Portrush Air Show

jamieh

Hi All,

I noticed the Red Arrows are at Portrush on Sept 7th. I've never been to an airshow before, but very interested in heading up for this.

I can only make it on the Sunday (it's a 2 day event). Does anyone know if all the displays on Saturday will be repeated on the Sunday, or would I miss a lot of action if I couldn't make the Sunday?

Please excuse my ignorance if the above is a stupid question

http://www.airwavesportrush.co.uk

Mission99

The same line up for both days - the only difference is the Red Arrows are Sunday only.
Includes the last 2 flying lancaster bombers on both days.

Mission99

Portrush now has 11 Merlin engines with the addition of the P51 Mustang

b318isp

I was thinking of going up to this. Any tips on good observation points, place to avoid or parking?

owenc

I doubt it will be going ahead at the state of this weather.

Irish Steve

owenc wrote: »

I doubt it will be going ahead at the state of this weather.

Really? If Met Eireann are not forecasting more than 4 or 5 days forward, pray tell how your crystal ball is capable of providing such a negative forecast for nearly 2 weeks from now.

BeardySi

Traffic is usually a nightmare around Portrush.... I'm actually thinking about heading over to Ayr which is on the same weekend - the Vulcan, Lancs, Catalina and BBMF Spit and Hurricane are all in a static park in Prestwick...

Got a link for whatever long range weather forecasts you're looking at owenc? The Met Office here says it'll either be good or unsettled could have told them that myself!

owenc

Irish Steve wrote: »

Really? If Met Eireann are not forecasting more than 4 or 5 days forward, pray tell how your crystal ball is capable of providing such a negative forecast for nearly 2 weeks from now.

Well i've been back from America for 3 weeks now and the weather has been terrible.

If you look at the GFS there isn't really change.. the more we go into Autumn the worse.

Irish Steve

Given that there's no runway at Portrush, so all the participants are coming from other places, the main issue will be the cloudbase at the relevant airfields, with a significant number of participants probably coming from Prestwick, which also has a major event the same weekend. Strong cross winds could be an issue, but at this stage, predicting the weather for that weekend is not going to be accurate, regardless of what the GFS may or may not be suggesting. Any GFS I look at right now is not going out that far, the nearest I can get is Wed Sep 3rd, and if that is to be believed, there will be a low pressure system around Ireland then, so on that basis, there's a good chance that the following days will have clearer weather, the gap before the next system comes along the conveyor.

Realistically, any forecast 14 days out is close to being smoke and mirrors, and discouraging people from possibly attending this far out is not really helping.

westdub

Latest Weather forecast isn't looking too bad for next weekend, should be a good show....

http://www.accuweather.com/en/gb/derry/bt48-6/weekend-weather/329139

EchoIndia

Useful map here of the new display line, which is east of the area previously used.

http://www.airwavesportrush.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/AWP-Public-parking-2014.jpg

Irish Steve

westdub wrote: »

Latest Weather forecast isn't looking too bad for next weekend, should be a good show....

http://www.accuweather.com/en/gb/derry/bt48-6/weekend-weather/329139

yes, even the met.ie forecast today was looking about as good as it can get, very light easterly winds for the weekend, which in theory should make for reasonable weather, both wind and cloud, the only possible issue might be sea fog, but hopefully, there will be enough heat in the sun to burn it off.

Should make for a good day out.

westdub

Irish Steve wrote: »

Should make for a good day out.

It was a very enjoyable couple of days...:)

Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina by Lucan Snapper, on Flickr

ZH828 Merlin HM.2 by Lucan Snapper, on Flickr

Search Results Midair Squadron Canberra PR 9 by Lucan Snapper, on Flickr

IRCG Sikorsky S-92 by Lucan Snapper, on Flickr

RV8tors by Lucan Snapper, on Flickr

OV-10B Bronco by Lucan Snapper, on Flickr

AAC Lynx Display by Lucan Snapper, on Flickr

P-51D "Jumpin'Jacques". by Lucan Snapper, on Flickr

G-ULUL Rotorsport UK Calidus Gyroplane by Lucan Snapper, on Flickr

BBMF Lancaster and the CWH Lancaster by Lucan Snapper, on Flickr

Irish Steve

Only went up for the Sunday, with a couple of friends, getting in to Portrush at 10 am was no hassle at all, and getting out again at 8 in the evening was also pretty easy, though the journey back wasn't a lot of fun, the (big) traffic jams were a lot further out, and added nearly an hour to an already 2 Hrs 30 journey.

Very much worth going, the Red Arrows on Sunday were spectacular, the cloud base lifted as they started their display, so they were able to do the full display, even 10 minutes earlier, they would have not been able to do it.

The Canberra has to be one of the best converters of fuel to noise that's around, (excluding Vulcan and Concorde), and it was very noticeable the difference in noise levels between the 2 blade Huey and the multi blade much larger Merlin.

Hard not to feel very strong emotions as the Lancasters did their display, with the other BBMF aircraft, and it was noticeably quiet at the very end of the day after the Huey Poppy drop along the display line.

All in All, a very good day, though if I go again, I'll be looking for an alternative route out of the area, to avoid the massive jams that were around the Balleymoney and Ballymena area.