Airshow London 2017

Discussion relating to 2017 airshows/fly-ins/exercises/other events. Post news before the event and post your photos afterwards! Please create only one thread per event.
Hook
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Post by Hook » Sun Sep 24, 2017 12:51 pm

Good news for whoever is going to today's show.

We have added a couple of more performances to the lineup.
The F22s, F35C and the F15 will all be part of the show. Non aerobatic passes but with the great weather, this should be amazing!

So we have almost every fighter in the inventory flying today. A quick recap.

Flighters flying today will include:
F35A, F35C, F-18F, F16s, F15, A10s and our beautifully painted CF-18!
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AVI8R
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Post by AVI8R » Sun Sep 24, 2017 1:03 pm

Thanks for the great news!
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Corey Betke

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Dan Gagnon
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Post by Dan Gagnon » Sun Sep 24, 2017 1:22 pm

Thanks for the update, Gerry. Blue skies all weekend. Hot as hell, but blue skies lol. I'll be curious with what the final attendance numbers will be!
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Dan Gagnon

Brian
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Post by Brian » Mon Sep 25, 2017 12:04 am

looks like someone may of pissed off the flight teams

F22
F35C
Super Hornets
F15
all took off with not one of them making a single pass :(

was also announced that the F35C was going to be added to the heritage flight which didn't happen
Last edited by Brian on Mon Sep 25, 2017 12:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Brian
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Post by Brian » Mon Sep 25, 2017 12:15 am

RyanS wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2017 1:52 am Not sure what to say about today other than it was one of the worst days I have ever spent at an airshow. There is always confusion at a show, but this was on a whole new level. Media relations (which I know few deal with) are the worst I have ever experienced. The photo pit was clearly oversold by at least a factor of two and between the media people who got screwed and the photo pit people who paid a ton of money to get screwed, there were a lot of angry people all day long. The lineup was great, and none of this is a blast on air ops, but it was largely marred by all of the obstructions. I know there are many constraints that shape the layout and I'm not saying I could do better, but it really kills the ability to take photos and I want to put that out there as a warning to other photogs lured in by the lineup.

The absolute lowest point was when we were kicked off of the roped off static runway to move a plane in. Then we had to move further. And then further. All to avoid a plane that didn't even come close. Then we sat and sat and sat waiting to get back to the normal fenceline. We had to shoot the CF-18 departure from behind the photo pit tent. Although we were told the area would be opened back up for general admission seating 'soon', it never opened up for the rest of the night. We wasted about two hours waiting for it, since it was the only fenceline space left at this point. All of our eggs in the wrong basket because the volunteers had no clue what was going on. Missed the awesome opening flybys and finally gave up and went to sit in the field somewhere well back from the fence. I gave up on photos and watched.

Colossally disappointed and frustrated. All I can hope for tomorrow is good seats and a stable flow to the day.
i was in the photo pit also, lots of upset people i was with, if you think that is bad you should of seen it last year, you pay good money to be in a photo pit and we had planes parked right in front of us, and the Goshawk sat there, engines running right in our ears while they performed their preflight, with all the cancellations and no shows i think this is the last London show i will attend
There is nothing even much left for monday departures, not worth even going out monday
photo pit parking was also a real joke, friday before hour of power started i went out to my car only to find that my car and the car next to me were sandwiched with a car right in front of us and right behind us, if we had to get out because of an emergency or just wanting to leave there was absolutely no way of getting out, some people are just too stupid to live
Last edited by Brian on Mon Sep 25, 2017 12:32 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Dan Gagnon
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Post by Dan Gagnon » Mon Sep 25, 2017 2:03 am

Airshow London announces attendance numbers of 32,000 spectators over the 3 days of the show. Pretty successful year.

I will be looking forward to next year's show and I know they will work on any issues addressed from spectators from this year's show!

Media release link here as well as the Facebook post:


http://airshowlondon.com/news/awesome-2 ... formances/

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_ ... 0703997112
Last edited by Dan Gagnon on Mon Sep 25, 2017 2:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Dan Gagnon

AVI8R
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Post by AVI8R » Mon Sep 25, 2017 9:35 am

Brian wrote: Mon Sep 25, 2017 12:04 am looks like someone may of pissed off the flight teams

F22
F35C
Super Hornets
F15
all took off with not one of them making a single pass :(

was also announced that the F35C was going to be added to the heritage flight which didn't happen
The F-16's flight plan was not sent from Toledo so ATC had to make one for them or they called flight service to file. They were asked repeatedly by ground and the airboss if they were doing flybys but they declined as they had a time they had to get out by and with the flight plan mishap they didn't have any time left. I felt bad for the pilots really as it sounded like they were being harassed by them to do flybys. I wouldn't want to come back if I were them.

Having an airboss and tower controller was also very strange. Not sure if that's the norm in Canada but I've never heard it in the US.
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Corey Betke

Bingofuel
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Post by Bingofuel » Mon Sep 25, 2017 8:04 pm

Having an airboss and tower controller was also very strange. Not sure if that's the norm in Canada but I've never heard it in the US.
It's normal for Canadian Shows at least. Abbotsford and London for example, have too many civilian airline arrivals/departures to NOT have a NavCanada controller assisting the show. The NavCanada controllers are key to making the show run smoothly, especially coordinating with Center and Approach controllers to ensure Westjet and alike don't interrupt acts in progress.

On the London topic, looked to be a great show! Wish I could've gotten out there this year. That static display (even with all the cancellations) is unbelievable for this day and age so kudos to the ASL team for pulling that off. As far as the flying display, I'm getting the sense from Social media and posts on here that much like last year there's a sense of False advertising. Nothing completely blatant but the PR team (which is excellent BTW we at Abby have to take notes) needs to be a tad more specific. For Example stating on the last day there's going to be an "F-35C Performance" on the official Facebook account is borderline lying. Now, to be fair Lockheed Martin was an official sponsor so I'm sure much of the public believed they were going to see a real aerobatic Demo. Those of us in the know in the airshow industry (which includes most of us on these forums) i'm sure didn't seriously believe that was going to be the case. Flybys...maybe, but 95% of the attendees see the word "Performance" and expect aerobatics, and I don't blame them. Same goes with the F-22's. Airshows that charge money to attend have to be very careful what they post/promise, the paying public is fickle.

Back on the positive side, ASL's resurgence can only strengthen overall Canadian Airshow credibility. They've done an outstanding job and are setting high standards for many other North American shows to shoot for. It'd be great for London to turn into a mini-Air Tattoo of sorts for people who crave a military-centric show. They're situated geographically in the right area of the continent to draw from a large pool of units and aircraft, and it's showing already!
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Viper93
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Post by Viper93 » Mon Sep 25, 2017 9:46 pm

Ah yes, you see ASL is purely for military buffs, whereas Abbotsford is for both military buffs, and people who enjoy seeing a vintage warbirds and really cool civilian acts. Abbotsford will always still hold the name as Canada's National Airshow, whereas ASL will be billed as Canada's Largest Military Display. People can chose either one, or go to both :D :D :D ASL had 32000 attendees, so kudos to them for growing since last year.
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AVI8R
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Post by AVI8R » Mon Sep 25, 2017 10:04 pm

Forgot to mention that this show was easily the best lit show for photos I've been to. I know it's just a luck of the draw at shows for the best placement for everything but this was perfect. I hope to be back next year.
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Corey Betke

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