RIAT floods 11/7/08

[biggybg]

looks more like a mature version of glastonbury lol :)

[NastyNoodle]

I was lucky because I was working there as a cadet so we got to watch displays which went up on the other side of the barriers with some of the pilots we also got a look around the air show for free. Being there as a cadet is good because we get to meet the pilots and have a look around some of the aircraft. I had a look inside a B-52, F-15, F-16, A-10 and a best was looking inside a Euro fighter. Also I have the brochure for 2008 so if any one wants to buy it its gowning to be on e bay soon.

[SweatyGorillasLmao]

my mate had VIP tickets to that, he was sooo gutted

[07edwardluckett]

20mm rain due thursday night, with steady rain continuing friday morning

Don't think thats as much as last year

[Grant1872]

I travelled from Glasgow to see the show, Have been 2 years in a row and still haven't seen it yet lol, first time couldn't get accom. now I hope I can this year! =D..

[bobthefemail]

i had tickets for that but i didn't go because i heard it was cancled.

[fsx93]

best riat ever :) !!!

[BIASpotter]

im going this year and to kemble airday..

lets hope the weather will be good :D

[SgTBasten]

I am a cadet and I was in harrier flight and the rain was everywhere. The swat team had to move there tent because it was flooded

[wooly2002]

Do you drive a mk2 VW Golf?

[blizzardthewatcher]

Yes mate .

[Scousefire]

Hells bells its Glastonbury!!! I went in 2006 (I think) and managed to get the worst sunburn in my life - it was the same year as the Typhoon near miss !

[MACFSX]

I was gutted but only 100 days intil RIAT 09

[XxXJoshXzX]

I was absolutely gutted aswell, remember the good old days of 2003 and 2004, hope the weather is better this year!

[mattfaringdon]

GUTTED!! Lets hope the show is on this year.

[motorcrosser12]

last year as you all know it was a big dissipiontment because of the weather and it was called off. This year 2009 is ment to be the best ever A EXTRA SPECIAL show theire going to do because theire makeing it up to us because of last year's weather.

WAHOOO

[aircraftboffin]

drinker31, who was your dad and what was he going to fly in?

[motorcrosser12]

drinker31 his dad i think was going to fly in a vc10 because in 2006 a vc10 did a fly past with thr red arrows.

[drinker31]

i was so upset when the air show was not because my dad was going to do a fly pass with the red arrows

[megray1234]

will not be missing that, i was at the Air Cadet Camp Site aka Camp Glasto/tent city.

[fsx93]

woop woop camp glasto lol

wot tent and flight were u in and wot sqn u frm lol

[Macsgrafs]

I was sat outside with my family under a fishing brolly during the Thusday & Friday..my God did it rain, even forked lightning above the control tower. The british weather will only get worse & next year will be more of the same.

[264flight]

Lol oh dear mate it does show just how bad it was though!!. Nice track also i think it says it all mate:_) .

[richking70]

Razgrizkiller those were fairly stupid comments, as others said, it wasnt just the carparks that were an issue, what if an aircraft were to have had to have made an emergency landing in one of the surrounding fields and the emergency services were unable to reach them straight away due to the conditions of the fields? there are many factors that go into the decision to cancelling such an event, end of the day they do this to raise money for charity

[hantsfirebuff]

Razgrizkiller, u knobcheese!!why did u turn up if u knew it was cancelled?, yes the weather was good on Sat & sun but the ground was too wet for it to be safe to drive & walk on, if you had walked on it & slipped up you are the sort of moron who would probably have tried to sue the RIAT Committee, i fully support the decision that they reached.

[Razgrizkiller]

I am appalled at the lack of planning for this years air tattoo. I turned up on saterday even though I knew It was off and saw dry roads and a static park that was VIP only. Make no mistake; this show should have gone ahead. At Farnborough over the weekend I saw, guess what; METAL GRIDDING over the entrance to car parks!!! Wow! That took alot of thought! The weather at fairford on saterday was perfect, sundays was even better, there is no excuse should cost Tim Prince his job. A disgrace.

