The 2012 edition of my popular Airport Spotting Guides Europe book is now available to buy through Amazon, Destinworld Publishing, and various airport and online shops.

I’ve completely revamped this edition, and added a bunch of new airports that weren’t included in the previous one.

The book is an ideal companion if you’re planning to do some spotting at European airports, and also handy to take on the road to help you get around and make best use of your time.

The book features over 40  airports in detail, and lists of all major commercial and storage airports in Europe.

Detailed guides cover:

- Airport map, with spotting locations and roads marked
- Descriptions of spotting locations
- Airport hotels with views
- Runway info, radio frequencies and other statistics
- Airlines which use the airport
- Nearby aviation attractions, such as museums or other airports

The book is out now, priced £11.99. Buy it online now from this link http://www.destinworld.co.uk/products-page/airport-spotting-guides/airport-spotting-guides-europe-2012/

I was watching BBC Breakfast today when they had an interview with Tony Parsons – best selling author of books such as Man and Boy. It seems he is to be the next writer-in-residence at London Heathrow Airport over the next week.

Following in the footsteps of Alain de Botton with his A Week At The Airport title, Tony is set to publish a book of short stories based on his time spent at the airport.

He said he will be allowed “total access” to the airport, and will thus use this privilege to speak to fire crews, passengers (coming and going), check-in agents, management and anyone else he comes across.

His book will be published by Harper Collins in October 2011.

The August 2011 copy of Airliner World has arrived through my door and features an article I wrote on Genair.

This was one of the earliest commuter feeder airlines in existence. It was founded out of three smaller airlines – Casair, Eastern Airways and Genair. It then went on to become British Caledonian Commuter Services, operating flights from all over the UK into London Gatwick airport.

Sadly the airline didn’t last long. Only Eastern Airways remains in any form today, although it’s very much a different airline.

I’m pretty pleased with how this article came out. I hope you enjoy it if you read it (you can buy a copy here http://www.airlinerworld.com/).

Other articles of note in the magazine include a full Paris Air Show review, TAP Portugal, and a feature on Hong Kong’s Chep Lap Kok airport.

Destinworld Publishing and author Matt Falcus have announced the next in their popular line of Airport Spotting Guides books is due in March 2011.

Following their Airport Spotting Guides Europe and Airport Spotting Guides USA, the natural progression is to now cover some Asian airports. Thus, we have Airport Spotting Guides Far East and Australasia.

It will follow the similar format of an airport layout map, with spotting locations, runways, roads, buildings etc marked on. Then followed by details of airlines operating there, statistics, descriptions of places to spot and photograph, details of hotels that are good for viewing, and nearby aviation attractions.

This new book covers the popular spotting airports in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand.

More details can be found on the Destinworld website, and you can pre-order to receive a copy as soon as it’s available.

Following in the success of Airport Spotting Guides Europe, Matt Falcus has produced a new book, this time entitled Airport Spotting Guides USA.

The book boasts guides to 67 airports, each with a detailed map of spotting locations, plus descriptions and directions. For each airport, a run down of airlines, radio frequencies, contact details, hotels with views and other statistic are included.

Additionally, nearby attractions are listed for each airport, which includes nearby airports, museums and aviation-themed attractions.

Matt states: “The Europe book has been very well received, and this was the natural progression for the series.” He adds “America is very popular with European spotters who love to visit the storage airports and the big hubs like Memphis and Atlanta. This book has it all in a handy size, you shouldn’t got without it.”

The book is published through Destinworld Publishing Ltd, and available from early April from all good aviation stockists, plus sites such as Amazon.

With a new year approaching, we’re looking for your suggestions on the must-have gadgets and items for the aviation spotter.

What pair of binoculars or pole has shown the most promise and reliability from the airport hotel or perimeter fence?

Are you using SBS or Radarbox?

Which books are perfect companions for your trips, or ideal for keeping track of the aircraft you’ve seen?

And finally, which camera gets your shots on Airliners.net every time?

We’ll take some of the better gadgets and give them a full feature in future posts here on the blog, so you can read all about them. We’ll also be featuring reviews of new items as and when we hear of them so you can be best informed.

Various enthusiasts sites exist for some of the airports in Scotland which can help in planning a trip to any of them, or in simply finding out what’s been happening up there. We have collated this information for some of the airports:

Glasgow Airport
EGPF.co.uk
Enthusiasts site for Glasgow Airport, with timetables, SBS list, spotting locations and charts, photos, live arrivals & departures, and logs of recent movements.

Prestwick Airport
Prestwick Airport Movements Site
Similar to the Glasgow enthusiasts site, with movements, photos, spotting information, airfield charts and live flight information.

Edinburgh Airport
EGPH.co.uk
A similar site for Edinburgh Airport enthusiasts. Lists frequencies, live flight arrivals & departures, airline information, photos and SBS information.

egphforum.co.uk
A forum for discussing Edinburgh Airport and its operations.

A new book has been released by Destinworld Publishing which is jam-packed full of information on airframes around the world and their current condition.

Out of Production List – Western Jet Airliners lists full production lists of 27 aircraft types and sub-types, all of which are no longer produced and so prove more and more difficult to find as the years pass by.

The book is right up to date as of June 2009 and lists the status of every airframe, whether it is active, stored, preserved, written off, or remaining only as a small section or parts in someone’s back yard. The importance of this to spotters’ logs is obvious, as aircraft you once thought were lost are once again unlocked to you to hunt out on your travels.

Types covered are separated by sub-type, and include older Airbus and Boeing types, such as the A300, 707, 737-200 etc., as well as types such as the Convair 880/990, HS Trident, VC-10, Caravelle, Fokker 28/70/100 and many more. Each has a summary of locations and conditions, plus a complete cross reference of previous registrations to make finding frames you’ve seen easier. Each entry has a tick box to mark off aircraf you’ve seen.

For full details on the book, and to order a copy click here, or visit your favourite aviation bookstore. It’s also available on Amazon.

Airport Spotting Guides Europe – the guidebook to Europe’s best airports for spotting – is selling well and proving incredibly useful to those planning trips and those out visiting airports for spotting.

You can get a copy here if you haven’t already.

The next book in the series will concern airports further afield. I’m looking for suggestions of which airports would benefit you if you were to buy the book. Please leave comments with any suggestions outside of Europe.

Today I’m pleased to announce that my new book is available for purchase!

Airport Spotting Guides Europe is published by Destinworld Publishing Ltd and available from Amazon, Borders etc. as well as many specialist aviation shops.

ISBN 978-0-9559281-0-9

Here’s a link

The book covers Europe’s best airports for spotting.
It has a map for each, and lists the best official and unofficial spotting locations, and how to get to them.
It also has lists of airlines, stored/wrecked/preserved aircraft, frequencies, runway information, plus recommended hotels with views over the airport.

For the spotter and photographer who likes to travel to view aircraft, this book is indispensable.

Have a look here