Singapore Airshow 2018

Discussion relating to 2018 airshows/fly-ins/exercises/other events. Post news before the event and post your photos afterwards! Please create only one thread per event.
jm1g
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Singapore Airshow 2018

Post by jm1g » Fri Jan 19, 2018 11:14 am

I am attending the Singapore airshow this year (febuary 11th).
I was wondering how much of a flying display I am going to see. The website only mentions 2 x half hour long aerobatic displays, and there is not much of a list on what will be actually flying. Will the only flying aircraft I will see be part of these half hour displays, or will there be solo flying displays all day long?
General info on the flying displays for the public days appreciated, as this is the main reason I am going.
Thank you!
Last edited by RyanS on Thu Feb 08, 2018 7:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Adam » Fri Jan 19, 2018 12:32 pm

Former Singapore Airshow regular here. Welcome to, quite possibly, the most frustrating airshow in the entire world! I estimate that, if all the performers were to fly back-to-back, there's currently about 100-110 minutes of activity there. However, the Singapore Airshow website says there are two blocks of 30 minutes on each public day, and the CAA website says they have two blocks of 40-45 minutes per day. I'm not sure which is correct, But either way, don't expect to see everything on one day. Some bright spark decided to put the show site at the end of the runway of one of the world's busiest airports, that's why the aerial displays have to be so short.

But yeah, expect easily 3 hours of queuing to get in, then several hours of standing on a dangerously overcrowded slab of concrete in the middle of nowhere being baked for a very short aerial display, and over an hour of queuing to leave again. I've attended every show there from 2010 to 2016, and I genuinely loathed every second I spent there. It's a poor visitor experience, and the organisers know it. But as the only airshow in the country, they know it doesn't matter - people who like aviaiton have little choice to keep coming back. I'm glad that, now I've moved away from Singapore, I've got a reason not to...
Last edited by Adam on Fri Jan 19, 2018 12:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by jm1g » Fri Jan 19, 2018 12:39 pm

Damn, im bummed out to hear that. So the 2 blocks advertised are the only time to see flying ? At least I know. I can go look at the exhibits in between.
What is the best time to arrive for the shortest queue times?
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Post by Adam » Fri Jan 19, 2018 12:52 pm

Yeah, nothing outside of the published flying times I'm afraid. You'll get a few RSAF Super Pumas coming and going from one corner of the static display for joy flights, but that's about all. There's about a three hour gap between the flying segments, which is really longer than you need if you're going on the public days around a third of the static display aircraft will have left by then (usually the airliners). Of those that remain, half will be fenced-off business jets and half will be various military aircraft, many of which you can queue to sit in briefly, but often these queues are 40-90 minutes long so I wouldn't bother. The exhibition hall on the public weekend will be so busy you can barely move around it, despite the vast majority of exhibitors shutting up shop and leaving empty stalls with, at best, a small stack of promotional leaflets lying around.

As for queuing, I assume you know about the shuttlebus system from Expo? If you take the shuttlebus, it will take FOREVER. You'd have to be in the queue by 7:30 to stand a chance of getting on-site for the first air display at about 11:30 as you'll queue with tens of thousands of others for security and processing inside one of the Expo halls. The queue snakes around so much that I calculated you walk at least 1.5km just inside this one hall, before even boarding a bus! By taking a taxi to the show, you'll skip the bus queue and go to a different security and processing centre at the exhibition site itself, thus saving yourself many hours. Last year I did this, leaving home at 9:45 and arriving on-site at 10:30, an hour before the flying started. If I were taking the bus, I'd need to be out of the house by 6:30 latest.

Leaving the show is equally complicated. You can't take a taxi as there's a $10 surcharge and last year the taxi queue was 3-4 hours long on some days. Uber/Grab etc can't drive into the show site to pick you up. As I see it, you have two choices:
1) Watch the last aerial display from next to the bus queue. Dart straight into the line as the show ends and you'll be on a bus within 20 minutes/
2) Wait until the very end of the day and the queue will get shorter, although you'll have a long and boring wait. It depends how much you feel you've exhausted the static display and exhibition halls.

