any time.

Encouraging people not to buy a ticket is fairly outrageous.

I have been going to IAT/RIAT for donkeys years and for me personally it is one of the high lights of the year

[BOLLO]

Posted on one of the FFD Face Book groups this morning.

This notice has been published by Glos. County Council. Closure of Footpath and Cycle Way, Whelford Road, Whelford. Notice is hereby given that, for reasons of safety, Glos County Council intends to make an Order to temporarily close a section of footpath and cycle way to prevent large numbers of viewing predestrians from standing under the approach flight path and on the edge of the roadway in close proximity of moving vehicular traffic during RIAT. The section of footpath and cycle way to be closed will be in Whelford Road between the start of the footpath and cycle way opposite the "telephone box", for a distance of 650 mtrs in a south westerly direction towards Kempsford. Fencing to facilitate this will be erected and at specific times stewards will be provided at both ends of this section to ensure compliance. An alternative foothpath and cycle track will be constructed using metal tracking to run parallel to the existing foothpath and cycle way on the south east, or other side of the fence line using adjacent agricultural land thereby channelling predestrians and cyclists away from the danger areas. THIS FOOTPATH AND CYCLE WAY WILL BE CLOSED DURING THE PERIOD 2nd JULY UNTIL 17th JULY 2018.

[GliderPilot01]

I am in disbelief at the snobbiness of some of the RIAT week-stayers here.

Telling people they aren't committed enough because they aren't taking weeks holiday to see the same aircraft day in day out is a ridiculous argument. Then to further push the boat out compare that to the Air Forces commitment?

People are paying good money for their tickets, this isn't a free event so calling people ungrateful is an invalid argument. If it was free I would sympathise with you, but it isn't. There is nothing wrong with people having a wish list for aircraft to attend.

Furthermore, Others are correct, why on earth is a retiring fleet of aircraft not being given a final goodbye during this centenary celebration? Surely public relations is of a higher priority than training crews on an aircraft being phased out? As someone previously stated I bet there are pilots begging to take a Tonka to RIAT and chuck the aircraft about for possibly the last time.

This year's line up whilst being spectacular compared to other airshows in the UK and Europe, does it really stand out that much to previous RIAT's with it also being the RAF Centenary? Personally, I don't think so, considering the mass flypast is reserved purely for Friday viewers anyway.

Call me ungrateful or naive. But I've paid for my ticket, No I'm not staying for a week to watch a few Tornado's take off, as someone else said I'd just go to Marham for that.


Frustrates me how people think because they're going the longest they feel superior over people who are only attending for a day or few days.
People can, will and do have a wish list.

Oh, and the cheek to post photos of what people 'missed' is just sheer arrogance and completely out of order.

Grow up and accept people have conflicting opinions to your own, they will attend either way.

[EF-111]

I simply said that I would be surprised if there is not a tornado 'fare well' mainly for Joe public to whom the show is quite rightly aimed. It doesn't bother me - spotters and "enthusiasts" can visit Marham any time.

Encouraging people not to buy a ticket is fairly outrageous.

I have been going to IAT/RIAT for donkeys years and for me personally it is one of the high lights of the year

To be fair, I don't think Joe Public will even notice that the Tornado fleet will be out of service by the time RIAT comes around next year. For the majority of attendees at RIAT, F-16 is a noisy aircraft flying around followed by F-18 (another noisy aircraft) then Typhoon (yet another noisy one) then Jordanian Falcons before another noisy F-16 comes along...

Regards, Steve

[MRTT]

Dutch 322 Squadron are planning to send their special tail.

https://www.facebook.com/pr322squadron/

[MrBlueSky]

Hotel and tickets booked since December/January for Friday- cannot wait, just hope the weather is kind to us all.

Happy Days

Bob