[redos12]

You absolute fuckwit. Not just entrances and roads are the issue, what about the car parks themselves turning into mush and cars being stranded. Also the same for the inside, its not glastonbury you cheese. I bet you made it there and were pissed off, alot of us were on the way and found out, get over it and stop blaming individuals cock muncher!!

[jacprc]

I think you are the disgrace here, even though it was off, you still decided to go? From watching this video, doesn't it give you any ideas about the conditions? It would be plain dangerous to some members of the public, and traffic routes would be appallingly congested. You would then be complaining about the organization of that! I think Tim Price has taken a responsible and perfectly correct decision. Everyone apart from you it seems, agrees with this. I would like to see how you would cope.

[megray1234]

Razgrizkiller you tard, they didn't have enough metal gridding for the car park, i spent a week camping nd helping with the show with ATC, trust me even with metal gridding the car would've sunk, the fields were water logged, if you wanted to see the show so bad why didnt you just go to park and view with all the other anoracks?

[PaRadiZer]

FRIAT members will get free admission on Farnbourgh saturday.

[pegleg1992]

Srsly!? Date = ?

[pegleg1992]

Darnit had to be last weekend

[11122X]

Anyone going to Farnborugh Airshow this weekend?

It won't be as good as what Fairford would have been but its something

[1Derfishtank]

My brother and I flew in from Ireland on friday with our younger brother on Kempsford camp site since tuesday. Imagine arriving in from a foreign country, planning it for 6mths and then be told at the Camp gate that the show was off... not nice. Sickest I have ever felt. In ireland we lay metal grids on car parks for all outdoor events.. just in case.. why not for RIAT. We enjoyed the sun on sunday though. Hopefully no probs next year.Love your country by the way and cant wait to return.

[Kagy777]

So this is what it was like during the day on Friday. So why did they wait to 9pm Friday night to announce that it wasn't going ahead? Just 12 hours notice? Even the news programmes at six on Friday evening were reporting the event as if there was no doubt of it going ahead. And yet, the rain was chucking it down even on the news reporters!

[pollyanne8888]

very disapointing wknd.did get down to faiford today(mon)to see planes fly out.did hear a mention on channel 5 news, that they are considering moving tattoo to another venue!?

[carpcrew2006]

no dont look forward to 2009 as when you look so forward to it and its cancelled your endng up very dissapointed

[thevegetarian]

God I wish people would stop moaning. I travelled up from the very bottom of Cornwall, spending a lot of money but I still had a good time. There is nothing anyone can do about the weather, quit moaning and look forward to 2009!

[markb2908]

Jesus h christ. why do stupid people insist on saying stupid things like "you can't control the weather".

Of course you can't, but you can plan for it. The event organizer's had been receiving forecasts for at least a week beforehand and so should have been prepared. After all, it started to tip it down from Wednesday.

When you plan an event like this, you should always start with 'car parking'. If you can't get people through the door, you can't put on a show.

Its not rocket science !

[MigEater22]

I am a sceptic in all this, I work closely with the Highways agency, they have weather reports hourly, they are always spot on down to the hour, wind change etc taken into account. I ma sure that an early inspection on Friday would have gave the organisers an indication as to the condition of the field. Its not rocket science. Sodden ground does take some drying out. For most the trip will have been in excess of hundreds of miles, myself included in that.

[skettym]

i was thinking how does places like Glastonbury cope when its all rainy and flooded like this.

i'm well gutted i arrived on friday and was told taht Kempsford was shut so we found another campsite and walked down to the blue gate to see the queens fly past i got vrey very wet! and so did my camera :S stayed for saturday to hear about sunday and i was by then devastated! but oh well not there fault :D

[gnamp]

Rix It Again Tony

[alanstarkie2001]

As I mentioned elsewhere, they probably had a meeting planned for Friday to decide whether or not the show would go ahead. If they said so on Friday morning on the RIAT website, I would have waited before making the few hundred mile trip. Instead they said wet underfoot but all will be well - or words to that effect.

