2010 Tucano Display Team Announced

[Vulcan7]

As I mentioned before, it seems logical that training sorties (which often include formation flying) could occasionally be switched to a weekend so that an air show appearance becomes part of training rather than being a separate task which has to be rehearsed and funded. Surely, for shows like RIAT, Waddington and Leuchars, the folks at Linton could manage to assemble a nine-ship formation to perform a couple of flypasts and perhaps a simple gear-down pass from each aircraft? It would be a good training opportunity, cost nothing, and be a much more visually-captivating event than a solo Tucano performing aerobatics a mile away.

Knew I'd forgotten to mention something in my previous post. Wouldn't this be a more feasible alternative to just the one Tucano? - and maybe even the odd Tornado/Typhoon/Hawk/Tutor etc thrown in in the same way? I'm yet to see a viable reason why this wouldn't be possible, I'm also keen on hearing peoples' opinions on it.

Joe

[gonk]

Good luck to the tucano team for 2010, i have been watching air displays for over forty five years,and lived in a very busy low fly zone in the north. and i dont give a toss what is flying, one it takes skill, two it takes guts and three alot of aircrew give up free time to entertain the public. If you dont like it dont watch , If lmp has any idea who the tucano crew are that was practicing over this area ,at midday today, please thank them for giving me a stiff neck,nice bit of entertainment.I am just looking forward to hearing that great sound of freedom at what ever shows i can afford to get two. Nearly for got,some one mentioned a glider display at waddo, do you remember the glider display at biggin hill in 75 that was ace as well,

[Sheff]

grads are week day event

Well, the obvious response is that you could move 'em to a weekend if that was the problem, but the point was that if a nine-ship can be assembled for a small group of families, it seems slightly absurd that a crowd of 200,000 can't be treated to the same spectacle, n'est ce pas?

Anyway, I should repeat (in the light of the post above mine) that my gripes are not directed at the Tucano display pilots - as I keep stressing (although this point seems to be getting missed). I would hope that it goes without saying that we all think the RAF's air and ground crews do an outstanding job. My point concerns the wider issue of presenting the RAF to the public. Okay, it's fine to say "if you don't like it then don't go or don't look" but that's not much of an argument, is it? I fully accept that whining on a forum isn't going to change anything but I do think it's interesting to argue these points - leads you down some interesting avenues sometimes! Likewise, I accept LMP's comments about laughing at some of the views expressed on forums - but at the same time it would be unwise to dismiss people's views entirely. In the final analysis, we are the people that the Tucano (and other aircraft) are displayed for, therefore it seems reasonable to raise the issue of whether we think the display is suitably entertaining or otherwise. Yes, I also agree that to discuss the hard work of a display pilot as a simple judgement of "entertainment" does seem slightly dismissive but ultimately that is what the Tucano display is intended to achieve, so I don't think it's unreasonable to say that some of us (quite a lot of us in fact) don't find the display interesting or entertaining at all. Again, I stress that this isn't the Tucano pilot's fault in any way (indeed I fail to see how a solo display pilot could display the Tucano any more effectively or skilfully) but that's really not what I've been getting-at, is it?!

Gonk mentions the proverbial "sound of freedom" but when the sound can hardly be heard because it's so far away, you have to wonder if there's something slightly absurd about the exercise?