Coronation flypast: King Charles heartbreak as historic Buckingham Palace balcony event set to be CANCELLED due to heavy rain

Red Arrows fly past, inset of Met Office weather map

The Coronation flypast is set to be cancelled

PA/Met Office
Dan Falvey

By Dan Falvey


Published: 06/05/2023

- 08:19

Updated: 06/05/2023

- 13:46

Yesterday the Ministry of Defence warned that it would be forced to call off the flypast if the conditions were a safety risk for pilots

The Coronation flypast is at risk of being cancelled with heavy rain expected to fall on London this afternoon.

Weather forecasts indicate London will be hit by rain through the afternoon, ruining the chances of Britain's aircraft being put on show.


The flypast over Buckingham Palace is scheduled to take place at approximately 2.30pm, but the Met Office is predicting heavy rain with a 90 per cent chance of precipitation at that time.

It adds that as the day goes on, Britons should preparing for "rain becoming prolonged and occasionally heavy in the afternoon".

Met Office weather map

Heavy rain is expected to hit London at the time the flypast is scheduled for

Met Office

It will feel "rather cool" with a maximum temperature of 14°C.

Yesterday the Ministry of Defence warned that it would be forced to call off the flypast if the conditions were a safety risk for pilots.

A spokesman said: "There are certain weather limits in terms of cloud base and visibility for a flypast involving a large number of aircraft which will need to be met.

"The latest weather information will be obtained from both the Met Office and from our helicopters performing weather checks in advance of the main flypast on Saturday.

Buckingham Palace flypast

The flypast is scheduled to take place at 2.30pm

PA

"If suitable, the flypast will continue as planned.

"If not, then there are options available to reduce the numbers of aircraft, with cancellation being the last resort.

"Clearly there are many things the MoD does control, but the weather is not one of them. Safety will always be our primary concern."

Sixty aircraft will take part in the flypast if the weather conditions allow.

It will include the Battle of Britain memorial flight, the Red Arrows, modern F-35s and Typhoons and last six minutes.

Rain also impacted Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation in June 1953.

There were fears a flypast planned to mark her anointment would be called off due to the weather.

The event eventually went ahead at 5.15pm after a delay because conditions improved.

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