Scampton Air Show

[bizfreeq]

Forecast for Lee on the Solent for Saturday is dry and sunny to 16.00 then dry and cloudy so nothing wrong there that i can see. However it may be rather choppy if going out by boat as it's due to be a bit gusty.
Anyway this is a massive thread drift so getting back on subject might be a good idea now.

[warthog56]

Cheers everyone. Enjoy the rest of the show season.

[peasus911]

sorry for the drift away, not intended to do that. My bad.

Is the Lancaster display curtailed this year due to its late arrival on the show circuit. Love the formation passes with the Spits but would love to see it come past a bit more.

[Rory76]

sorry for the drift away, not intended to do that. My bad.

Is the Lancaster display curtailed this year due to its late arrival on the show circuit. Love the formation passes with the Spits but would love to see it come past a bit more.

Did quite a few solo passes at Fairford

[reaper493]

Lanc has full pda in its own right as well as in the five ship Thompson display.

Mike

[Steven]

The price of the tickets for this Air Show are an absolute joke for the return on your investment. With the participation announced so far with a month to go it's not much better than something like Abingdon. That is not any disrespect to Abingdon - they host a nice display but with tickets priced accordingly. £39 for a day ticket is an astonishing amount of money, in my opinion, for a flying display that has very little to offer and a static display that is practically non-existent. If the tickets were priced at say £20-25 then there wouldn't be too much to complain about but the hardware on offer this year is little more than what you see at a Families Day.

Just to try and support what I'm saying a little better, the Families Day at Coningsby in 2016 featured in the flying display:

Typhoon FGR4 Solo Display
Belgian F-16AM Display
BBMF Display
BBMF Flypast with Typhoon
B-25 Flypast with Buchon and Spitfire
2x Wildcat HM.2 - Royal Navy Black Cats Display
AutoGyro Display
Folland Gnat Solo Display
Red Arrows Flypast
Pitts S-2 Special Display
Xtreme Air Display
Avro Anson Display
The Blades Display

On static:

2x RNLAF F-16AM's
2x USAF F-15E's
2x RAF Hawk T2's

Plus a multitude of based jets (including at the time the 8 Sqn Sentry's) and then cockpit sections of various aircraft.

Of course this was not a public event but why should the public pay £39 for a show that is perhaps SLIGHTLY better than the 2016 Coningsby Families Day.

[Graham]

Surprised no one has replied to this, I decided a long time ago not to buy a ticket to see no new aircraft but then the Canadian F18...or maybe 2 got a mention in the static so I have invested a whole £5 in departures day for the chance of maybe photographing something new...if not I'm off to Barkston Heath chasing new Grobs and happy to write off a fiver!

[Steven]

Probably a wise decision! Although I've heard unconfirmed reports that some of the flying assets will be based elsewhere - obviously this doesn't apply to the RCAF CF-188's!

[Thunder]

I would be embarrassed with that line up if I was organising it.

[XPLUMBER]

Well I must agree with various posters, it does seem a lack lustre line-up.

Decided long ago not to go to the show but have purchased tickets for the arrivals on Friday.

I will give it a chance to become established, maybe in a couple of years it will start to be a replacement for the Wonderful RAF Waddington Airshows we all loved.

[reaper493]

I hope all the people that say 'I'll give it a year or two to get established' don't moan if/when the show gets cancelled.

If everyone who said i'll leave it for a year or two went this year, I'm pretty sure next years show would be far better.

Our hobby has dwindled massively over the past 20 years, and probably before that as well, lets support what we do have, before we have nothing and we all have to take up golf, or fishing.....

[mickfgr2]

GOLF=a good walk spoilt
Fishing = trying to teach maggots to swim
;-)

[Steven]

If everyone who said i'll leave it for a year or two went this year, I'm pretty sure next years show would be far better.

Well I for one am not willing to fork out £40 for a ticket to a really underwhelming show in the hope that next year would be better. I'm all for supporting new shows to help them get up and running but that price is unbelievable for the return on your investment.

[bizfreeq]

I hope all the people that say 'I'll give it a year or two to get established' don't moan if/when the show gets cancelled.

