Royal International Air Tattoo 2007 - Fairford 14/15 July

rhymin · 12 Jul 2007 at 00:47

dont worry, i'm feeling lucky

Amp34 · 12 Jul 2007 at 01:10

rhymin said:
dont worry, i'm feeling lucky

I'm blaming you now if the weather is carp!

Westyfield2 · 12 Jul 2007 at 09:45

Dave L said:
You got it yet? Time is running out!

Yup, got it yesterday (wednesday) :cool:

But haven't actually taken it out of its box yet

Mint_Sauce · 12 Jul 2007 at 11:19

I'm thinking about going to this now! I see most of the special tickets are sold out. Is the standard admission ticket good enough for getting photos or do the other areas have a much better view?

Never been to an airshow, just don't want to go all that way and pay the money to stand in a muddy field that's a mile away from the action if you get what I mean.

saddler · 12 Jul 2007 at 11:49

Mint_Sauce said:
Never been to an airshow, just don't want to go all that way and pay the money to stand in a muddy field that's a mile away from the action if you get what I mean.

It'll be more like half a mile

The big problem with RIAT compared to other smaller shows is that the main display area is full of corporate grandstands. The non-grandstand ticket holding punters (like me) have to stand futher away from the centre of the runway. This is no problem as the view can still be brilliant.

The problem arises if you want to look around the static displays then go watch the flying. Because fairford is so popular within a couple of hours all the good spots on the crowd line are taken. I've pretty much given up taking a camcorder with me cos all I get is the back of peoples heads when panning.

Its still possible to get some cracking shots but the volume of people can make it frustrating.

seaviewuk · 12 Jul 2007 at 18:44

I cough up for a grandstand ticket to get a decent view.

Planning on leaving Brighton at 3am on Sunday :eek:

Weather is looking 50/50 at the moment.,

The Oasis Boeing 747 strutting it's stuff should be fun (Sunday only). As also should the ThunderBirds, Tornado's , Typhoons etc etc.

And not forgetting the Red Arrows

Latest participation list:

http://www.airtattoo.com/airtattoo/Aircraft/participation

Andrew_McP · 12 Jul 2007 at 19:56

seaviewuk said:
http://www.airtattoo.com/airtattoo/Aircraft/participation

Damn! No flying Gripen any more. That's a disappointment. :-/

Still, the Indians should be taking one or two of their Su-30s up for a wander up & down the flightline. That'll compensate.

Andrew McP

Andrew_McP · 12 Jul 2007 at 20:00

saddler said:
The problem arises if you want to look around the static displays then go watch the flying.

I gave up trying to do both. So I'm going Saturday at the crack of dawn-ish to try and get somewhere close to the crowdline, and on Sunday (when I can't get there until late anyway due to late starting trains) to wander around and enjoy the experience.

The weather may have other ideas about my plans though. :-)

Andrew McP

Amp34 · 12 Jul 2007 at 20:00

Is the view really that bad with the usual tickets? I hope not or it'll be a bit of a disappointment.

saddler · 12 Jul 2007 at 22:23

Amp34 said:
Is the view really that bad with the usual tickets? I hope not or it'll be a bit of a disappointment.

From a watching the flying point of view its no problem, where the crowd is a problem is the very low passes and take-off landing situations. These are the best times to get photos so it can be annoying. Best time to go to the line is lunch time as many people go back to their cars to eat so you can grab a space

Its the first RIAT i've been to for 6 years so i'm looking forward to it. I'll be spending time in the static park as I plan to buy a 10-20 lens tomorrow, 18mm just aint wide enough.

seaviewuk · 13 Jul 2007 at 13:47

Well I have just been on the Meteorological site and the forecast for Sunday is heavy rain and poor visibility for Fairford and indeed most of that region

Saturday's forecast is cloudy.

Dazzlercee · 13 Jul 2007 at 13:57

Saturday should be fine:

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/sw/sw_forecast_weather.html

...but Sunday looks like a washout.

Better to have some clouds in the sky as it gives more depth and scale to the display, aircraft and the photographs.

seaviewuk · 13 Jul 2007 at 14:02

Deeply dissapointing as I was going on Sunday. I will keep an eye on the forecast late Saturday night and hope the rain is delayed!

Mr.Orb · 13 Jul 2007 at 17:09

Typical

FreeStream · 13 Jul 2007 at 18:39

seaviewuk said:
Deeply dissapointing as I was going on Sunday. I will keep an eye on the forecast late Saturday night and hope the rain is delayed!

Same here, really annoying!

^^Gord^^ · 14 Jul 2007 at 09:42

As feared i'm not going to get to see any of RIAT. Have fun everyone who is going and I want to see lots of photos especially the F-117A and the SU-30! :cool:

[Death] · 15 Jul 2007 at 07:41

i went yesterday, damn it was a nice day, got a sunburned face!! , the display was great , took some shots, but ive only got a little camera

10x optical 300mm i think, i need to get some bigger equipment

Danny UK · 15 Jul 2007 at 10:05

[Death] said:
i went yesterday, damn it was a nice day, got a sunburned face!!

Ditto, I'm a similar colour to a lobster at the moment!

I thought the Red Arrows were brilliant, just downloading my pics now.

^^Gord^^ · 15 Jul 2007 at 10:35

Danny UK said:
Ditto, I'm a similar colour to a lobster at the moment!

I thought the Red Arrows were brilliant, just downloading my pics now.

Were the Reds back to a nine ship? I hear Red 3 has under gone surgery on his injured hand and is now back.

Amp34 · 15 Jul 2007 at 12:34

^^Gord^^ said:
Were the Reds back to a nine ship? I hear Red 3 has under gone surgery on his injured hand and is now back.

Yep i think so, at least from what I remember. They were damn good, I love the *** the italians tried to emulate the heart that the reds did and failed abismaly.