Corona virus, Covid-19 and airshows?

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Skyes9
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Post by Skyes9 » Fri Mar 13, 2020 2:34 pm

I hope chino holds out as long as possible. It’s our only hope now. :?
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Adam
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Post by Adam » Fri Mar 13, 2020 2:50 pm

More positive news on our side of the pond - UK Airshow Review published a statement from the Shuttleworth Collection today, the key section reads:
We are planning to hold all our air shows and this won’t change unless there is a clear direction from Government. Some of our staff and volunteers may have been advised to self-isolate at that time, so we will deliver everything we can with the staff and volunteers we have. Since we have nine shows in the diary, we won’t postpone any shows if Government policy directs a cancellation – we’ll simply run the next show in the series that we are able.
The prime minister made a statement yesterday evening in which he said there was little evidence that banning outdoor events would stem the spread of the virus and such events will not be banned (at least in England) for the time being. However, the Scottish Government is seeking a ban, and a UK-wide ban may be implemented in the future. This is on the grounds of reducing stress on the emergency services, rather than disease control, as they will likely be busy enough dealing with the virus without having to provide support for football matches, festivals, airshows etc. as well.
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kalamazookid
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Post by kalamazookid » Fri Mar 13, 2020 2:55 pm

Probably fair to wonder about the economic impact with regards to sponsorships too.
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RyanS
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Post by RyanS » Fri Mar 13, 2020 3:15 pm

kalamazookid wrote: Fri Mar 13, 2020 2:55 pm Probably fair to wonder about the economic impact with regards to sponsorships too.
We've already gotten comments in the Racine thread that sponsors for later events are very gun shy about supporting them given the climate. The economy is about to take a big hit so I think you're right, there will be a huge impact on smaller events like that.
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Airplanefreak2000
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Post by Airplanefreak2000 » Fri Mar 13, 2020 4:27 pm

Some really bad news from the USAF
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RyanS
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Post by RyanS » Fri Mar 13, 2020 5:05 pm

Quote from ICAS
“The Air Force is committed to upholding the complete trust and confidence of Americans and our community engagement is the key to those connections. However, due to the uncertainty regarding COVID-19 and to protect our Airmen, their families and the communities that support us, the Department of the Air Force is suspending all outreach activities and support to community events through May 15.  This includes, but is not limited to, on-base and civilian sponsored air shows, band performances and community engagements and meetings (speaking engagements, community meetings on installations, base tours, Pentagon visits, etc.).  We will continue to support funeral flyovers on a case-by-case basis.  The Air Force will continuously evaluate the situation and provide updates as needed.

 

“Please contact the Air Force Aerial Events Office at 703-695-9664 for Aerial Events questions, and your local installation public affairs office for questions regarding local activities.”
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Adam
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Post by Adam » Fri Mar 13, 2020 6:31 pm

This is extraordinary. Wind the clock back 48 hours and it was conceivable to believe that the majority of US shows over the next few months might go ahead fairly normally. It's now equally conceivable to believe that there might be almost none at all! Is it likely that big civilian shows like Fort Lauderdale will cancel, even if the virus doesn't necessitate it, due to the loss of their headliner?
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Post by RyanS » Fri Mar 13, 2020 6:48 pm

Adam wrote: Fri Mar 13, 2020 6:31 pm This is extraordinary. Wind the clock back 48 hours and it was conceivable to believe that the majority of US shows over the next few months might go ahead fairly normally. It's now equally conceivable to believe that there might be almost none at all! Is it likely that big civilian shows like Fort Lauderdale will cancel, even if the virus doesn't necessitate it, due to the loss of their headliner?
I think it is extremely likely. It is also very likely that more states will enact bans on events which will really be the killer. I am told that is what pushed Sun n Fun to make their announcement - a ban will supposedly be coming from the state of Florida soon.
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Post by RyanS » Fri Mar 13, 2020 9:58 pm

I went through and updated the main (stickied) posts in the 2020 schedules section to remove all Air Force performances and shows until May 16th in accordance with the announced policy. Very sobering to see the number of events wiped out. The few that remain have lost nearly all military support (and I'd be shocked if the other branches don't make the same rule and remove what support remains) and I would expect they will quickly cancel as well.

The easiest way to see the impact is to look at the airshow calendar:
https://airshowstuff.com/v4/airshow-calendar/
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Post by RyanS » Fri Mar 13, 2020 11:35 pm

Here's an aspect of this that I hadn't really thought of - the Canadian teams like the Skyhawks are still in winter training. The Canadian military is issuing orders to protect servicemembers and that includes ceasing a lot of regular duties. This may very well delay their training and prevent them for performing for a while even once shows are resumed. The Skyhawks have stated as much on their Facebook page.
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