Airport Spotting Blog

I dug out this report I’d written about a visit to Rome’s Ciampino (low cost) airport last year. You may find it useful for spotting:

Ciampino is closer to the centre of Rome. It acts as the main low-cost and
business jet airport, and is also a military base and home of the
government’s fleet of A319s and business jets. It is also home of the yellow
CL-215 aircraft.

The terminal building is quite compact, split into Arrivals and Departures
sections. Passengers only use the ground floor throughout, and buses take
you to and from the aircraft.

Once through to departures, there is a separate section for Non-Schengen
flights. Hold off from going through there until you are due to leave if you
are a spotter, as the departures lounge for Schengen flights has better
windows looking out to the apron, taxiway and runway. Most aircraft park
near the arrivals section, however.

Outside the terminal, beware of the large presence of police and military
personnel. Cameras and poles will not be looked kindly upon. You can,
however, log most aircraft on the cargo/biz jet apron if you are discrete
with your binoculars. Walk to the car park next to the General Aviation
Terminal, and you can see all of the aircraft through the fence. Police do
patrols, so don’t loiter.

If you have a car, you can drive to both ends of the runway - again, don’t
loiter. At the southern end (turn left out of the airport entrance, and then
left at the roundabout), you will see the cargo aircraft close up, and a
small compound of derelict biz jets.

The hotel Palacavicci is situated at the northern end of the runway (right
out of the airport entrance, then right again towards Ciampino). I stayed in
room 606 and had uninterrupted views of aircraft just before touchdown.
Rooms in the 7xx and 8xx range should also have similar views. If not, you
can wander the car park to spot anyway.

This press release has recently been sent out by Moscow’s Domodedovo airport, indicating how helpful they are to the “star” spotters out there.

——————-

Between June 18 and 19, Moscow International Airport Domodedovo, the pioneer in aviation spotting, welcomed the group of aviation photography enthusiasts and provided access to most convenient spots at the landing area.

Around 30 world’s spotting stars got together in Domodedovo and spent there two days. Stuck to their cameras, they couldn’t take their eyes off the airfield in pursuit of capturing the moments from ordinary yet exciting airport life.

For two days the apron, runways, taxi ways turned into spotters’ workshop, where aircraft’s landing and take-offs were in the main focus.

Last year the spotters requested to hold such events more frequently, and this year the airport made the request materialized. The 17^th of June signified the official start of regular spotting events to be organized in the leading Moscow airport.

«I appreciate and thank the administration of Moscow International Airport Domodedovo for the unparalleled cooperation and providing unique opportunities to amateurs and professionals of aviation photography alike. Every airport is interesting in its own right, but to date Domodedovo is one of few places where you can see a great number of various airlines’ aircraft. That’s why to me the willingness to cooperate with aviation photographers which the airport has been demonstrating is extremely important. Thank you!”, - said Valentin Morozov, Russian AviaPhoto Team leader (RAFT).

***

Organizing such events, Moscow International Airport Domodedovo provides continuity to the long-going tradition of the amateur aircraft photography.

Aviation spotting is a hobby uniting a great number of devotees around the world. The idea of spotting is to take pictures of a plane from the most advantageous angle and from a maximum proximity.

Sincerely yours,
Evgeniya Bekmambetova

Tallinn is a relatively small airport in the former Soviet state of Estonia. It is luckily served by a number of low-cost airlines, so is relatively cheap to reach - especially from the UK.

Traffic at the airport isn’t fast-paced by any means, but you can usually catch a number of Soviet and Scandinavian regional aircraft hanging around, which makes it different to many other airports in Europe.

Inside the terminal, the Graf Zeppelin restaurant has views over the ramp, and an outdoor terrace which is open in good weather.

Outside the terminal, if you turn left you will come to a fence which looks over the ramp.
If you turn right, an industrial area offers some views across to aircraft parked away from the ramp.

ES-LTA is a Tupolev TU-134 which has been stored at the airport for years.

Since MK Airlines has just gone bust, it seems the vast majority of the fleet will be put into storage at Filton airfield, in Bristol.

There were already a number of their aircraft parked here, and some are reportedly stored in Ostend, Belgium.

The airline operated a fleet of Boeing 747 classics and DC-8’s.

This is a great opportunity to go get these classics before they move on!

Warsaw has become an easy low-cost getaway from many countries in Europe - particularly with airlines such as Wizz Air and Ryanair offering low fares.

Warsaw’s Frederic Chopin Airport is very spotter friendly if you stay within the allocated areas. It’s terminal building has an open air observation deck which gives views over the parking apron and runways. Reports state that most movements can be seen from here.

All visitors are subject to a meticulous security check on entering the observation deck.

Ticket price:
standard PLN 3,00
reduced PLN 2,00

Opening hours:
6.30 until 20.30

(Warsaw is covered in my new book - Airport Spotting Guides: Europe. Out soon!)