Abbotsford Airshow 2009 Disappointment

[ils09]

I went to the Abbotsford Airshow today as I do every year, except this time for the first time in a long time I wasn't working one of the static displays.

I was overall very disappointed this time around!

1.) Several volunteers that I ran into were outright rude not only to me but to other visitors that I observed, it seems that you give someone a small responsibility at an airshow and they turn into an anal retentive prick. I found that as a "performer" (Pilot at a static display) I was shown far more courtesy than what I experienced today.

2.) The quality of the show this year wasnt up to where it was a few years back. Less static displays, fewer companies with information booths and the flying I found to be very repetitive. Dont get me wrong, kent pietch and bud granley are very talented individuals but it seems like it is their air show and they park a few fighters to hype it up a little.

The highlight for me was the C17 display and the ground assault demo. Maybe it is a sign of the economy. Unless I am working at the show next year on a static then I dont think I'll be returning. just my 2 cents.

[Old Dog Flying]

I was there Saturday with the little Grumman on display and received great treatment and plenty of help from the volunteers. The G/A aircraft were roped off and for the most part people respected the ropes and did not touch the aircraft HOWEVER ,,and here I show my politically incorrect side..I had to deal with very ignorant, barriers are not for me types who felt that it was their right to be able to stand their kids on the wing, sit on the little beast(aircrtaft) and generally disregard all safety warnings.

One woman cursed me because she wanted a photo of her off-spring standing on the aircraft. Others were upset because I raised hell because they were allowing their kids to pull the prop through while getting their picturse taken.

Then there were the 3 folks who felt that they could sit on the lower wing of George Kirbyson's Pitts for a photo op ...that one got them a verbal blast


This goes on every year and I have made it a point to try my best to answer questions from the visitors and try to be very pleasant about some situations but this blatant disrespect for aircraft is getting more than I can handle!

The flying displays were not bad but the time delays were curious...why more than 30 minutes in the middle of the show without a single aircraft in the sky?

Rant off!
Barney and the Alley Cat


//racism removed by Sulako. Not appropriate.

[FlaplessDork]

I wanted to depart right away after the show before dark, but they did a piss poor job getting all the spectators to leave. They allowed them to wonder around the entire field. Where was the security? I ended up leaving at midnight.

//post edited by Sulako

[Old Dog Flying]

I was the first to leave and although there was a large number of bike cops riding around the display area on their expensive mountain bikes and in their bikie uniforms they did nothing to secure the area. My crew was helping move the aircraft to the hot area with these SA Cdns roaming all over and in the way. We managed to hit one woman in the group with the wing tip when she refused to move out of the way...too friggin' bad.

[cgzro]

Yeah, I've pretty much stopped putting my Pitts on display. When I first bought her I took her to all the fly-ins/shows etc. and spent all my time chasing people off the wings, it just got to be so stressful that it was not fun. You literally have to be by the plane continuously and cannot enjoy the show.

I remember chasing a woman and her kids out of a parked cessna twin, they had opened the door and the kid was in the cockpit flipping switches !!

One thing I've noticed, if you park a bunch of Harleys on a Saturday night .. nobody dares touch them .. go figure ..

Peter

[FlaplessDork]

One thing I've noticed, if you park a bunch of Harleys on a Saturday night .. nobody dares touch them .. go figure ..

Just get a Harley and park it by the plane, then grow a long beard and wear a leather vest.

[moocow]

I wouldn't say it's entirely politically incorrect. I'm Chinese and I have observed a lot of rude behaviors before. The culture in those parts is "Don't admit wrongdoing and be as loud and mean as possible". Some of them really lack respect and can't put themselves in other people position. Simply put, if the organizers can't protect your assets from anyone (regardless of ethnic background), then just don't attend the show. Don't need to put up with any crap, not like they will insure your losses against attendants. Should of start booting people out of the show if they start breaking the rules.

[jspitfire]

I was there today and I agree it wasn't all that great, especially considering it's been hyped up as the "100 years of flight in Canada" year! The RCAF was seriously lacking - no C150 Polaris, Cormorant, Buffalo, C17, challenger. The Americans didn't bring the Galaxy this year either. Yes the US did bring a lot of fighters, but I don't see the point in having 5 F-16s and 4 F-18s on static display, just 1 or 2 of each would be fine.

