Bray Air Display 2022

Royal Jordanian Falcons just did a short practice here at Bray about 2pm Wed 20th.

As for the line up. Has to be decent when you have the Red Arrows and BOB lined up but tbh for the first show since 2019 I was expecting a humdinger of a show and this one feels only slightly better than average.

They do a low level display not as dynamic as the main high level one I think the Memorial flight would be the one most affected due age and safety concerns ,wind and low cloud are the main worry.

Does seem like a fairly boring lineup, Viggen and Red Arrows excepted. Weather will limit them to a flat display too.

Definitely puts me off.

As far as I can tell, the Reds have never done a Full display at Bray.

They've done their Flat and Rolling, but not the full.

The full is spectacular but sometimes the flat/rolling are good as you're much closer to the jets.

Saw the Red Arrows the last time in Bray.

Definitely worth seeing.

I hope the weather is ok for people and the display. Looking dry, cloudy, with maybe some rain on Sunday.

They're 7 this year... not sure why, probably something Covid.

I'm tempted to go up from Cork, but a day with friends on the Saturday in Dublin instead is winning out. Weather doesn't look like it'll co-operate very well unfortunately. Nowhere to stay in Dublin at all, even a bed in a 36bed dorm is coming in at €85.

Cautiously optimistic about the weather in Bray for the Airshow on Sunday.

This is MT. Craniums weather Forum guru's forecast for Saturday and Sunday:

SATURDAY some outbreaks of rain will develop here and there lasting for several hours but tending to dissipate allowing some brighter spells for other parts of the day. Rather warm and humid, on average about 5-10 mm rain in most areas, highs 19 to 22 C.

SUNDAY will also be partly cloudy to overcast, warm and humid, with scattered showers and risk of a thunderstorm. Lows near 14 C and highs 19 to 22 C.

Bray often has its own micro-climate compared to much of the east coast never-mind the rest of the country as its wrapped in the sheltering embrace of the Wicklow and Dublin Mountains from the prevailing South Westerlies. If it isn't the mountains sucking the clouds almost dry like a sponge before they get to us or even deflecting them around us, its the maritime air interacting with the arriving airmas preventing convective cloud sustainment or formation or somesuch. For example yesterday was 20ºc with mostly Blue Skies and Sunny with only a few patches of cloud and haze from noon onwards yesterday (Thursday 21st) as the maritime air held back convective cloud that blanketed 95% of the rest of the country. The Wicklow mountains can even add a few degree to temperatures regularily due to something called the Fohn effect. Point is, that forecast doesn't sound too bad and thats for the whole country and obviously won't take into account Brays micro-climate affects and geography. Sunday could very easily be like Thursday with a thin coastal strip along the east coast remaining largely clear blue skies and dry and quite warm to hot!!

An example of the above I often use when the subject comes up on the Weather forum is the fantastic Summer of 2014. Some people will try and correct me and say, "LOL, I think you mean 2013 Calibos!!". No I mean 2014!! While 2013 was a fantastic Hot and clear Summer for the entire country, 2014 was a fantastic hot and clear Summer all things considered for.....a 20 mile wide strip down the East Coast which would remain clear all day every day due to the maritime air preventing convection and cloud formation along the coast all the while the rest of the country experienced a 2014 Summer of clear mornings but from 11am onwards annoying muggy overcast days, day after day. In other words, for those of us in Bray and most of the Eastern Coastal fringes, the Summer of 2014 almost rivalled the fantastic Summer of 2013. Below is a Sat image from Summer 2014 that was repeated day after day for however many weeks that 'Summer' lasted. Thursday 21st July 2022 was an even starker/sharper example with much denser cloud across the rest of the country and the clear 'coastal' strip was even thinner.

This is the only Vampire currently flying in the UK, AFAIK. https://flic.kr/p/2nx9m6v

Nice to see a Catalina back in Weston again!

Mode S transmission on the Lancaster isn't up to much or else it's approaching under stealth! 😁

Just flew in formation down the Liffey

Problem affecting Typhoon and Red Arrows all non essential flying stopped until investigation into the incident