Is aviation boring?

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Member for

14 years 2 months

Posts: 1,259

Just been watching a program on the beeb iplayer using footage from the inter-war period and there is footage of people having a shave, a 4 piece band on the wings of a biplane, someone hanging upside down and picking up a hat from an outstretched hand during a low pass.

The most that I've seen at airshows is the wing walkers who are firmly strapped in and don't really do all that much in comparison, plus some nice aerobatics and fly pasts. I know that health and safety regulations play a big part in this but has it make for a duller experience for the spectator?

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Member for

14 years 5 months

Posts: 4,956

Without doubt it has just as it has in all walks of life. But it is here to stay in one guise or another so those great days you looked at are gone forever, I fear. I recall airshows being more exciting because we used to be nearer the action, in every sense of the word. Safety is very important but as a spectator you accept that you are attending an event at which there could be a serious accident, just as in motorsport.

Member for

14 years

Posts: 1,234

Far from Duller.

A B-52 on a scramble from Fairford, sends warm feelings down yer legs! Not just the E-flux! I get a twitch when I see that, it gives me Aeroplane Tourettes!
Any modern aerobatic team in purpose built prop jobs. (I prefer these to jets)
Any decent sized aerobatic jet team still worth watching.
Harrier....will and always will be in a special place of it's own. OK, JSF will be doing similar, but it has no class...it came out of the same jellymould as every other modern fighter.
A380 whispering past at what seems an unfeasibly slow speed.
Anything with vectored thrust, doing hand-brake turns in the air.

Dull? Just different.

I've seen the wing-walkers of today shake hands, yes they are in a 5 point harness though. Damn, just not enough death these days!

Member for

13 years 11 months

Posts: 1,335

very much so like many other walks of life H&S has killed the very thing it was done for thrills and entertainment

take that ellement away and you are just as well off viewing at a normal airfield or in a museum

the biggest milestone was post ramstein where regs were hugely altered

it closed many great airshows such as barton as the crowd line was shoved so far back it was no longer viable to organise as crowd numbers made it financialy unviable

if people are willing to accept the risks let them get on with it

there is a small chance i'll get killed by a falling plane but in todays uk i'd say the odds of getting beaten up on the street are higher !!

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 16,832

Interestingly, where there is only a short transit between airshows the main wing-walking team girls ride in the harness.

For longer transits they unstrap and climb down into the cockpit - but this out of sight of the audience.

Moggy

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14 years

Posts: 1,234

.....there is a longer lifeline still connecting to the main support struts when they clamber in.

Member for

14 years 2 months

Posts: 1,259

Interestingly, where there is only a short transit between airshows the main wing-walking team girls ride in the harness.

For longer transits they unstrap and climb down into the cockpit - but this out of sight of the audience.

Moggy

Yes but it would still be nice to see them hanging upside down from the underside of the a/c whilst doing their nails or playing a violin.

Member for

14 years 8 months

Posts: 397

Interestingly, where there is only a short transit between airshows the main wing-walking team girls ride in the harness.

For longer transits they unstrap and climb down into the cockpit - but this out of sight of the audience.

Moggy


They also unstrap from the harness during the display and sit on the leading edge of the wing. Another time they stand on the fuselage while holding one leg out rearwards, which must be quite distracting for the pilot. :p

Fair play to them. I don't think I could stand on a wing let alone clamber around the outside of an old biplane in flight. :eek:

Member for

13 years 11 months

Posts: 1,335

Interestingly, where there is only a short transit between airshows the main wing-walking team girls ride in the harness.

Moggy

wonder if one of the perks is being allowed to take the work equipment home in the evenings ???:diablo:

Member for

14 years 9 months

Posts: 239

Yes but it would still be nice to see them hanging upside down from the underside of the a/c whilst doing their nails or playing a violin.

That's a thought for Andre Rieu's next tour! :)

Member for

13 years 9 months

Posts: 8,306

Without doubt it has just as it has in all walks of life. But it is here to stay in one guise or another so those great days you looked at are gone forever, I fear. I recall airshows being more exciting because we used to be nearer the action, in every sense of the word. Safety is very important but as a spectator you accept that you are attending an event at which there could be a serious accident, just as in motorsport.

I may have forgotten bits on what I am going to say, but here goes, I well remember Farnborough, when John Derry, flying the DH 110 exploded and large lumps flew into the crowded front line. I would never want to hear the screams and shouts and utter confusion again.
For once, I heartily endorse Health and Safety we now have at airshows, and as Sky High has stated, it was nice whilst it lasted.
Lincoln .7

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13 years 11 months

Posts: 1,335

it is interesting to note though that after the 1955 le mans disaster ( very much on the same scale and type as the dh 110 disaster )

that not much changed in motor racing horrendous safety breaches were being broken even two decades later as the 1975 spanish f1 gp proved

Race summaryRight from the start, the drivers who were members of the Grand Prix Drivers Association were furious that the barriers weren't bolted together properly. Thus, they went on strike. Most of the sport's major players refused to take part in practice. Jacky Ickx was not a member of the GPDA, and one of the few marquee drivers who did practice.

Track staff worked overnight to fix the barriers, and to make sure everything would be fixed in time for qualifying on Saturday, some of the teams sent out mechanics to help. The drivers, though, still weren't convinced, but the race organizers threatened legal action if no race was run. This, and rumors that the Guardia Civil would seize the cars which were in the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys stadium that served as paddock, forced the drivers to call off the strike.

The defending World Champion Emerson Fittipaldi, however, was still furious. He did the minimum three laps, but at a very slow pace, then pulled into the pits. The next morning, Fittipaldi announced he wouldn't run, and went back home. Also during race day morning, Ken Tyrrell went out onto the circuit with his spanner to make sure the barriers were how they should be.