[fl80]

Thanks for the feedback.

[tnano]

At least you made it...unable to get out VFR from YYJ this morning

[moocow]

IMO Abbotsford Airshow been pretty boring for the past few years. If you seen a Fighting Falcon, Hornet, Warhog, and some other stuff once, it's pretty much the same every other year. CZBB Airshow on the other hand appears to be a lot friendlier in terms of pilot / public interaction and much more manageable due to a smaller size.

@ Check Pilot: I can understand how you feel. There are still some people that have zero interest in interacting with the rest of Canadian society and maintains a "us vs them" line of thought (seen it first hand when I first came to Canada back in Grade 4). Case and point, recall the incident in a Vancouver high school where this Asian kid threatening to off a bunch of people. 2nd day on the front page of Sing Tao, the headline states "Student told to keep hush but WHITE students continue to leak info". Ladies and gentlemen, this a major Chinese language newspaper. I read the headline and it really pissed me off because these people are racialiflying everything and anything they come across. However, I personally feel a hint of jadedness from your comments in regards to the rich Asians. Plenty of Asians are poor too. Due to the economic model Western countries subscribe to, rich people tend to run to show regardless of ethnic background.

[BoostedNihilist]

I don't know what you people are talking about. I suppose if you don't like f-16s flying with p-51s, beautiful f-86 sabres, rob holland in his mx2, all the awsome harvards, some vintage iron, some pyrotechnics, some ground display, sea kings, pitts', some f-15s flying around, some snowbirds... that you might have considered the show to have sucked.

I was there on friday and my biggest complaint is the light was flat so I couldn't get some excellent pictures of all the sweet iron flying around.

Furthermore this thread is definitely a low point in avcanada history. It goes beyond merely politically incorrect to in bad taste. You, and you know who you are, should be ashamed of yourselves. It appears our Asian friends aren't the only ones who are capable of an us versus them attitude. Gross.

[Sulako]

I have edited several posts and removed others in this thread. If you want to talk about the airshow, that's cool. If you want to talk about how nasty and rude an entire race of people is, then this is not the forum for you.

[matt777]

I was also disappointed overall. I have been going to this airshow for the past six years and I think this was the weakest year. It definitely wasn't a big a show as usual. To be honest, I think its time they switched up some of their performers or the performers switched up some of their routines.

[Old Dog Flying]

MooCow: Please do not take my rant as one against an entire group but against a small cross section of people who have absolutely no respect for the property of others. Even the CZBB airshow had the same types of people...from all races including us round-eyes...and I wonder if aircraft are a magnet for these people. One very large assed blonde was leaning on my elevator and she fired a big barrage of abuse when my wife told her to get off the plane!

Sulako: This thread is about an airshow and all that goes with it. Aircraft, People, parking, food, port-a-potties...the whole nine yards. What went on in the general aviation display area was for the most part instigated by the rudeness of a few people who showed absolutely no respect for the property of others. Aircraft have been severely damaged by the "few" which puts the crews in danger and this is totally unacceptable behavior.

The crazy thing about this whole scenario was that a group of about 8 Abbotsford police, riding their bikes through the area, did nothing to control the idiot factor! They merely watched as they rode by while the volunteers were helping move aircraft to the "hot zone" and the idiot factor was interferring with the aircraft so that they could take their photos.

[YoungPunk]

The Saskatoon airshow is this coming weekend and I was feeling very bad about missing it as it is supposedly the last one they are hosting. Then I read through all the comments about rude volunteers and a large mass of stupid people who wont respect what they are there to see and I'm almost glad I'll be missing it.

Please note these people with no respect for other peoples property seem to be a common theme at all events. Car shows, bike shows, Tattoo shows, Horse shows, etc. I've seen them every where!!!

[FlaplessDork]

My post was refering to people in general.

[robbreid]

I attended the show on Friday, and flew out from Toronto for the day!!!

Considering the recession, Government's in the red, Canada's military is in Afghanistan, and the USA is involved in two major conflicts, I'd say whoever put this show together did an amazing job.

