Following the petition held recently by aircraft enthusiasts in the Newcastle area to have a viewing area built, it seems the airport has finally given in and announced plans to build an area for viewing.

The airport recently bought the original 1930s terminal building and its owner Samsons Aviation on the south side of the airport. As well as developing GA and business flights, it will also add a visitors centre with a viewing area in the historic building.

This is great news for the area’s spotters, who have been deprived since the official viewing terrace at the terminal closed i 2003.

If you’re visiting Menorca, one of the popular Spanish Balearic islands and wanting a low down on where you can spot aircraft using the airport, read on.

The terminal itself is pretty useless for spotting, although once you’re airside you can see most aircraft and the runway.

Outside the terminal, head to the roundabout with a pyramid on and turn left towards San Climente . Then turn right after 300m down a track signposted restaurant. This spot faces the threshold of runway 19L and is ideal when approaches are from the north.

When approaches are from the south, a road runs past the threshold on its way to Binisfuller. This road joins the main San Climente to Es Canutels road. Various places to watch and photograph aircraft can be found along here.

Movements at Mahon are generally busier in summer, and consist mainly of charter airlines from the UK, German, Scandinavia and Italy, along with regional Spanish airlines. Sunday are usually the busiest day.

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.

Liverpool Airport is quite busy these days, with based easyJet and Ryanair aircraft, plus a number of charter and cargo airlines passing through each day.

A recent visit allowed me time to check the place out for spotting locations. I found the following:

Inside the Terminal. Upstairs in the arrivals section, there is a food court. This has windows overlooking most of the main apron where airliners park.

Outside the Terminal. Turn right into the car park. From here you can see a couple of gates not visible from inside.

GA Car Park. Walk or drive along perimeter road to the right after leaving the terminal. You will come to the General Aviation car park, from where you can log aircraft parked there.

Speke Business Park. At the old airport site to the north west of the current terminal, there is now a business park. The old terminal is now a Marriott hotel. Outside it there are two aircraft:

G-JMAC Jetstream 41
G-ANCF Bristol Britannia

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.

Those of you venturing to the US East Coast’s version of Vegas may be interested to know of a few opportunities to spot the action at Atlantic City’s airport.

As you’d expect with a leisure venue, the list of carriers mainly includes low-cost and charter airlines, as well as a healthy selection of smaller airliners from private airlines.

The best location to watch the action is on the top floor of the new car park opposite the terminal. From here you can see across the entire airfield, and even to the military base on the far side.

Stored airliners at Atlantic City include an ex-Delta L1011, ex-united Boeing 747SP, and ex-Air Canada Boeing 737. These can also be seen from the parking garage.

There are two ‘official’ locations at Baltimore Washington Airport it seems.

From a recent report, the best one is that inside the terminal. This overlooks most action, though some will be missed on Runway 15L. There is also a preserved nose section from Boeing 737 c/n 19307 here.

The other location is to the south of the airport, under the approach to Runway 33L. Aircraft approaching Runway 33R can also be noted. You can reach this spot from Dorsey Road. It is not ideal as registrations are hard to see and photography is even harder. You are also have very limited views of any aircraft on the ground or departing.

Credit to Darren Kellett for the report.

A recent report from spotters visiting Washington Reagan National Airport states that Gravelly Point Park, just off George Washington Memorial Parkway, is an excellent spot.

This is particularly the case if aircraft are landing from the north, as they will pass very close to you.

If aircraft are landing from the south, you can still read off most movements from this location, although photography may be unfruitful.

This also seems to be a location that is tolerated by the local authorities, as the report states the spotters had no problems being there.

Earlier this week I was in Madrid on business, flying with Jet2 through Terminal 1. Since Terminal 4 is now the focus of this huge airport, I thought I’d update you on the spotting situation in the older terminal – especially since most low cost airlines seem to serve it.

Once airside, most gate areas have a window looking in either direction along the terminal, and most have views across to the cargo ramp and runways.

An eating area between the A and B gates is fronted by large windows looking over the long-haul part of the terminal.

Further to the south, the extended part of the terminal is much more modern. It handles long haul flights by airlines such as Air Europa, Air Comet, TAM, Santa Barbara Airlines and Aeromexico. This long part of the building has views at each gate across the cargo and sometime storage area, though larger aircraft often obstruct the view.

Andy ‘Smudger’ Smith has recently posted an insightful guide into some of southern France’s main airports and airfields from a spotting point of view. Here are some of the highlights:

Nimes:
Has some stored airliners present. All were spotted from the car park.
F-GNEM DC-10
TR-LTZ DC-8

Montpellier:
Turn right at the roundabout outside the terminal and follow the road to the end. This gives a view of the GA ramp. Alternatively, whilst driving away from the terminal, just after the fuel station there’s a track to the right between hangars and a fenced-off area. This gives a view over the ramp. Stored at the airport is

F-BTTE Mercure