Whilst I totally agree with that sentiment, I fear they have priced themselves out of any loyalty they can expect from the enthusiast community, at least for what they are currently offering. My friends and I made Waddington show a yearly pilgrimage from Bournemouth and were willing to do the same for this new show. However 40 quid to get in, plus fuel and hotel costs, for what is a pretty meagre offering content wise just isn't practical. If priced accordingly, say 20-25 quid then I think we'd all be up for it just to support the show through the early years. Hope it's a huge success, I really do so they can build on it but I hope, if there's one of a similar size next year, that they rethink the pricing.

[Freeman Lowell]

I hope, if there's one of a similar size next year, that they rethink the pricing.

Do you think they can afford to? Perhaps the accountants could tell us, but I fear the cost of putting on a show like this necessitates those sorts of prices. If Joe Public is put off as much as the 'enthusiasts' then the show will make a loss and won't continue. That's an observation and not a judgement. I suspect there's one or two on the organising committee checking the insurance that they would have taken out for this eventually...
Freeman

[Richard B]

I hope, if there's one of a similar size next year, that they rethink the pricing.

Do you think they can afford to? Perhaps the accountants could tell us, but I fear the cost of putting on a show like this necessitates those sorts of prices. If Joe Public is put off as much as the 'enthusiasts' then the show will make a loss and won't continue. That's an observation and not a judgement. I suspect there's one or two on the organising committee checking the insurance that they would have taken out for this eventually...
Freeman

Look up the accounts for RIAT, and see the wage bill. Thats why tickets prices are so high.

[andrewn]

I'm caught between the two points of view here. On the one hand I want the show to be a success, and I bought my ticket yonks ago and therefore will be going come what may. On the other it does seem a very poor (half hearted) attempt at an airshow by RAFCTE/DBH, which on the face of it appears poor value for money.

But then I think of the numerous £30/40/50's I've handed out to see a paltry collection of not always very interesting planes lined up on the ground, and sometimes in the cold and dark. And that makes £39 for an airshow, flying and static with (apparently) ~100 aircraft in total, seem not to bad really.

To be honest, for me, the weather will make or break it - so here's hoping for some Sun

[peasus911]

I'm caught between the two points of view here. On the one hand I want the show to be a success, and I bought my ticket yonks ago and therefore will be going come what may. On the other it does seem a very poor (half hearted) attempt at an airshow by RAFCTE/DBH, which on the face of it appears poor value for money.

But then I think of the numerous £30/40/50's I've handed out to see a paltry collection of not always very interesting planes lined up on the ground, and sometimes in the cold and dark. And that makes £39 for an airshow, flying and static with (apparently) ~100 aircraft in total, seem not to bad really.

To be honest, for me, the weather will make or break it - so here's hoping for some Sun

Probably agree with you actually. A show has to start from somewhere, this is obviously the start. If we don't back the show we will loose it. lets see what happens this and next year.
My only grumble is that some of the most outspoken criticism from people on forums about the quality of airshow participation normally comes from people who watch the show from the outside and have no intention of paying to see the show. I have purchased my ticket months ago and have since upgraded to the garden area. Yes, I do feel the show lacks something and the ticket price is a little steep but I will be there for the whole day looking at static aircraft, a 5 hour air display, taking in the history of the "Dambusters Home" and talking to the people who protect us 365 days of the year. If the show opens its gates at 8am and closes at 6pm, then £4 per hour to me seems a good return in my book. These are purely my own thoughts as others have aired theirs already. I am looking forward to spending the weekend at Scampton and I will also have my fingers crossed for blue skies and sunshine.

[Thunder]

flying and static with (apparently) ~100 aircraft in total, seem not to bad really.

They better get their skates on then as I count only 41 a/c and that's including all ten Red Arrows and Spitfires times four.

Surely the way forward for this show is to make a statement in it's first year, "hey Europe look at us and what we can do", the excuses that it's a new show aren't valid as the organisers are well seasoned in what they do. By the looks of it they don't want anything to steal the show from RIAT, and the organisers are in a position that they may feel is a burden, it's certainly a conflict of interest.

[peasus911]

"By the looks of it they don't want anything to steal the show from RIAT, and the organisers are in a position that they may feel is a burden, it's certainly a conflict of interest."

That's a good point Thunder but I wonder what the percentage of the crowd from RIAT would be seasoned show goers as opposed to families on a day out etc. The position of Scampton to Fairford should be used to capture two sets of show goers. That's what the organisers should be doing.
You might be right Thunder....