The two Ferraris of Niki Lauda (on pole) and Clay Regazzoni qualified on the front row, but their glory wouldn't last long. At the start, Vittorio Brambilla's March tangled with Mario Andretti's Parnelli. Andretti's car hit the back of Lauda's, sending him into Regazzoni. Lauda was out immediately, while Regazzoni took his car to the garage, where repairs were made, and Regazzoni was sent back out. Patrick Depailler also retired on the first lap because of suspension damage, and Wilson Fittipaldi and Arturo Merzario withdrew in protest.

After the first-corner madness ceased, James Hunt was shown as the leader. Shockingly, Andretti had managed to keep going, and was running in second. John Watson was in third, Rolf Stommelen was fourth, Brambilla fifth, and Carlos Pace sixth.

On lap four, the engine in Jody Scheckter's Tyrrell blew, and the oil dumping onto the circuit caused Alan Jones and Mark Donohue to crash. Three laps later, Hunt also slipped in the oil and crashed. The top three had become Andretti, Watson, and Stommelen. Watson's car suffered from vibrations and dropped out. Andretti's rear suspension lasted only seven more laps before it failed, causing him to crash out of the lead. Jean-Pierre Jarier and Brambilla stopped to change tyres, whilst Tom Pryce and Tony Brise tangled. Stommelen was now in the top spot, followed by Pace, Ronnie Peterson, Jochen Mass, and Ickx. On lap 24, Peterson was out after he tangled with François Migault while trying to lap the Frenchman.

Two laps later, tragedy struck. The rear wing on Stommelen's Embassy Hill-Lola broke, sending him into the barrier, ironically at the point that his own mechanics had worked on. He bounced off it and back into the road, hitting the barrier across the way, and flying over it. While trying to avoid Stommelen as he crossed the track, Pace crashed. Five by-standers were killed by Stommelen's flying car with the driver suffering a broken leg, a broken wrist and two cracked ribs.

The race continued for four laps, during which Mass passed Ickx for the lead. On lap 29, the race was called with Mass the winner, Ickx second, and Carlos Reutemann rounded out the podium. Jean-Pierre Jarier finished fourth, Brambilla fifth, and Lella Lombardi took sixth. Because the race only lasted half its distance, only half points were awarded.

it is of course unfortunate that such things happen but as a rational human being when i went to watch speedway every week

i accepted the consequences of the signs that said " motor racing is a dangerous sport , we take no responsibility for injury "

i'd rather be back in the world were things were fun because they were dangerous

i have a big enough IQ of my own to reccognise dangers and that if the worst comes to the worst several tons of aircraft hitting me .. well at the very least it is going to smart a little !!

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13 years 9 months

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Bring back the good old Turbo, that went bang so frequently.

Lincoln .7 ;)

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19 years 3 months

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" Is aviation boring? "

My wife and daughters think so.

Chris

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14 years 2 months

Posts: 316

Can't understand why more women dont get interested in all things plane related? It is a 150% fascinating subject.

I suppose it is the H & S brigade that have put the mockers on things for the public. Bring back the 1960's !

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20 years

Posts: 3,031

Could it also be deemed "boring" as so many air forces use the same equipment - how many times can you sit and watch an F-16 display(?) - there is no variety any more. (Which is a key point as to why I don't go to big airshows anymore)

Many aircraft just look like the next one.

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16 years 6 months

Posts: 1,327

I must admit that one of the reasons I don't go to airshows anymore is because the display line is so far from the crowd. It was entirely sensible to manage the dangers with simple measures such as banning aircraft from actually flying over the crowd during their display but the aircraft are now so far away from the crowd line that much of the atmosphere is lost.
By the same token most motor racing circuits now have huge debris fences all the way round, even in places where the likelihood of an accident and associated debris is almost nil. One of the reasons fo going to motorsport events was to take photos - something which is impossible now so I keep my money on my pocket and stay away because the health and safety police have all but ruined my day out by forcing me to watch my motorpsort from the outside of a cage.
I accept that none of us want to get killed or injured and equally I don't want to see participants get killed or injured but we should all be prepared to accept that attending motorsport and aviation events carries some risk and the nanny state really does need to back down a little on some aspects of Health and Safety.

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13 years 9 months

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I.M.H.O. I don't think you can compare motor racing ie F1 with airshows when it comes to safety of the general public, All F1 cars do not disintergrate as they once used to' so large items don't go flying into the crowd, plus the crash barriers are very high. A jet at an airshow is possibly travelling at several times the max of a F1 car. If these fly by wire suffer a failure, they can go anyway they wish, they are not programmed to automaticaly fly away from the crowds.Even the wheels of the F1 cars are wired into the bodyworks at some point or other so they cannot fly off into the crowd. It's a shame Senna had to die prior to more priority being given to safety.

Lincoln .7

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24 years 2 months

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I must admit that one of the reasons I don't go to airshows anymore is because the display line is so far from the crowd.

Patently you have never been to Old Warden then?

Moggy

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16 years 6 months

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Patently you have never been to Old Warden then? Moggy

Old Warden is the one place I do still go on a regular basis. I love the atmosphere. The only minor complaint is that you have to dodge all the speaker poles when taking photos but there isn't a great deal that the collection can do to get round that problem.

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24 years 2 months

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Not being one to take photographs of airshows it has never been an issue for me, but I can see how it would be.

Personally I never wander far from the car at the OW twilight shows, other than a quick visit to the tower. I tend to view them as a country picnic with aeroplanes, rather than a display.

Lovely all the same, and a decent closeness to the curving flightline

Moggy