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Bray Air Display 2022

colbarr

Hi All,

I couldn't find anything regarding this years Bray Air Display on Boards and I have a question regarding it. Hopefully this can become a general discussion board for the airshow though.

The Bray Air Display is running over Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th July 2022. According to their website, the main airshow is on the Sunday, with Ground Entertainment from 12pm both days. They also say that Saturday 23rd is an "official practice day".

Can anyone tell me what I can expect in terms of air displays if I was to only go on the Saturday? What does official practice day mean? Will it be a full dress rehearsal, or just sporadic displays throught the day?

Any info would be greatly appreciated. And feel free to hijack this thread for a general discussion on the subject.

Cheers,

Colbarr.

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LIGHTNING

Gotta say that was a shocking display in every regard. I live one stop away on the DART and after waiting for one for 20 mins and then have 2 full ones go by I decided not to bother. Sat on Shankill beach which was OK. From what I am reading it was a bit of a blessing. This country cant do the simple things right. People try there best to use public transport and good old IE make a complete mess of it.

Slutmonkey57b

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119381938#Comment_119381938

It's not Irish rail really. The capacity between Bray and greystones changes completely, and there's nowhere for the trains to be easily turned round. It's normal for trains to have to queue outside the station waiting for signal. Again, this is not news to the organisers so their plan to have people use the dart was never a goer.

tom1ie

Seen five jets just fly by house in Rathfarnham at about 19:38.

Anyone else see them- well you would’ve heard them anyway! Brilliant!

Any idea what jets they were?

I thought the whole thing was supposed to be over by 5?

DOCARCH

All a bit 'Irish' trying to explain to your 10 year old why the show should have been so much better, rather than your 10 year old telling you how geat the show was.

After an hour he was more interested in throwing stones in the sea!

Really took the biscuit when red arrow guy came on tannoy saying due to shower at Baldonnell reds could not take off/fly!!!

stephenjmcd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119381935#Comment_119381935

Dart service fell over, that's on irish rail. They along with TFI advertised additional services and capacity and neither appeared to be the case before the airshow anyway.

What do you want the organisers to do about that ??

There's never been this level of issue with the dart to bray when the airshow is on.

For what the organisers could control that was car parking, from what I could see everything was moving well enough into the car parks, delays as usual as with every air show day with traffic out onto the m50 but nothing out of the ordinary there for the day thats in it, Gardai at every junction into Bray on point duty with traffic lights turned off to let traffic move quicker.

Irish Rail will have alot to answer for but that'll be really about it.

When you live here you get used to the traffic that comes with Airshow weekend and it wasn't anything out of the ordinary on the roads anyway, if anything it was more organised car parking wise this year.

moonshy2022

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119381954#Comment_119381954

Bray was literally the terminus of the Dart service for decades. There’s is cross over points galore to facilitate the return service.

stephenjmcd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119382003#Comment_119382003

Yup, there's 2 sidings just past the station along with turn around points further on down before it becomes a 1 track line.

There's never been this amount of hassle with the darts when the airshow is on.

When I was leaving the seafront both platforms were being used for services heading into Dublin with more darts lined up waiting behind & some waiting to enter Bray coming the other way, held on the dargle bridge

Chris_5339762

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119316247#Comment_119316247

Well I'm glad I didn't come. Bad set of circumstances combined with a s*itshow seem to have been the word.

In the end I came to Dublin for the day on the Saturday to meet friends - the thinking being that socialising was better for me than sitting on a beach on my own all afternoon. Very glad I did what I did and very glad I refused to pay the amount hotels were asking for a Saturday overnight.

Think I'll be going to a UK airshow next year, its easier to do that than Portstewart.

Slutmonkey57b

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119382021#Comment_119382021

So which is it, there were loads of darts (in which case how did Irish rail fail) or there were massive issues with the DART (in which case how were they lined up in teams)?

stephenjmcd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119382067#Comment_119382067

Before the display there seemed to be a massive lack of services into Bray as shown by pictures of queues on platforms along the route to Bray and images of darts packed to the rafters. I saw them myself entering Bray prior to 2pm and commented to those who I was with that there seemed to be a huge gap in services as we were near the level crossing. In previous years they'd have been coming in every few minutes.

