Newcastle (NI) festival of flight 10th Aug 2013

jasT1981

Now into its 4th year, it has a amazing line up this year. Anyone heading up for it?

Confirmed Aircraft

Red Arrows
Eurofighter Typhoon
Avro Vulcan xh558
Golden Apple Sabre F86A
Hawker Hunter 'Miss Demeanour'
BBMF Dakota
Irish Aircorps PC9 (X4)
Hawker Sea Fury T20
North American T6 Texan
Army Air Core Gazelle Helicopter
Agusta 139 Helicopter from the Irish Air Corps
Merlin Helicopter (Unsure of operater... AAC maybe)
HMCG Rescue Sikorsky Helicopter

Grumman MK5 Wildcat (Ground Display)
Eurofighter Typhoon Facsimile (Ground Display)
Hunter Hawker Cockpit (Ground Display)

Dilbert75

Strongly thinking of it. Went to Portrush last year and tbh was a little disappointed after more than 5 hours driving each way. This looks like a better compromise between excellence and convenience.

jasT1981

Irish Air Corps CASA has been added

Fabio

I stood underneath a Vulcan the other day in the RAF Museum in London. What an aircraft. Would love to see one fly.

airbusa320

It will be the Irish coastguard heli doing the SAR display.
Hope the weather holds

Dilbert75

Might be worth merging this thread and http://touch.boards.ie/thread/2057006483/1/#post85861990

logie101

I was thinking of taking a trip up tomorrow does anyone have any tips/advice on where best to park or a good vantage point to view the show?

airbusa320

Head for the Nortfield park and ride .A very good shuttle service is run from here and drops you only a short distance from the promanade.
I viewed the show last year from the promanade near the hotel(name escapes me) and got some great views.
Arrive early as last year was busy and thatwas without the Reds and the Vulcan.

logie101

Thanks the park and ride sounds like an idea.

What time is early? AA route planner says it takes 2 hours from Malahide to Newcastle but that seems a bit long to me. I will probably aim to be up there before 12pm.

airbusa320

I hope to be up there for around 11 so as to have a look in the aviation village before the heli flypasts start at 1pm.
Newcastle is about 30 mins from Newry depending on the traffic so 2 hrs is being a bit generous on the AA,s part.

dm09

logie101 wrote: »

Thanks the park and ride sounds like an idea.

What time is early? AA route planner says it takes 2 hours from Malahide to Newcastle but that seems a bit long to me. I will probably aim to be up there before 12pm.

That sounds about right, Once you get on to the M1 you'll make it to Newry in about an Hour, but from Newry to Newcastle the road is bad, you have to go through Warrenpoint, Rostrevor, Kilkeel, it'll probably take another hour and be careful driving through Kilkeel.. they don't take too kindly to 'Sudeners' in that part of the North!

jasT1981

for those about today in Newcastle, the F86 is doing a practice run at 3.30pm.

nag

Anyone know what time the display will start?

Inbox

I think it's 2pm for the jets. Is it worth going if its cloudy my dad is saying I won't see anything if its cloudy.

westdub

1pm for the helicopter display
1.30pm for the SAR demo
and the aircraft display starts at 2pm

The weather forecast isnt too bad and as long as it isnt raining you can see everything no problem.....

Now I'm heading up....:D

SachaJ

Anyone know the flight path of aircraft heading up from the south?

I'm in Drogheda so wouldn't mind sticking my nose out the window to have a look. Not going to make it up unfortunately even though I'm only an hour away.

nag

SachaJ wrote: »

Not going to make it up unfortunately even though I'm only an hour away.

*points finger @SachaJ* SHAME!!

SachaJ

nag wrote: »

*points finger @SachaJ* SHAME!!

Aye, I know. Bit of a long day and a lot of hassle with a 3 and 1 year old on tow......