Perhaps I'm particularly cynical about this show. I've been going long enough to work out all its faults, and all the exotic performers like the Black Eagles and Jupiter Aerobatic Team are old hat to me now. So I'd be interested to hear what your thoughts are after you attend, and whether you, as a first-timer, find it as frustrating as I do.
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Post by jm1g » Fri Jan 19, 2018 1:02 pm

Thanks for this info, its golden to me. GOing to save so much stress on the day. Im leaving from the show to go straight to the airport for a 1910 flight out. How would you recommend doing this?
Im going to take your advice and get a taxi to the show in the in the morning. Im going sunday by the way.
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Post by Adam » Fri Jan 19, 2018 1:12 pm

No worries at all!

I'm seeing two potential problems here though. It's theoretically very easy to get from the airshow to the airport (the shuttle bus goes to Expo MRT, which is one stop from Changi Airport MRT).

First question - which terminal are you going to? If you're going to terminals 1, 2 or 3 then that's fine, just be aware that terminal 4 is a short bus journey away from the others so you'll need to factor an extra 20 minutes into your plan.

Secondly, what are you going to be doing with your luggage? There's no bag drop at the show and I really advise against taking a big bag. Officially there are no bag restrictions, but it'll slow you down at security at the very least. And you'll need to drag it round all day in a hugely overcrowded area in hot weather and little shade.

Changi Airport has a bag drop in every terminal and charge about $12 per day. I'm thinking the best thing might be for you to go to the airport at about 9:30, drop your bags, get in a taxi by 10:00 and go to the show (probably a 20-minute trip). You'll be on-site by about 10:30, an hour before the first air display. Then leave immediately after the last aerial display at 3:30 to be on a bus by 4:00 and back at the airport by 5:00-5:30, depending your terminal.
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Post by jm1g » Fri Jan 19, 2018 3:38 pm

not planning on taking huge bags, just 1 backpack. Only going for the weekend, flying in saturday morning, and flying out 1910 sunday evening from terminal 1.
I cant thank you enough for this advice. By the sounds of it, id of spent half the day queueing and then missed my flight had I just gone without inquiring.
Any advice for visiting the zoo and/or river zoo? haha
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Post by Adam » Fri Jan 19, 2018 4:18 pm

Well I hope it all works out for you and that you enjoy the show!

Never been to river safari myself and have heard mixed reviews. People rave about the zoo but I far prefer the night safari (a night zoo just next to the main zoo) which is utterly superb. People give Singapore a hard time and say it's boring, but I lived there 10 years and absolutely love the place. I just wished there were more airshows!
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Post by Adam » Mon Jan 29, 2018 2:09 pm

Well, more bad news, I'm afraid. The daily air display schedule is out and the Saturday is looking so much better than the Sunday.

Saturday morning: RSAF F-15 & x2 F-16, RTAF JAS-39C/D Gripen, ROKAF Black Eagles (x8 T-50B)
Saturday afternoon: RSAF F-15 & x2 F-16, TNI-AU Jupiters (x6 KT-1B), RMAF Su-30MKM Flanker-C, USAF B-52H (flypast)

Sunday morning: RSAF F-15 & x2 F-16, TNI-AU Jupiters (x6 KT-1B), RTAF JAS-39C/D Gripen
Sunday afternoon: RSAF F-15 & x2 F-16, ROKAF Black Eagles (x8 T-50B), USAF/PACAF F-16C Fighting Falcon

It's just luck of the draw, sadly!

The good news is that the air displays have now officially been extended from one hour per day to 1hr30 on Saturday and 1hr25 on Sunday.
Last edited by Adam on Mon Jan 29, 2018 2:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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jm1g
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Post by jm1g » Thu Feb 01, 2018 10:29 am

Hi, yea I just saw this schedule. Im pretty annoyed to say the least. I have tried asking for an exchange or refund so I can rebuy for the saturday but am getting stonewalled.
SO my questions is, where is the best place I can go to see the SU-30 and B-52 on the saturday, without entering the showground with a ticket? Is there a beach or street somewhere close by that will be open to foot traffic? To be honest the plane I was really hoping to see the most was the SU 30 so im really annoyed!!! The organizers don't seem to be very public friendly at all.

Edit: The ticket people have sent me an email saying I can give my tickets to anybody else (which kinda goes against what they say on their site), but they said If i cannot attend I can give them away. So I guess im able to swap the tickets? If so, where would be the best place to enquire about a Sunday to Saturday swap?

edit edit: Hows changi beach for viewing on the Saturday? On google maps there is a "changi beach" next to a small ferry port closest to the exhibition center. Will it be open?
Last edited by jm1g on Thu Feb 01, 2018 10:50 am, edited 3 times in total.
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