Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 5, 2007 19:25:47 GMT 12
With all the stadiums, race tracks and arenas being built for various sports and entertainment purposes, do you think a purpose-built airshow venue would be a good idea?
I mean, most airports and aerodromes that host airshows do a great job but sometimes leave something to be desired.
I hate the way modern airshow organisers place great huge black speakers every 20 feet along the crowdline fence IN FRONT of the airshow patrons. It makes no sense. No matter where you point your eyes or your camera a bloody speaker pole impedes your view. Would it hurt to put them behind the main crowdline facing the other direction? No sound quality will be lost, but visual quality improved markedly.
Another thing that always happens at airshows is the crowdline is on a flat surface. Whether it's Wanaka, Whenuapai, Tauranga, Masterton, Wigram, Omaka, where-ever... Why? Because airfields are naturally built on flat ground.
However this leads to everyone in the front row by the fence having a good view forward of them, but their view and photography/filming is always impeded left and right by the sea of front row heads craning in their way. I had a bloody annoying hat person who kept standing up in front of my video camera on Saturday - as Bruce will attest as he was getting in his photos too. The guy had a comfy chair, yet whenever anything happened, up he popped!
And of course only a tiny percentage of the crowd gets onto that front row, from there back the crowd cannot see a thing below about ten feet or more.
At Wanaka last year on the Saturday I got no closer to the fence than about 4 rows back. I didn't see a thing of the ground display, such as the miitary vehicles, the car with selebs in it, or even the lower aircraft like the Bleriot and Sukhoi. Luckily on the Sunday I found a fence spot and stayed there all day long.
But when everyone pays equal to get in, and these days that's often a huge amount, it's annoying we don't all get to see an equal amount.
To combat this a few airshows have these Gold Pass stands. At exhorbitant prices I might add. An extra $100 or so on the ticket just to raise yourself a few feet above the crowd. I tried it once, it wasn't worth the money.
My proposal for a purpose built airshow arena - one that won't be hampered by commercial flights needing to use the runway, and won't have those annoying speakers in the way. In fact, no speakers whatsoever. The commentary would only be broadcast on a radio frequency, so you can bringa walkman and tune in if you choose to listen, or hire a walkman for the day if you forgot your own. that way, we who get cheesed off by the 'mouth of the south' types ho crap on pretending to know stuff about planes, can simply listen to the aircraft if we choose.
Also, yes my airshow venue would have a grandstand, with a slightly higher fee for those who choose to use it. However it would also have a grass embankment so people can sit on their picnic rugs and watch from a level slightly above those in front of them without struggling to see (like Lake Karapiro's wonderful grass embankment that will soon be destroyed now that those idiot rowers are bringing the World Cup to Cambridge!!!)
It would also have concrete terraces like all good cricket and rugby venues used to have. Why? Because people with tripods neat a flat surface to work from.
The embankment and terraces and grandstand would provide everyone with a great view of the show, the ground show and the aircraft park.
There would also be - on the far side of the runway - a canal wide enough for the likes of a Catalina to do a water landing.
The entire crowdline would face in a direction that has the sun mostly at the back of the viewers, so south I guess. This is to avoid that awful sunny glare you get in the afternoons of some shows.
Of course on the edge of the airfield there would be two motel complexes, one for exhibitors and pilots and their families, etc, and the other larger one for punters at reasonable family rates. There would also be shops owned by the airfield complex, a souvenir shop and food outlets, bars, restaurants, etc. All profits from accommodation, catering and other sales goes back into the one organisation and not to hawkers who come from somewhere else and charge $3 for the equivalent of a glass of water...
There would also be a camping ground and carpark attached. It would be situated near a main highway and a railway station for travellers.
So, that's my idea, a purpose built venue that eliminates the annoying problems of the regular venues, and the huge expense. At other times of the year it could be used by motor racing enthusiasts, general aviation, Red Bull racing, model boat people in the canal, model plane people, and all sorts of other things. But airshows would take presidence.
