Sunday 15 July 2012

A380 Toulouse in Farnborough


My son and I took in the Farnborough Airshow yesterday, in Hampshire. True to form in this year's English summer, it rained almost all day and the sun failed to show. For a joke we asked the hotel receptionist when the British summer was due to start, as if we were tourists. The low cloud cover meant that many of the flypasts had to restrict their routines which was disappointing, in most cases. But for the A380 it was perfect. The giant plane made a huge spray on the runway as it took off and then as it rapidly canted away into the cloud it trailed a huge stream of vapour. We last went to Farnborough in 2006 when the A380 made its debut and it was stunning then with its quietness and manoeuvrability. It was no less spectacular now despite its familiarity. The show appeared to suffer from the recession with fewer aircraft on view and in the flypast. We sat and shivered in the grandstand with the stoic crowd in the teeth of a chilly, wet north wind. Late in the day an F-18 Hornet did some spectacular angle-of-attack flying accompanied by massive noise volume. Thrilling, but I always wonder when one of these fighter jets points towards me at an airshow how I would be feeling if it was flown by an enemy. You are just so small and powerless on the ground. We were glad to make it back indoors after a freezing day. The QSL is from Sud Radio, Toulouse (where the A380 is assembled in a huge plant), heard in London on AM 891 kHz in 1995.

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