The static display, sure I'd love to see more aircraft, who wouldn't? The American's brought a couple of C130's, a wicked B-52 Bomber (and let you walk up and kick the tires), a KC-137 and a KC-10 both with full walk around, inside, talk with the crew, the C-17 not on static as it was kept busy!

Seven F-15's, four F-15's, 2 A-10's, a Coast Guard Chopper and a visiting Royal Air Force AWAC.

Getting to say hello to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Hadfield is always a pleasure, (Chris is flying the F-86), and seeing my first Mig-17 inflight was a highlight.

Just listening to those P-51's purrrrr!!

So, to all involved with the show - a great effort, in very tough times.

PS; I met alot of really nice people, talked alot of airplane talk, and had a great time. Would I do it again - you bet, see ya next year.

[xsbank]

I remember a Victoria airshow a few years ago and while my co pilots was talking to interested people, somebody climbed up on the a/c behind him and went inside it and stole his helmet! Stupid f*ckers, he had to borrow a headset from the flying school to get home. It wasn't like the a/c was just there for the show we were actually on call. That was my last volunteer attendance at an air show.

I love that George Carlin quote about (paraphrasing) "think about the average stupid person out there and realize that half of them are even stupider..." or similar.

[robbreid]

I can appreciate what posters are saying, after all I wouldn't park a brand new SR-22 unattended in that crowd. However Abbottsford had a flightline of aircraft on static display, as well as aircraft behind a fence protected.

This Tiger Moth, is actually on the other side of a fence, keeping the tire kickers away.


On the other hand, this privately owned Beaver sits unprotected on the static display.

[fl80]

robbreid - nice pics, thank you for sharing them. We should probably note that the Tiger Moth was actually flown by the Museum of Flight during the show, as were a few of their other aircraft which were parked away from the crowd. On the other hand, the volunteers offered to rope off the Beaver and the pilot declined.

I helped out with the GA display this year and prior to reading this thread had really believed that it was a worthwhile endeavour - I got to meet a lot of people (volunteers, audience, and pilots) with a really wide variety of experience, from some amazing places, with some great stories to be told.

I also had our Canuck on display, I enjoyed talking to people that were interested in the old bird, I think they learned somethings from me, some of them may have even been encouraged to follow their dreams.

I guess having said all that, I must be living in a dream world since the over all tone of this thread suggests that volunteers are rude "anal retentive pricks", and the audience is a "large mass of stupid people". That certainly wasn't my perception but if that's the overall consensus I don't know why I'd continue to be involved.

[robbreid]

I certainly heard a couple of volunteers rudely barking orders at people, and I agree that needs to be addressed.

However, I also meet several very friendly and helpful volunteers - a couple that went way out of there way.

As for the participation of the aircraft owners and performers - I truly appreciate and enjoy every minute of the show.
Thank you for showing your Fleet, pristine!!!

Fl80 - here's your beautiful Fleet with the B-52 looming overhead!!


B-52

[no name]

The static display, sure I'd love to see more aircraft, who wouldn't? The American's brought a couple of C130's, a wicked B-52 Bomber (and let you walk up and kick the tires), a KC-137 and a KC-10 both with full walk around, inside, talk with the crew, the C-17 not on static as it was kept busy!

Seven F-15's, four F-15's, 2 A-10's, a Coast Guard Chopper and a visiting Royal Air Force AWAC.

That sounds like a good show to me!

...Maybe it is a sign of the economy. Unless I am working at the show next year on a static then I dont think I'll be returning. just my 2 cents.

I wish Ottawa had an airshow I could complain about. The best, if Military aviation is your thing, was the fly pasts of: Hawk 1, the demo Hornet, and the Snowbirds on Canada Day. A far cry from the shows that used to be at YOW.

[Hedley]

I wish Ottawa had an airshow I could complain about

I wish the creditors could get paid from all the bankrupt
airshows in the past in Ottawa. They stiffed the performers
at the last one (and lots of other suppliers).

If you'd like an airshow in Ottawa, get out your chequebook
(as a corporate sponsor) and start to write cheques for
$100,000.

You can't run an airshow off the gate revenue.

[C-FABH]

You can't run an airshow off the gate revenue.

BEER TENT! BEER TENT!