650Ginge

dm09 wrote: »

That sounds about right, Once you get on to the M1 you'll make it to Newry in about an Hour, but from Newry to Newcastle the road is bad, you have to go through Warrenpoint, Rostrevor, Kilkeel, it'll probably take another hour and be careful driving through Kilkeel.. they don't take too kindly to 'Sudeners' in that part of the North!

Stop with sectarian bigotry. Kilkeel is fine. Everywhere has bad people including the south.

The air show was great hope no one was put off by scaremongering. Anyway you wouldnt go though kilkeel, much shorter via castlewellan. Where the bad people there love foreigners from down south and fly more tricolours than the whole of the south probably.

Klunk001

I paid a visit to the show yesterday, took junior along to have a look. I am not one for going to shows, I see enough of it working in the industry, I thought. But, I have to say it was fantastic, from old war birds to new. The line up, location and weather all played their parts.

To me one display was as good as the next. The entrance to the display line from the Sabre through the valley to the west of the town with Slieve Donard in the background was just spectacular, the Vulvan did the same thing. As usual the "Reds" were perfect to the second.

A big thank you from me to all who helped make it such a great day, I know two 9 year old's who left smiling from ear to ear.

Dr.Rieux

Klunk001 wrote: »

I paid a visit to the show yesterday, took junior along to have a look. I am not one for going to shows, I see enough of it working in the industry, I thought. But, I have to say it was fantastic, from old war birds to new. The line up, location and weather all played their parts.

To me one display was as good as the next. The entrance to the display line from the Sabre through the valley to the west of the town with Slieve Donard in the background was just spectacular, the Vulvan did the same thing. As usual the "Reds" were perfect to the second.

A big thank you from me to all who helped make it such a great day, I know two 9 year old's who left smiling from ear to ear.

I know a 24 year old who left with a similar smile :pac:

airbusa320

Really enjoyed yesterday , amazing display from the Sabre and the sea fury.
Bit strange the heli flypast never happend

Alun

I really enjoyed the show yesterday, especially the Vulcan, almost brought a tear to my eye. I was pretty sure I used to see them now and then fly over my grandparents' place down in Somerset back in the 60's, so I asked the guy in the Vulcan tent in the aviation village if I was imagining things and he said no, as Vulcans used to fly in and out of Filton on a regular basis, so that was good to know

One thing that puzzled me was the number of people continually wandering up and down the sea front, in front of me, blocking my view, staring intently in front of them, completely ignoring the aircraft, during the Red Arrows display, and even during the Vulcan display. Do these people have no soul? I mean, why did they even bother coming?

logie101

The Vulcan really is a beautiful aircraft and a fantastic achievement to get it back in the air. Technologically so advanced if the Americans owned them it would probably still be in operational service.

After the display the Vulcan overnighted at Belfast International before departing for England this afternoon. On route home it did a lovely low pass at Newtownards. Picture before if anyone is interested.

http://www.ulsterflyingclub.com/cms/

JamieIsGod

Was I imagining things or did a Gazelle land in the grounds of the hotel as the show kicked off?

westdub

JamieIsGod wrote: »

Was I imagining things or did a Gazelle land in the grounds of the hotel as the show kicked off?

The Gazelle brought in Red 10, the commentator for the Red Arrows, He also flies the spare aircraft....

islanderre

I travelled up from Galway for the show yesterday and really enjoyed the show.

Hats off to the organisers; very well done, park & ride was operated flawless and no traffic jams worth talking about.

The Vulcan was amazing as expected and the Red Srrows were superb too.

Capt. Cunningham done a great job on the commentary too..... is he a A330 Captain with EI now????

Great show all round and very happy I went ot it. Roll on the 15th Sept. in Dublin.........

robclay26

islanderre wrote: »

I travelled up from Galway for the show yesterday and really enjoyed the show.

Hats off to the organisers; very well done, park & ride was operated flawless and no traffic jams worth talking about.

The Vulcan was amazing as expected and the Red Srrows were superb too.

Capt. Cunningham done a great job on the commentary too..... is he a A330 Captain with EI now????

Great show all round and very happy I went ot it. Roll on the 15th Sept. in Dublin.........

