AirVenture Australia is landing in Cessnock this September

[Nobody]

I know nothing about Cessnock, have never been there, and very little about airshows other than having attended a dozen or so over many years, including Avalon (5), Laverton (4), Pt Cook, Lilydale, Moorabbin. But looking at Cessnock Airport on Google satellite view, it appears to have the perfect setup with areas well separated, by the runway, to keep spectators away from moving aircraft, but still having a place for a static display, on the side of the airport closest to the main road into town. It appears to fit perfectly into the suggestion I made in post #47 in the thread A time now sadly gone. The image below illustrates what I mean. I could be way off beam, just my 2c worth.[ATTACH=full]54776[/ATTACH]

The issue with that layout is that the visiting aircraft parking and the performing aircraft area will have to be emptied of people when the airshow is on. You will need people to marshal the pilots and interested spectators out and it will be like herding cats. There will be threads on here complaining about not being let into the camping area during the display times and complaints about not having access to the visiting aircraft. It will also mean that the spectators, on the eastern side of the display, will be looking into the sun which makes for a poor airshow experience.

Compare to the location for Oshkosh in the USA:

 

Google Maps

 

All the spectators and aircraft parking are on the one side(western) of the north south runways. They use the taxiway as a runway for the event and so in effect have 2 parallel runways allowing aircraft to be displaying while the next display is lining up to depart. The spectators are not looking into the western sun so the viewing is comfortable and the photography is great.

 

Cessnock is a great place to fly into but the layout isnt the best for an air display....

 

 

[red750]

As I said, Nobody, I know nothing about Cessnock, and I understand what you say about looking west at the airshow, but many airshows are like that. Lilydale and Coldstream spectator areas are to the east of the runway, and although I have not attended an airshow at Tyabb, I believe from the layout of the airport, it is the same.

 

Lilydale