Farnborough International 2004
19th-25th July 2004

 An even numbered year means it's Farnborough year: The UK's premier avaition trade event and perhaps the most famous airshow of them all, though RIAT would probably like to dispute that. Ask anyone in the street to name an airshow, and 9 times out of 10 Farnborough will be mentioned. The show itself is highly reflective of the aerospace industry and recent shows have graphically illustrated the turn around in fortunes since 9/11. As ever, contraversy was no stranger to the show with all manner of rumours about the shows future, Eurofighter Typhoon and UK defence contracts never far from the headlines.

The show itself has tried hard over the last few years to attract the public with different events, exhibitions and displays. This year saw a Motor Sport Exhibition and a celebration of Rolls Royce's 100 Anniversary of it's aero engines. The latter dominated the weekend's public days with a special flying display involving between 70 and 80 Rolls Royce engines.  Paul Johnson/Flightline UK assesses this years show. All photography by the author.

Why So High and Far Away?

What was it with Farnborough flying display this year? Almost every display was higher and farther away than any other display. This didn't include the Red Arrows, who SBAC feel are professional enough to use their own display rules. The dispay minima (the lowest height that a display can come down to) was 600ft AGL! That's a 100ft higher than most standard display authorisations will allow; the display line seemed further away and display centre was not central to the exhibtion, though it fairly easy reach of the crowd. This all contributed to a somewhat diluted feel to the flying displays. It is known that at least one defence manufacturer was unhappy with the display rules as it's display losty it's main effect, espeacially with the money spent on appearing at Farnborough at all which is a multi million pound affair now.

All this added to the speculation that this could be one of the last Farnborough Airshows as we know them. The expense of the event is simply too much for companies to afford these days. From what Flightline UK could gather, it won't be the very last Farnborough in it's current guise, much of the hotel space and airfield is already booked for July 2006. Display commentator proudly announced on the Airshow Radio station he was all booked and set for Farnborough 2006 so there's likely to be an airshow. However, after that is anyone's guess. Many people have speculated that the public days could scrapped, or the airshow could become just a ground exhibtion in London - however, SBAC are very aware this will mean the loss of the Farnborough Brand.

In Aircraft Illustrated, Mark Ashley reported that Farnborough had even been in talks with Tim Prince from RIAT about the future of their events. With RIAT being so heavily sponsored by the likes of BAE Systems and Boeing, they have been making in-roads on the trade front. The F/A-18F Super Hornet and Pilatis PC-21 were both making regular customer flights thoughout RIAT.

Down to Business

The trade days at Farnborough occupy the weekdays ending on the Friday. $20 Billion of business was down over the Farnborough week.  As ever, it was a successful affair for Airbus winning a multitude of orders from Airlines for it's ever popular range of airliners including the Airbus A380, which will be seen at Farnborough '06 if all goes to plan. Boeing too, had a relatively successful Farnborough bringing in some important orders. Whereas Airbus had a mighty presence on the ground with the Airbus A330 and Airbus A319 alongside the flying display's A340-500 and A318, Boeing could only muster a single Boeing 737-900 in a livery to celebrate the 7E7 dreamliner, though they did much more exhibition space.

By far the most succesful trade day area was the new Business Aircraft Park which managed $100 million of orders. The park only lasted the first three days of the Farnborough week, but it looks certain to become a major part of future events. Many types seen in the business park are no stranger to Farnborough and there were some manufacturers who stayed away, prefering their aircraft to be amongst the main static parks for the week. A rare bird in the Business area was a luxury Boeing 727 from a Middle Eastern consortium.

EMBRAER once again had a new aircraft to show off at Farnborough, The EMBRAER 190, a small airliner in the 100 seater class (104 seats.) Like Airbus, they like to put an aircraft into the flying display to show in agility, particularly important for feeder airliners as they may be operating at smaller, remote airports. They also had a Aeritalia EMB-170 on the ground at the beginning of the week.

The only Eastern European appearances this year were by the Ukrainian Kharkov Bureau offering Antonov freighters and airliners. The Antonov An-74TK-200 is offered in wide variety of roles from Fire fighting to air ambulance. Joining it was the newer Antonov An-140-100. This is a newer version of the airliner that first appeared two years ago, and is set to become the standard version offered. It's being offered as a civilian airliner/freighter or for a range of military applications including Airbourne Early Warning roles. Though both aircraft were down to appear in both the flying and static displays, they only flew on two of the trade days.

Defence wise, it was UK procurements which dominated the headlines. Good news for the UK forces was the announcement that Thales has won the Watchkeeper Contract to supply the army with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. Thales were understandably delighted and didn't hide the decision from their stand.