After the air show I saw several waiting to enter the station as both platforms were occupied with northbound services.

Jaysci20

They could have the Blue Angels dogfighting the Red Arrows next year, I still won't ever touch that airshow in Bray again. Id understand if today was a once off but it's a total shambles every year.

I hope they bring back the airshow to Galway, the organisers there always managed to run everything well.

Richard tea

Yep I'm done with the bray air show. Poor displays. Massive let down not to see the red arrows. To top it all off there was no car park attendants in the paid car park when leaving. It took nearly an hr just to get out of the car park. Absolutely blessed it didnt rain because I say many a car would have got stuck in the field.

0ph0rce0

Anyone an idea on numbers??. There must have been way more than they usually get.

I said I was at the dart earlier. Couldn't get on mind you but there was 100% an increased service, they were coming in about 2 - 3 minutes apart. Next few in 5 mins one after the other and so on. Wasn't a Sunday service at all.

The people jumping off obviously had a knock on effect causing huge delays then.

Coming home was a different story though.

Last few years at it I never remember having to queue for hours trying to get into the station, you always just walked straight in, train would depart, next lot in the next train and that departs and there was always a nice flow.

They definitely fucked that part up.

mr_edge_to_you

Watching RTE there, it was a resounding success.

😂😂😂😂

Bargain_Hound

I posted earlier on this thread - never again, I normally take these things with a pinch of salt but that was not worth it in anyway. Dragged the whole family on train to bray and paid for family ticket which was never checked once - I must have been the only one who bought a ticket for the day. Absolute carnage. Still on the maynooth train back home..

it’s taken us longer to get to bray and back than it did to travel to Italy last month

Hamsterchops

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119381969#Comment_119381969

Alas, none of them appeared at the Airshow itself :-(

[Deleted User]

Let's call a spade a spade

What a pile of sh1te

WealthyB

Finally home. We tried leaving at 4 anticipating a massive queue, but we were already too late. Barriers down at the Level Crossing for an eternity, zero communication from anyone. Dublin knackers, pushing their way around, fcuking and blinding out of them. Fella rolling a joint beside my son (the scumbag had his own poor neglected kid in a pram but having a joint can't wait I guess). We ended up finding a little oasis called Two Chaps who had a sandwich van off the road that runs along the back of the train station. Lovely sambos and fantastic staff. A traveller, so annoyed that his sandwich wasn't toasted demanded a refund. After getting said refund he kicked and overturned any fixture he could on the way out. I noted he had a deep knife scar across his face. Pity whoever did it didn't get his neck. Feral scum. Trains were only leaving every 20mins or so and were half empty. No sign of any movement at all. The throng of people was too much for one of my lads who suffers anxiety and he was starting to really struggle. We took the overpass bridge (another shambles) and went to the queues for the busses instead and after about 2 hours in a queue we got on a 155 to get us the fcuk out of there.

Between the dog rough crowd with their tits and bellies out, the permenent smell of weed wherever you went, and the complete lack of organisation, this is one shitshow I'll be giving a miss next year.

TheMilkyPirate

Yeah that was absolutely crap. Who wants to look at a Garda helicopter do 3 or 4 fly pasts. Slow moving planes and an awful crowd full of scumbags smoking weed and drinking. An awful day will never go again.

alentejo

Was way more people this year than previous years. Drove to Loughinstown parked car. Took bike off roofrack and cycled to bray. Total time from terenure to bray. 1 hour

Tenger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119381472#Comment_119381472

Oddly I didn't smell any cannabis myself. '

Seeing a queue for Spar was pretty farcical.

I walked off Bray Head at around 5.30pm. Was on a DART by 6.10.

EDIT: had heard a figure of 80,000 said by someone near me around 4pm. Must have been quoted on the news

jimbis

I usually cycle out and it's always a breeze weaving your way through the traffic. Once it's over its the quickest way out too.

But like many we had small kids with us this year so we headed for shankill beach/park. Taking the back roads, no traffic at all and managed to create a parking space close to the seafront.

Decent crowds there and we got to see the majority of the action. Normally I'd say there is nothing compared to sitting under the action but I think we got pretty much the same as bray did.