What do you reckon? Got any innvative ideas to add to this? Will we ever see it happen?
I mean, most airports and aerodromes that host airshows do a great job but sometimes leave something to be desired.
I hate the way modern airshow organisers place great huge black speakers every 20 feet along the crowdline fence IN FRONT of the airshow patrons. It makes no sense. No matter where you point your eyes or your camera a bloody speaker pole impedes your view. Would it hurt to put them behind the main crowdline facing the other direction? No sound quality will be lost, but visual quality improved markedly.
Another thing that always happens at airshows is the crowdline is on a flat surface. Whether it's Wanaka, Whenuapai, Tauranga, Masterton, Wigram, Omaka, where-ever... Why? Because airfields are naturally built on flat ground.
However this leads to everyone in the front row by the fence having a good view forward of them, but their view and photography/filming is always impeded left and right by the sea of front row heads craning in their way. I had a bloody annoying hat person who kept standing up in front of my video camera on Saturday - as Bruce will attest as he was getting in his photos too. The guy had a comfy chair, yet whenever anything happened, up he popped!
And of course only a tiny percentage of the crowd gets onto that front row, from there back the crowd cannot see a thing below about ten feet or more.
At Wanaka last year on the Saturday I got no closer to the fence than about 4 rows back. I didn't see a thing of the ground display, such as the miitary vehicles, the car with selebs in it, or even the lower aircraft like the Bleriot and Sukhoi. Luckily on the Sunday I found a fence spot and stayed there all day long.
But when everyone pays equal to get in, and these days that's often a huge amount, it's annoying we don't all get to see an equal amount.
To combat this a few airshows have these Gold Pass stands. At exhorbitant prices I might add. An extra $100 or so on the ticket just to raise yourself a few feet above the crowd. I tried it once, it wasn't worth the money.
My proposal for a purpose built airshow arena - one that won't be hampered by commercial flights needing to use the runway, and won't have those annoying speakers in the way. In fact, no speakers whatsoever. The commentary would only be broadcast on a radio frequency, so you can bringa walkman and tune in if you choose to listen, or hire a walkman for the day if you forgot your own. that way, we who get cheesed off by the 'mouth of the south' types ho crap on pretending to know stuff about planes, can simply listen to the aircraft if we choose.
Also, yes my airshow venue would have a grandstand, with a slightly higher fee for those who choose to use it. However it would also have a grass embankment so people can sit on their picnic rugs and watch from a level slightly above those in front of them without struggling to see (like Lake Karapiro's wonderful grass embankment that will soon be destroyed now that those idiot rowers are bringing the World Cup to Cambridge!!!)
It would also have concrete terraces like all good cricket and rugby venues used to have. Why? Because people with tripods neat a flat surface to work from.
The embankment and terraces and grandstand would provide everyone with a great view of the show, the ground show and the aircraft park.
There would also be - on the far side of the runway - a canal wide enough for the likes of a Catalina to do a water landing.
The entire crowdline would face in a direction that has the sun mostly at the back of the viewers, so south I guess. This is to avoid that awful sunny glare you get in the afternoons of some shows.
Of course on the edge of the airfield there would be two motel complexes, one for exhibitors and pilots and their families, etc, and the other larger one for punters at reasonable family rates. There would also be shops owned by the airfield complex, a souvenir shop and food outlets, bars, restaurants, etc. All profits from accommodation, catering and other sales goes back into the one organisation and not to hawkers who come from somewhere else and charge $3 for the equivalent of a glass of water...
There would also be a camping ground and carpark attached. It would be situated near a main highway and a railway station for travellers.
So, that's my idea, a purpose built venue that eliminates the annoying problems of the regular venues, and the huge expense. At other times of the year it could be used by motor racing enthusiasts, general aviation, Red Bull racing, model boat people in the canal, model plane people, and all sorts of other things. But airshows would take presidence.
What do you reckon? Got any innvative ideas to add to this? Will we ever see it happen?