However, courting much contraversy was Eurofighter Typhoon - AGAIN!!!!! The major headlines at Farnborough was about the MoD's indecision about the future RAF orders for the type. Currently, the orders stands at the full 232 aircraft. However, rumours were flying about that the order was to be dramtically cut, with UK Tranche 2 being slashed altogether. Then there was the quite amazing situation that developed that meant no company aircraft were availible to participate in the flying display! Thankfully for Typhoon, it was the RAF that saved the day. With 17(R) sqn originally penned in to fly at the weekend for the benefit of Rolls Royce, a deal was struck with the RAF to extend their display into the trade days starting on the Wednesday. Wg Cdrs Chan and Hitchcock duly took the honour of "role demo-ing" their aircraft over the week with much vigour than their previous outings, though still short of a full display! BAE systems also has a large stake in the SAAB Gripen which also had an impressive exhibition space alongside BAE Systems and Eurofighter as well as a jet in the flying display. Gripen is fast over taking the US as the cheap modern jet of choice for the new NATO nations and the company are keen to exploit this to gain orders from more nations. It is also well set to take over from any JSF cancellations (from the UK???) to provide light multi-role fighters.

Also courting a fair degree of the headlines was Airtanker's troubled bid to replace the RAF's VC-10s and Tristars with new Airbus A330MRTT aircraft. While the RAF and MoD publically say that it is their preferred bid, it is known they are far from happy with the contract details which is delaying the aircrafts service entry. Never one to let a chance go by, Global Airtanker Services brought one of their new Boeing KDC-10F aircraft to the show to offered an interim solution. Airtanker's rival bidder also saif it's offer of second hand British Airways Boeing 767s still stands. While on the subject of RAF transports, Airbus Military still only have a plastic model of the RAF's next generation transports, the Airbus A400M. With the RAF about to buy it's leased C-17A Globemasters and buy another example, is the writing on the wall for A400M?

AgustaWestland perhaps had the most impressive area at the show with a multitude of Helicopters on show. The Westland Super Lynx perhaps grabbed the headlines with the last Malaysian Navy example to be delivered alongside the first example for the Royal Air Force of Oman. Also present despite the UK troubles with the type was the EH industries EH101. Two examples were presented. A Navy version from the Italian Navy and a CSAR version destined for the Danish Armed Forces fresh from the Yeovil factory and still wearing it's MoD registration. Also on show was the last WAH-64D destined for the British Army.

For once at Farnborough we saw a real NH90 medium lift helicopter. The example on show was the first prototype, which has reached the end of it's flying days and is now a static exhibtion piece. With orders from a number of European nations, the producers are looking to the UK for more orders to replace the Puma and Sea King. While a very capable machine, we already have the similar Merlin HC3 already in service. Surely it would be better to order more of the same type rather than have to introduce yet another type into RAF serivce?

Italy also was out in force, not only with the regualar Alenia C-27J Spartan display but also with a number of interesting upgrades. A surprising aircraft was the rather ancient SIAI Marchetti S211A that has been significantly upgraded. Also present was the Aermacchi MB339CD from RSV showing there was still life in the MB339 for upgrades to keep it as a viable alternative to new build aircraft. Also recently upgraded was the RSV Panavia Tornado IDS-IT which is very similar to the RAF's GR4 upgrade.

Another interesting European participant was the Spanish Air Force's Lockheed P-3B Orion, recently upgraded by EADS. It seems most nations are willing to stay with the platform that have used for many years rather than spending money on new airframes. EADS are keen to upgrade many more Orions which are fast becoming dated.

However, the biggest military involvement came from the US. The DoD put on a siginificant appearance considering it virtual non-appearance at Paris last year. Headlining it's display were the fly-pasts by three of the USAF's most important strike aircraft. The Lockheed Martin F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighter highlighting the growing emphasis of stealth in the battlefield and the US's will to be able to go anyway and get out alive. Both the Boeing B-52H Stratofortress and Rockwell B-1B Lancer highlighted the US's "global power" though the B-52H's navigation was somewhat suspect on the Tuesday picking out Blackbushe rather than Fanrborough! Needless to say, rumours were rife throughout the rest of the week that the main reason for the B-52H's appearance was to highlight a forecoming upgrade needed for it's navigation suite! On the ground and in the air too, the DoD and the US aerospace companies had a formidable exhibition. The DoD also exhibited a Sikorsky UH-60L Blackhawke and Lockheed C-130J Hercules amongst the US hardware. Lockheed Martin supplied their usual F-16CJ Fighhting Falcons borrowed back from the USAFE for the show week. This amazing fighter is still very much in profuction for the USAF and firendly nations with an all new variant; the F-16E/F (Block 60) which is under development for the United Arab Emirates. However, it was Boeing who stole the show. Firstly, they had an energetic routine from their Boeing AH-64D Longbow Apache. The life of this aircraft is far from over and Boeing are actively promoting the type to replace many older anti-tank types such as the Agusta A109, Mil-24 and Bo-105. The aircraft performed regualar customer demonstration flights throughout the week over the military areas around Farnborough. However, following the success at RIAT, Ricardo Traven simply had no competition in the Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet. With an example in the static park showing a potential strike weapons fit, Ricardo tore up the Hampshire Skies with his weapon laden machine to delight of the crowds over rthe week.