Kids played away and stopped now and then to watch the planes so all happy. 2 mins walk to the car and traffic free drive home.

For anyone with small kids id keep shankill beach in mind for next year

Trebor176

Today was disappointing. The rain at Baldonnel didn't help things, but surely the organisers will have been well aware of the forecast, and things could have been rejigged.

Ou usual parking area was off limits, and is just minutes from the seafront. We ended up parking much further down (pre-booked), and ended up walking for around an hour both ways because the shuttle service only had a few buses for the amount of people queuing. We'd have been quicker walking than queuing.

I can see the Air Corps often, but it was still nice to see them today, along with others that managed to perform.

It is disappointing that what we're considered the main acts didn't even get off the ground.

The airshow was only on for the one day, rather than two, so no doubt there were more today than usual.

Tenger

Personally I thought the weather was always going to be an issue. I was 50/50 about going on Saturday with the question mark over the Reds.

I got to Bray very early (11am) to dodge the rail traffic. I saw the clouds on Bray Head and immediately adjusted my expectations.

At 12-1230 it was very windy and raining so I resigned myself to no BBMF and at best a flat display from the Reds.

My hopes got up from 1.30-3pm as the weather brightened up and I felt the sun burning the back of my neck. But around 4pm I could see the rain to the North-West and a hint of pessimism crept into my mind. But the news that the Reds were cancelled was still a gut kick.

Im going to Fairford for the Air tattoo next year. Already told the wife!!

bikeman1

It was a terribly boring display, I actually fell asleep when rescue 116 was going by again. Sure we see that everyday in Dublin doing its patrols. The two displays we all wanted to see didn’t perform, which was a huge let down and felt that they could have changed the running order up a bit with the forecast.

The DART was an absolute sham. It was completely full already at Harmonstown which it never is. Then the scum / I know better brigade made a terrible situation worse by opening the doors and hopping out on a live and busy railway. Thankfully we got in ahead of that. My train had 6 carriages, while passing many sets at Fairview.

Knowing the **** show that going home was going to be, had two pints in the harbour bar which was great as usual and seemed to be the only place set up for the crowds. Managed a seat on the way home.

I love planes, but today really put me off going again.

DonnieCorko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119381740#Comment_119381740

I was on the dart just behind the one stuck at bray. We were between Shankill and Bray. The train ahead of us was literally 3 mins ahead of us (I know this as we just missed it when getting on our dart, we saw it leave).

I wonder how much of it was exaggerated in terms of being overheated etc. People on our DART were saying similar stuff like its too hot, open the doors etc (in a joking way), but people did so a few mins later. in the carriage ahead of us. It was not packed at all.

Lets just say the first people getting off (and taking a piss on the side of the tracks immediately) werent the cream of the crop.

Cant speak for the train ahead who were first to disembark on the tracks, but it caused a huge knock on effect. We were stopped for 10 mins, the train ahead couldnt have been more than 15 mins stopped.

Dravokivich

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119381744#Comment_119381744

I was on the one that started it. It was really only 10 minutes. All other trains were affected by the passengers on the train I was using hopping off.

Larbre34

The whole experience is just kip.

**** it ever again.

GiftofGab

What an absolute sh1tshow. Seems like no crowd control whatsoever.

Left Booterstown at about 11.30. Train was absolutely packed. Heat was incredible and no air conditioning.

Arrived at air show and realised I made a huge mistake. Crowds were unbelievable - way too much to enjoy yourself. Went to get a pizza and ended up queuing up for over an hour. Massive queues for all food stalls.

Very trashy crowd at the show itself. Drinking beers and pushing prams with their bellies hanging out. Watched a few sh1t planes fly by then queued up for another few hours to get home.

Was such a relief to finally get away from that and get to my home.

Samsgirl

Absolute shambles. We drove and had pre booked our parking but it was a nightmare getting into the car park. Queued for 25 mins to get into Spar to get some cold drinks.

Communication terrible. Mr Sam knew some of the lads in the Irish air Corp and they told us that the red arrows wouldn't be flying. No one could hear the announcements being made.

Having previously been to air shows at Galway, Baldonnel, Biggin Hill and Farmborough it really showed what a sh1tshow this one was. Never again.