Grant from the Plane Crazy Down Under Podcast brought my attention to a great page on the website of Sydney Airport which is aimed at spotters and enthusiasts who want to know more about its history and where to watch aircraft.

The page, which you can visit here, gives a history of the airport. It includes pictures from key moments, such as the first Boeing 747 arriving, and the recent 787 Dreamliner visit.

It then goes on to give you technical details about the airfield (elevations, runways, identifiers etc), and a list of the best places to go and watch aircraft. If you’re new to the hobby, it even tells you what aircraft registrations are, so that you can start spotting!

I’m mightily impressed at this. Sydney is a fantastic place to spot at, with variety, good weather and great spotting locations. Having this information on their website to encourage the hobby only makes things better!

Here’s the link: http://www.sydneyairport.com.au/corporate/community-environment-and-planning/aviation-community.aspx

This week I had the privilege of speaking to Pieter Johnson for his ‘Across the Pond’ segment on the popular Airplane Geeks Podcast, on episode 165.

Pieter spoke to me about spotting in Europe, in particular the best places, and pitfalls, and my favourite airports. He also mentioned the new book I have coming out soon – Airport Spotting Guides Europe 2012. This is a complete re-work of 2008′s edition, so is perfect for your spotting travels in Europe! If you listen to the podcast, you can enter a competition to win a copy of the new book (before 1st October)!

We’ll hopefully be following this up with segments about spotting in the USA, and the Far East/Australasia over the next month or so.

Thanks Pieter for this. You can listen to the podcast here: http://www.airplanegeeks.com/2011/09/20/episode-165-sennheiser-knows-noise/ 

For those of you who like a drink whilst in an airport terminal, either waiting for a flight or simply watching the action, why not have a read of the this post on The Sky Steward which lists their ten best airport bars worldwide.

http://www.dearskysteward.com/twittersplit.html?http://news.travel.aol.com/2011/07/21/the-ten-best-airport-bars-in-the-world/

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.

Spotters visiting the airports in Southern California (SoCal to the locals) now have a new web resource to help in their planning, which has been set up by Mark Ollier.

Mark moved to the area and has been inundated with requests for information from fellow enthusiasts, so has decided to set up this site to cover all of the information you’ll need when spotting at the various airports. To start with, he has covered Burbank,Van Nuys,Los Angeles and Long Beach but states “I will add more airports over the coming weeks.”

He adds: “On the site you will find spotting locations and daily movements for those airports. I will be adding SBS reports and a gallery. I have a forum which you need to sign up to access but on here I will keep everone updated with airport news, airline schedules, new build C-17′s and Gulfstream’s out of Long Beach, and the latest information on the storage areas of Mojave and Victorville.”

This site has fantastic potential as a lot of decent airports are situated close together and regularly make it onto the travel itineraries of spotters visiting the area.

The site can be found at http://www.socalspotters.net/

If you’re heading to Cleveland, Ohio, there are two main airports that are worth checking out. The first, naturally, is Cleveland Hopkins International – the main airport, and a major hub for Continental Airlines. It also has services by other major US airlines, plus FedEx and UPS. Air Canada also provide links across the border.

Spotting is best from the 100th Bomb Group Restaurant. Situated just to the north of runways 24L/R, it has a large car park. It is located off Brookpark Rd. Excellent views can be had of aircraft arriving on these runways, or use runway 10/28. Remember to buy something at the restaurant if you intend spending any time here.

The other Cleveland airport is Burke Lakefront Airport. This handles biz and general aviation movements. It is situated on Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland. You can spot from Voinovich Bicentennial Park close to the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame.

A great website for all things to do with aviation in Cleveland is OPShots. They have movements lists, photography tips, and information on places to spot and what the local security is like at the moment.

Jaunted have posted another great report of where to spot – this time a beach alongside Sydney’s Kingsford Smith airport is the perfect location for watching the action, as heavies literally roll by your beach towel!

Take a Dip at This Beach Down Under for the Best Plane Spotting || Jaunted

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Jaunted‘s latest Plane Spotting blog post comes from St. Lucia – one of the most scenic islands in the Caribbean.

One of the best places to watch the action at St. Lucia is from the St. Jude’s highway running into Vieux Fort and passing the western end of the runway.

Alternatively, at the eastern end of the runway the beach offers a breathtakingly close view of aircraft departing over your head. Of course, this is a great place the enjoy the sun, sea and sand whilst on the island!

Read the full blog post here.

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.

Fancy a trip away to pursue some spotting with like minded enthusiasts in 2010? Aeroprints, one of the longest established aviation spotting tour firms in the UK, have released their 2010 brochure, listing all of the tours you’re able to book on, along with details of which aircraft/flights involved in each trip, and the day-by-day opportunities for spotting.

I’ve personally used Aeroprints for a tour a few years ago and highly recommend them.

You can download the brochure here