Raytheon brought the only sigificant debuting aircraft to Farnborough, the Raytheon T-6 Texan II. The flying display saw US airshow ace Patty Wagstaff display a new T-6A Texan II destined for the USAF in flamboyant style despite the height restrictions of FI2004. On the ground, Raytheon debuted the T-6B Texan II basic trainer and light ground attack aircraft complete with all the avionics you expect in modern military aircraft. The T-6 is based on the Pilatus PC-9. One of the new Pilatus PC-9M aircraft for the Irish Air Corps was display alongside the swiss companies PC-12 light transport and PC-21 next generation training aircraft.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles are fast becoming standard fare at Farnborough. The usual suspects were all there including RQ-4A Global Hawk and RQ-8A Fire Scout. Newest kid on the block in J-UCAS falling under the designation X-47 and being produced amongst the US aerospace industry including Boeing and Northrop Grumman. The full scale models at Farnborough displayed both USAF and US Navy examples, the latter including folding wings!

Another first for Farnborough was the International Space Pavillion. Housed in Hall 5, the exhibition had everyone from NASA to the European Space Agency showing their wares and even offering spacesuit photographs.

Rolls Royce 100th Anniversary - The Public Shows

While the trade shows only ever lasted upto two and half hours, the last three days boasted a five hour flying display highlighting the important role Rolls Royce has played in avaition development over the last 100 years, almost as long as powered aviation itself. Organised by chief Rolls Royce test pilot, Phil O'Dell who flies the companies Spitfire PR19, the display mainly concentrated on Rolls Royce power from the second World War onwards. On each day, the display was started with Airbus's Airbus A340-600 demo which was powered by the RR Trent engines. From there on, every aircraft in the display was powered by a Rolls Royce built or inspired engine. Many of the more modern types in the display had also taken part in the trade flying such as the Italian combine of C-27J, MB339CD and Tornado. However, there were many historic and RAF types to boost the display. The RAF provided it's Hawk T1 solo from 100sqn and a display from IV sqn's Harrier GR7A role demo. The sound of Merlins and Griffons in the form of Lancaster, Spitfire, Hurricane and Mustang was provided by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, Thr Fighter Collection and Rolls Royce's own Spitfire PR19. Early jets too had a strong showing with the trio from Kennet Aviation providing their Hunter F6a, Jet Provost T1 and Gnat T1. It was just a shame they didn't hold their formation for the total length of the display line before splitting.

Perhaps one of the biggest highlights of the display was only seen on the Friday with the arrival of two Sea Harrer FA2 and two Harrier T8 from Yeovilton. After a formation arrival the aircraft hovered together in a powerful demo of one of Rolls Royce's most outstanding achievements.

However, show stars were the two Boeing 747-400s from South African Airways and Cathay Pacific. While SAA flew their immacualte display on Friday and Saturday in the hands iof Capt Grant McAlpine Cathay actually landed at Fanrnborough for Sundays display showing the impressive size to good effect before departing and performing a couple of flypasts.

The public days were also punctuated by displays by the RAF Red Arrows who were exempt from the SBAC's rules. Farnborough wouldn't be the same without them, and you get the feeling it's the reds everyone goes to see.

The public days this year were highly entertaining with something for everybody. They had much more flavour of the Farnborough's of old where it was the RAF who displayed  Any future loss of the Farnborough Airshow would be a huge loss. The brand is the best known of all airshows and going by purely the public day attandances, remains a highly popular attraction, something is could not hold with a loss of the trade day flying items. Without the Red Arrows and the latest technology Farnborough would not have the reputation it has today. Farnborough has to seriously look at itself and the ways it's run to survive.

 copyright Flightline UK 2004