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/

Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates is slowly becoming more of a jewel than Sharjah in terms of the older and rarer aircraft that can be found both operating and languishing there, particularly old Russian types, and dying breeds such as the Lockheed Tristar.

Whilst Sharjah reintroduces its airside access scheme, Fujairah has always maintained its anti-spotter stance. And even though the hill outside the terminal offers a fantastic view over the ramps and resident aircraft, it is usually not worth the police interrogation that most spotters fear, if not experience.

An alternative spotting location recently came to my attention which offers as good, if not better, opportunities to log what’s on the ground at Fujairah. This is a road which runs the entire length of the runway, and can be reached by turning right on the road just before the airport perimeter when arriving from the mountain road leading into Fujairah. Follow it past the end of the runway, and then along the length of the runway with a fence alongside offering views across.

There are litter bins and laybys which suggest this is regularly used as a viewing area, but as always discretion is encouraged as the road is lined with cameras on poles.

I just read an e-mail about Biggin Hill in which a security guard has indicated that soon access to the hangars area, where many of you spot aircraft at the airfield, will be restricted in the near future.

The gates which you must pass through will be only for those with the pass number, or with a swipe card.

Will this hinder spotting at Biggin Hill much? I’m not too familiar with the airfield. Where else can you spot from?

I recently flew to Cartagena in Colombia for a short trip away from Bogota. We flew on AeroRepublica EMB-190 and had a great experience – although the flight was a little bumpy going out, with the afternoon thunderstorms brewing around the coast.

Cartagena is a lovely old walled city, full of Caribbean charm, colourful buildings, endless vistas of the sea, sunsets, and great wining and dining experiences. But you’re here for the aircraft, so I’ll carry on.

The terminal at Cartagena Airport is very modern. And sadly it does not knowingly cater for the spotter at all. When arriving or departing, passengers funnel through a walkway which leads between the aircraft and the terminal. If you’re in the departure lounge, your view out of the window is of this walkway and its slatted wall. In order to see aircraft, you have to wait until they move, and with binoculars focussed on a gap, hope the registration passes by.

Nevertheless, once you walk to/from the aircraft, you do get a chance to see what’s on the smallish ramp. This usually includes MD-80s and F100s of Avianca, EMB-190s of AeroRepublica, 737-700s and DHC-8s of AIRES, and the odd US airline such as Spirit. Movements are fairly quiet – maybe 4 per hour at peak times.

Cartagena does play host to a number of biz jets each day, however. They park either to the side of the airliner ramp, or on the ramp on the opposite side of the runway. Also, there are a number of Air Force and Navy aircraft in residence, including Casa CN235s.

Around the terminal there are no obvious views of the aircraft, apart from on the road passing the end of the runway, where you’ll see aircraft just as they depart or land. I wouldn’t venture much around looking for holes in the fence, as there ‘s a strong military presence, and the housing area is quite poor around the airport.

AeroRepublica HK-4506 at Cartagena

AIRES 737-700s fly from Bogota

These two biz jets were in Cartagena in July 2009

Cartagena Airport from above

Quite an unusual one for most of us to visit, but if you’re in Croatia, a trip to Zagreb Airport may be quite rewarding with the amount of local traffic not seen elsewhere. It is also a military airport, so if that suits you then you’ll be in for a treat.

The airport’s civil terminal has some limited views inside, notably from the cafe upstairs. But this is not the perfect spot.

Outside the terminal, walk along the fence to the right for some more views of the apron, and also the many light aircraft parked up. You can also see some of the military ramp, but caution is advised for obvious reasons.

For a useful site for spotters in Croatia, including timetables to the main airports, visit this link.

The Paris Air Salon 2009 will be held from 15-21 June at Le Bourget airport. This year marks 100 years of technological innovation in aeronautics and space.

The website for this year’s event is www.paris-air-show.com with regularly updated details.

For the general public, the show is open with flying displays over the weekend of 19, 20 and 21 June. Get your tickets here.

Expect to see a full complement of the latest Boeing and Airbus products, as well as many military aircraft.

David Stevens wrote this report about a trip to Cuba in 2006. It is still up-to-date, and useful if you plan on visiting Havana and spotting whilst there:

Logged on arrival at Havana were those around the international terminal (Terminal 3) which included:
CU-T1259 IL62 (used as a cafeteria / bar)
CU-T1280 IL62 Cubana
EI-TAD A320 TACA / Cubana
HP-1526CMP 738W Copa Airlines
N762MX 757 Mexicana

With the immigration formalities completed, we headed off to the resort of Varadero for the next 10 nights. Upon leaving the airport at Havana I noted that a NEOS 767, Icelandair 757 and Air France 747 were also now
present.

Wednesday 24th May was to be the one aviation themed day of the trip.
Prior to leaving the UK I’d booked for us to undertake a short domestic flight with Cubana, from Havana to Nueva Gerona on the Isla De La Juventud (a.k.a Island of Youth) – which is located off of the southern coast
of Cuba. The flights costs circa £45 return and were scheduled to be operated by an Antonov 24.

