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Chris Chambers of Warplane reports from Elvington's Great Yorkshire Airshow, 24/25 August The public has witnessed a giant and dramatic change at airshows over the last few years - a large decrease in the number of displays, more stringent safety and security measures, combined with a rip-off culture, has become prevalent amongst some of the larger shows. Therefore, it is quite rewarding when what is billed as the largest air display in northern England can be described as 'cosy'. Although security was discreetly evident and safety guidelines strictly adhered to, there was a familiar feeling about the Yorkshire Air Show, one which many veterans will fondly recall from the shows of yesteryear, long before windbreaks and step ladders became the must-have airshow accessory.
With a low entry price, Elvington's airshow is ideally suited to attracting families, who form most of the visitors at events such as this - therefore it's not surprising that the entertainment was specifically tailored to a 'family day out'. The lack of static aircraft was more than made up for by the opening of the adjacent Yorkshire Air Museum, whose variety of aircraft types long since withdrawn from service were all available for inspection. Enthusiasts were far from disappointed - even with a shorter flying programme than previous years it still managed to last just over four hours, which, when combined with the fast taxi runs from Victor and Buccaneer, stretched the show to almost five hours.
A very well
received change to this year's show from previous events was the relocation
of the flight line - instead of using an unused portion of the runway,
the flying display aircraft were parked along the edge of the large apron,
much closer to the barriers, allowing for better photography and a chance
for the aircrew to stand and chat to the crowd. The change around also
allowed more take off and landings to be timed to crowd centre.
Last but
not least were the Red Arrows, but this year's airshow was a not a good
one for them. Planned to open the show both days, their display on Sunday
was curtailed following the first flypast when the team noticed a micro-light
had strayed into the display area. As the nine Hawks pulled clear and
flew south to hold there were four other incursions in quick succession
causing the team to cancel the rest of their display. The restricted area
is detailed in advance via NOTAM and dictates a sterile area five miles
from the display centre and up to A wise move from the organisers was to change Monday's flying display times to start one hour earlier, the thinking behind the move to help visitors avoid the notorious Bank Holiday traffic along the busy A64 Leeds to Scarborough road. With another great show this year, we can only wait and see what the tenth Yorkshire Air Show will bring in 2004, which is a week earlier (21/22 August) to miss that Bank Holiday chaos! With thanks
to Ken Cothliffe for his assistance in compiling this report.
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