[dannylauralane123]

how abot feeling sorry for the lads that had to work the airshow. sleeping 6 to a 4 man tent,covered in mud,freezing at 3:00 in morn. what about them eh?!

[joelodgeludwick]

My point exactly

[staceyfleming1]

Hey!!! look, its nobodys fault it got cancelled. it was just bad weather, the cloud base was low anyway so the displays would have been crap. you know what the weather is like in this country. It was the first time it has ever been cancelled. Be grateful you will get full refunds. if you are that bothered about seen aircraft displays go to farnborough this weekend.

And by the way, its an american air force base so if you need to blame someone, blame them

[markb2908]

staceyfleming1, you're missing my point. bad weather 'can' be planned for. Personally, I would be happy to sacrifice a large portion of the static area for an all but guarenteed air display.

Flying conditions on both days were quite reasonable. It was the weather in the 72hour period leading up to the event that caused the problems, but as I've said already, poor weather can be planned for. In terms of being grateful re refunds, would you be personally happy to underwrite my accomodation costs

[brinh123]

Hang on, who could have predicted that? 38 years and no cancellations. Why *would* you plan for that?

[markb2908]

The organizers had an obligation (to all the people that had paid to support the event, and travelled incredible distances, at considerable expense) to ensure that there was somewhere decent enough to park. I know for a fact that several enthusiasts had travelled from Germany, some from even as far as Japan !!

Why leave the entire parking arrangements to chance. who in their right minds would assume that the weather (because we are in July) would be fit enough. This is Britain don't forget !

[123fulham]

thanks for the film and proof my first thought the authorities had wind of something but i,m convinced now

[joelodgeludwick]

Although I do feel very disappointed it was cancelled because I had tickets in for both days, I was being really sad and was there on the Friday being a spotter as UKtonyUK eludes to. I believe this video was shot on the friday when it was impossible for the roughly 1000 cars 2 get out so It would have just not been an option 2 hold RIAT. I feel very sorry for those out of pocket ect. but also for the organisers who work all year organising it, who work so hard, and then were forced to cancel it

[markb2908]

I'm sorry, but the organiser knew what the weather forecasts were for at least a week beforehand and should have been prepared.

To have not made any contingency arrangments is like putting all of your eggs in the same basket. only a fool would do such a thing, and only a fool would assume that having good weather in July (in britain) was a safe bet !!!

[joelodgeludwick]

Correct they did have some weather forecasts, and I live v.close and I can tell you the amount of rainfall predicted was far below the volume that actually came.

The only contingency plan I can think they could have come to in the last 2 days from which they could possibly have been aware the rainfall: would have been to organise a park and ride from somewhere like Swindon, although blow me how on earth they would have manage to get enough bus's ect, however I do sympathise as I said

[joelodgeludwick]

Because the majority of F16 ect. you previously have mentioned had been sitting in thir static positions for well over the 2/3 days they had any clue of the rain fall for

[zippeedeedoodah50]

Hi , there was a park and ride form Swindon.

It operated from the Bus Station as far as I am aware as my son & nepthew were catching the buses from different points.They had bought tickets from Thamesdown buses for a return on the Saturday. Hope this helps.

[markb2908]

It's time that the organisers started to plan from 'car parking' upward rather than 'F-16' down.

After this fiasco, the lead organiser should resign.

[jenxx49]

They should have left it at the original dates - 19th and 20th I think?

Just watch - the weather will be great next weekend.

[markb2908]

What a sham.

Why was there no 'wet weather contingeny plan' ??? How about clearing half of the 'static' area and use for parking. I'm sure that they would have done this if the queens visit depended on it !!!!!

I for one am £300 out of pocket (hotel accomdation that will not get refunded) because of the EVENT ORGANISERS 'woefully inadequate' wet weather contingency plan.

