No they're not. They're complaining at the lack of fast jets (not Cosford's fault; blame Denmark), the lack of sunshine (seriously!); the fact the BBMF Lancaster was on the Cosford website but didn't turn up (I presume they mean Dakota?); that the fact they couldn't get out of the showground, along with thousands of others, in 5 minutes (because they are the only people in their own little world?); that the food was expensive (reality check, it is at any such event!); that the "little planes I see every day" were flying rather than not (but then surely the flying lineup would have had even less?); and my personal favourite, that "While I appreciate the Battle of Britain memorial flight, they need some more high speed planes". Yes, really, the BBMF need to get some faster aircraft in their display. Looking forward to the BBMF F-16 display at RIAT!?luke28 wrote:The 'general public' are annihilating the event on Social media, us 'whinging enthusiasts' have been a bit fairer in our critisism.
The problem is that those that went last year for the first time, thought that it was the norm. The Cosford team did an amazing job last year and eclipsed previous shows by a country mile. Sadly people don't remember the shows previously, or didn't attend, and therefore are assuming this year was rubbish.
Oh, worth pointing out that if you take a percentage of those having posted reviews on Facebook, about 85% of people left after the Red Arrows, which - having been there myself - is not at all representative of reality.
It gets wheeled out because it is true; how many people complaining about the lineup at such an event have organised one? Do you know how difficult it is to get even a based aircraft to appear, in the air? Do you know the myriad of paperwork that needs to be done for an aircraft to display? Did you know an extra form was slotted in by the CAA, with no warning, last Thursday afternoon? Did you know the CAA have such a backlog of display approvals to work through, a number of display acts are starting to struggle to meet their timings to be ready for events? Did you know that, no matter how hard you try, you can't "book" a military aircraft for either flying or static display? Did you know that if your request for an aircraft is accepted by the British MOD, you must then pay a fee; which in some cases is rather large?luke28 wrote:As usual at the first sign of critism and the standard 'organise an airshow yourself' line gets brought out, show organise work extremely hard, Peter Reoch and the team at Cosford had a lot to contend with but does that mean tha the show should be free of criticism?
Should the show be free from well-informed, reasoned criticism? No. Should it be free from the nonsense being posted by enthusiasts and non-enthusiasts alike? Most certainly yes.