Agreed! Very well run and all aircraft put on a very good and long display.
Angela Cunningham is a former EI A330 captain, he did a fantastic commentary job. Lots of information and very clear too. The public address system was great quality.
Fingers crossed this will be on next year. Beautiful location too!

b318isp

Yes, a great display - and it was almost chronological -> it was good to contrast the Texan, then the Sea Fury, Sabre, Hunter and Typhoon as the speed, climb rate, turn speed and noise increased!

The sound of the Texan, smoothness of the Fury, the energy of the Typhoon, the grace of Vulvan and talent of the Red Arrows were great. It's great seeing a DC3/C47 at any time. The Hunter was a lot faster than expected and the Sabre just looked like a hoot to fly.

I had a few gripes - the main display was nearly an hour getting going (not great when trying to manage kids) and getting out of the town was ridiculous. We waited an hour before going back to the car to allow traffic to lighten, but we still spent another 1hr15mins getting out of Newcastle.

While the PC9 display was excellent, the Casa wasn't - it took way to long to turn back to the flight line, so spent very little time actually displaying.

Not

b318isp wrote: »

I had a few gripes - the main display was nearly an hour getting going (not great when trying to manage kids) and getting out of the town was ridiculous. We waited an hour before going back to the car to allow traffic to lighten, but we still spent another 1hr15mins getting out of Newcastle.

If going next year, try the Northfield park and ride. The police seemed to have the roads out of the town closed in order for the park and ride to function efficiently, which it really did. I was on a clear road away from the town about 25 minutes after the display ended. 10 minutes walking from my viewing point on the south promenade to the shuttle bus pick up point, about 3 or 4 minutes to get on a bus (they had a fleet of empty double decks waiting, loading two at a time), which took less than 10 minutes to get to the P+R, 2 minutes walk to the car, then was able to drive straight out the gate (very little traffic leaving at this point), and was waved straight onto a clear Castlewellan road by a police officer. Castlewellan took about 10 minutes to get through (which could have been quicker if there had been some traffic management at the roundabout) - but then I made the silly mistake of going through Newry rather than bypassing it via Rathfriland and ended up in gridlock there for 30 minutes (facepalm).

However, it did take a while to get into the P+R before the display, as the police had the road into the town closed at the left turn for the P + R, there was no room to turn left around motorists talking to the officiers on the junction without passing on the grass verge, which I think a lot of people were reluctant to do in the presence of police officers without being directed to do so, as a result the traffic at half one was backed up all the way to the roundabout in Castlewellan, creating a 30 minute delay. Consequently, I was one person who wasn't that disappointed that the display started at 3pm instead of 2pm !

But that was the only small fly in the ointment in what was a great day. Well done to the organisers. Many highlights, if I was to pick one it would be the Sabre

Tenger

Fixed that for you.....

robclay26 wrote: »

....Angelo Cunningham is a former EI A330 captain, he did a fantastic commentary job. Lots of information and very clear too......

logie101 wrote: »

The Vulcan really is a beautiful aircraft and a fantastic achievement to get it back in the air. Technologically so advanced if the Americans owned them it would probably still be in operational service......

I love the Vulcan but have to argue this point. The Vulcan was really ahead of its time. Design work started in 1947. Its still looks futuristic today. However it was handicapped by the technology of the day. In 1982 the crews were using a bombsight that would have been familiar to any Lancaster crewman of WWII. They had to borrow nav equipment and targeting gear from other military and commercial aircraft in order to reach and bomb Port Stanley.

I would agree that with updated technology it could have lasted longer and been more relevant...but for a bomber from the mid 1950's to be able to penetrate US air defence in the 60's and still be able to bomb the Falklands in 1982 is a pretty impressive achievement. (Granted they were bloody lucky that Black Buck 1 wasn't a disaster)

For anyone interested I would highly, highly, highly recommend that you read "Vulcan 607" by Rowland White. Great detail on Black Buck planning and the history of the Vulcan.