Sod 'RAF Fair-Weather', bring back 'RAF Mildenhall'.

[neiluk2006]

Weather's been shit this week, pure and simple... I was in Los Angeles last week - should have stayed there !!

[lazycalm41]

my son & I had planned since Jan to go for the 1st time ever, had to beg for a hotel room & were half hour away after driving 300 miles when we heard the news, perhaps they should plan RIAT for December in future! & its called global warming! Pah! such a shame for all the hard wk put in by so many

[UKtonyUK]

i was suprised how much the spotters were determined and stayed out in the shitty weather. i was working for 2 weeks helping to set the airshow up so i was very gutted too know the hard work was for nothing.

there was 3 car parks that were just messed up. if the organisers had any sense they would re date it next year to september when the weathers a little better or maybe have it abroad.

[higg123]

this is the msot annoying thats ever happened to me,so ready,i evan knew some of the pilots of the f-22 live in america close to my uncle and was reeady to say hi. but no the rain just haddddd to come on this particular week why me?!!!!!!!!!!! lol

[neiluk2006]

I'm gutted too, I go every year - luckily I only live a stone's throw away in Swindon - feel so bad for the people who helped to set the showground up - and for the people who travelled miles - Massive disappointment!!

[pitomlot]

they should have just po sponed it instead of canceling it alltogether. i found out thre quarers way through a 3 hour jurney :{

[accez24]

me to, absolutley gutted

[jenxx49]

I heard on friday night, and I was absolutley gutted - still am.

But I cant help thinking, this is the military, why were they not more prepared? Maybe not for the water gushing up through the floor, but last year they had metal grids down on part of the car parks, surely they could have predicted rain and laid these down on the car parks.

But I didnt think it was this bad cause the rain hasnt been too bad here in the Midlands.

[FlankerFilmworks]

Thanks for posting the clip, it'll hopefully help calm a few people down when they realise just how bad things were at Fairford.

I suppose the organisers could have cancelled earlier, but that's a horrible decision to have to make, and I'm glad they waited as long as possible before making it.

[Dillyellow]

The wet made my penis shrivle!!!!!!

[alanstarkie2001]

How come last year was wetter, floods before and after the show, flooded fields on the M5 on the way down last year. In fact it was raining hard on the way down - but no problems in 2007 - has someone messed with the drains?

[staceyfleming1]

oh and alan starkie, it may have been wetter over the weekend last year but a few days worth of rain fell in a few hours, the lads in no.1 uniform on the parade square where soaked

[blackburnbuccaneer94]

Bloody hell!!!

Poor guy's who turned up, only to find out it was cancelled must have been gutted.

[scrillamanila]

There was a guy on BBC News 24 who travelled down from Edinburgh!! O_O Poor guy...

[DJ5432100]

Was going to go sunday but gutted now!! :@

[unowot]

Sunday is also cancelled :-(

[brinh123]

I was in the hotel bar when the staff came around to tell everyone the show was canceled. They asked if we were there for the air show, and I honestly thought that they were going to take numbers for an early breakfast service, then they told us. I was gutted. Still, roll on 18th July 2009.

[scrillamanila]

It'll probably snow then LOL

[Wonkabar007]

OMG that is a monsoon,I bet a few video cameras got damaged.

[blizzardthewatcher]

Glad to be of service , well not glad really :(

[sceett]

i travelled to fairford today and got within a mile of the base only to be told it was cancelled. i was absolutely gutted and had know idea why it was called off as the weather around thornbury (near bristol ) was fine. but now i have seen this vid, i can sort of see why it was.

[curleyman39]

Thanks for this video. I was going up tomorrow and was wondering how bad good it be, Bristol has had good weather today. Now I see why.

[blizzardthewatcher]

Sundays cancelled too :( :( :(

[AlHillATC]

Really angry that it was cancelled, nobodys fault though. :(

[MACFSX]

Bloody British Weather can not spell sory

[MACFSX]

Looking foward to RAIT Today But got canceld blood brithsh weather