Anyone interested in aircraft won’t need to be told that the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) is the event in the air display calendar. The security force is varied and includes private security, Professional Security heard at the press launch in June.
We were invited by Brian Hughes, RIAT Chief of Staff, a fellow of The Security Institute and a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Security Professionals. He stressed the variety of bodies that look after the security of the July 12 and 13 event at Royal Air Force Fairford in Gloucestershire. They are: RAF Police, personnel from the Defence College of Aeronautical Engineering and other Royal Air Force stations; Air Cadets; and G4S Security Services, formerly Rock Steady, the event security contractor acquired by G4S earlier this year. There’s the Ministry of Defence Police, and Gloucestershire and Wiltshire forces – because the force boundaries run through the base – though Gloucestershire are the lead force. On the United States Air Force side – because Fairford is very much a US place – there are the USAF Security Police, and the USAF Office of Special Investigations. Professional Security was introduced to the Base Commander, Colonel Joe Dill, who significantly mentioned, without going into detail, the F-22A Raptor, making its European debut at the Air Tattoo. Briefly, it’s described as a new generation of fighter aircraft. Presumably threats to it range from over-enthusiastic UK air spotters to foreign espionage. Upwards of 500 security people are under the RIAT Security Co-ordinator, who for 2008 is Wing Commander Kevin Bailey, Officer Commanding Specialist Police Wing Headquarters Provost Marshal RAF. For more 2008 details, visit www.airtattoo.com
As for the security and the general work to make an annual air show happen, one of the risks to any outdoor event is plainly the weather. The press launch had to go ahead in torrents of rain, which grounded invited guests including broadcaster Chris Evans, and the flypast of a Spitfire. Whereas say a rugby stadium regularly does nothing but run games of rugby, the Air Tattoo organisers ‘borrow’ a working air base, one weekend a year. Brian Hughes said: "So we start from scratch and have to build up the whole force throughout the year. We rely obviously on a lot of help from the Royal Air Force. And then on the day we ensure that we get everybody in safely and in good time and deal with any situation that arises." Crowds over the weekend can reach 167,000. "Common things are people leaving their bags unattended," Brian said, making the point that this can happen at any event. The event security contractor is responsible for queue management at the gates, and ‘wanding’, that is, checking people with hand-held metal detectors known as ‘wands’.
To compare crowd management again with another summer outdoor event – a pop concert, whereas a pop festival will have stages that people will want to all move to at once, "we have a lot of space for the crowds to wander around; the runway here is 10,000 feet long so the crowd line from which visitors can watch the flying is extensive." Police, some armed, are in charge of public safety and security including public order matters. Not that the Air Tattoo expects or has had public order problems. From the press launch, and the way the US and UK air force men (and women) got on, there is plainly goodwill among aviation people, and civilian enthusiasts who want to see the hundreds of flying and static exhibits. And there is continuity among organisers. Brian has been involved since 1976 and his first Air Tattoo was 1977. The event dates from 1971 and has been at Fairford, with breaks, since 1985. From 1973 to 1984 the show ran at RAF Greenham Common near Newbury. Readers with long memories will recall that includes years of the anti-nuclear ‘peace protests’ at Greenham Common. Asked about how it’s changed over the years, Brian said: "We have become far more conscious of the risks involved, and we do a lot more to manage those risks; we also have a huge emergency services set-up." A medical centre which doubles as a casualty clearing station is staffed by near 300 people. "We do things beyond the Purple Guide." To explain: Professional Security has featured football stadia security which works to the ‘Green Guide’ – look out for the new edition by the way – while the event safety guide from the Health and Safety Executive (www.hse.gov.uk) too is known by its colour. The Air Tattoo worked with the Security Industry Authority so that the show from 2006 on has complied with the SIA. Like other events, the show had to work out with the regulator which staff did licensable work, whether as door supervisors or security guards. And in another sign that someone working in event security can find work worldwide, Brian in 2003, 2005 and 2007 has done similar work in Australia for Melbourne’s Australian International Air Show and Aerospace and Defence Exposition (www.airshow.net.au)
VIP visitors last year included the Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson (also a commercial pilot). This year Her Majesty The Queen is attending on the Friday (not open to the public) to present two new colours: one to the Royal Air Force and one to the Royal Air Force Regiment in front of an invited audience of thousands.
The event’s Safety Services Manager is Nick Cook, who like Brian is ex-RAF. Nick has to co-ordinate, besides security, police, fire and medical, traffic – managing the cars being a big issue on the narrow rural roads – and health and safety. He described the table-top exercise a month before the big weekend, which brings together some 120 people from RIAT, police, ambulance, the local authority and so on, the sorts of people who will or may have to deal with each other on the day. Everyone is divided into syndicates, around tables, and in exercise play responds to a series of problems, as if they have occurred at the Air Tattoo. Unusually for an event, but like Cheltenham race festival, Nick said, the ‘Silver Control’ is on site, so if the show has an incident, the Silver Commander calls the Silver Co-ordinating Group together. (Briefly, this is the emergency services methodology for managing a serious incident whether a bomb or last year’s floods, with the Silver representatives having tactical command of the Bronze (operational) assets on the ground. During the afternoon of the table-top exercise, members of the Gold (Strategic) Co-ordinating Group join the exercise, such as a Gloucestershire Police assistant chief constable, and his counterparts in fire, ambulance the RAF, the USAF and RIAT.
On a Thursday near the show there’s a major incident exercise, which, Nick explained, no longer has casualties in make-up, pyrotechnics and stretcher-cases. It’s accepted that paramedics for instance know how to treat a serious injury. Rather, what is tested are the processes, how people get taken to the Casualty Clearing Station, and are checked in and out.
In past years, RIAT Police and Emergency Services have taken over a hangar, brought in scores of trestle tables, and chairs, and computers, and set up. For this year, there’s a control suite at RAF Fairford, which suits everybody. Whilst routinely used by USAF personnel, if there’s a repeat of last summer’s floods or something else, Gloucestershire Police have a control centre in this part of the county. RIAT in effect will test the suite once a year to make sure that it works. RIAT get a more permanent control centre – no more lugging of trestle tables!
To sum up, when you think about it, it’s remarkable that the United States Air Force opens its gates for the weekend and lets people in behind the razor-wired perimeter fence. RAF Fairford is very much a piece of America – the currency used on base is the dollar, and there are a Maine Street and a Utah Drive. Colonel Dill’s previous posting was Baghdad – an arm patch on his overalls had a camel and the line ‘Busting our hump to save yours’, which sums up this can-do man. To repeat, it’s a testament to the goodwill behind the event through which the Royal Air Force Charitable Trust raises money for good causes; and the 2500-plus volunteers who make the show happen.