Noted from Terminal 1 at Havana prior to departure were:
CU-C1515 IL18 Aerocaribbean (cargo)
CU-T1236 An24 Cubana
CU-T1243 YAK42 Cubana
CU-T1247 YAK42 Cubana
CU-T1250 IL96 Cubana
CU-T1251 IL96 Cubana
CU-T1257 An24 Aerocaribbean / Cubana
CU-T1541 E.110 Aero Taxi
CU-T1546 IL18 Aerocaribbean
CU-T1547 ATR72 Aerocaribbean
F-GKMY DC-10 Air Lib (stored)
F-GTLY DC-10 AOM (stored)
N285AS E.120 Gulfstream International
XA-TWR 732 Conviasa Venezuela

I didn’t use binoculars within the terminal but instead relied upon using my trusty digital camera. Even then I was careful not to take any shots whilst anyone in a uniform (that seems to be about every 3rd person in
Havana!) was about and kept my camera in the bag when it wasn’t in use.

Havana has a total of 5 terminals with these being used as follows:
Terminal 1 – domestic. Mainly Cubana, Aerocaribbean and Aero Taxi
Terminal 2 – predominantly for charters from the US
Terminal 3 – the main international terminal
Terminal 4 – another domestic terminal. Mainly used by Aerocaribbean
Terminal 5 – currently used for handling the large number of flights that are bringing in Venezuelan workers to Cuba.

From the departure lounge in Terminal 1, Terminals 4 and 5 are completely out of sight as are most aircraft at terminal 3 and the main Cubana maintenance area.

It was then aboard CU-T1257 for the 30 minute flight to Nueva Gerona. This aircraft is in basic Aerocaribbean livery (excluding titles) but operates on behalf of Cubana.

Upon arrival at Nueva Gerona ours was the only aircraft present. It should be noted that there is a heavy police presence at the airport with no views of the ramp available from either landside or indeed airside (I didn’t explore much outside as we were greeted on arrival by a passing thunderstorm).

Just over 4 hours later it was back aboard the same aircraft for the return to Havana. This time she shared the Nueva Gerona tarmac with a Cubana An24.
Back at Havana the airport was very quiet although a Click / Mexicana Fokker 100 and Lineas Aereas Suramericanas (Columbia) 727 were noted before we headed back to Varadero.

The only other spotting completed in Cuba was during a 3 hour stint at Havana prior to our departure back to the UK. Here is what was noted:

C6-BFP DHC-8 Bahamasair
C-GBHM A319 Air Canada
CU-T1243 YAK42 Cubana
CU-T1247 YAK42 Cubana
CU-T1280 IL62 Cubana
CU-T1283 IL62 Cubana
CU-T1538 YAK40 Aerocaribbean
CU-T1547 ATR72 Aerocaribbean
EI-TAC A320 TACA / Cubana
G-VROM 744 Virgin (our ride home)
HP-1523CMP 738W Copa Airlines
N408AT ATR42 American Eagle
N488TA A320 TACA
N762MX 757 Mexicana
PH-MCJ 763 Martinair
TF-FII 757 Loftleidir Icelandic
TF-FIT 757 Loftleidir Icelandic
XA-SHJ FK100 Click / Mexicana
XA-TCH FK100 Click / Mexicana
YV-136T MD80 Aeropostal

Anything parked at the international terminal is easily identified from within the departure lounge. As there were large numbers of people about I decided to leave the camera in the bag and instead used my mini-bins.
In fact, photography from the departure lounge would be difficult as you are always looking though several layers of glass.

Luckily we were sitting on the right hand side of G-VROM as we taxied out and this allowed me to identify a few of the aircraft in the maintenance area as well as a few of the other stored aircraft. Noted were:

CU-T1244 An24 Cubana
(CU-T1253) TU54 Cubana
CU-T1263 An24 Cubana (appears to be WFU)
CU-T1282 IL62 Cubana (appears to be WFU)
CU-T1512 ATR42 Aerocaribbean
CU-T1558 C-47 Aerotaxi (stored without props)
CU-T1559 C-47 Aerotaxi

The registration of the TU-154 is unconfirmed but has been quoted as this in several previous reports. The aircraft is in bare metal and in a very poor condition – the tail has been separated from the fuselage and the
front half of the cabin roof is “missing”.
There is also a stored Aerocaribbean IL18 reasonably close to the threshold of the main runway which has had the registration painted out and is missing all of its engines and the nose cone. According to Soviet Transport this aircraft could be CU-T1517 although I am still attempting to verify this.

Ringway Reports – the site that has dealt with spotting information and movements at Manchester Airport for a long time, has now closed. The duties of reporting movements etc. has now gone to their other site, run by The Aviation Society, according to Glenn Wheeler.

You can still visit the original site for access to the archives of movements at this link.

The TAS Manchester site now covers all the expected movements, daily movements and all of the original information it held about trips & excursions, Manchester Airport news, and spotting information. It’s a fantastic resource for the spotter needing info on Manchester Airport.

Canada’s principal gateway in the east and a very busy airport, Toronto Pearson is worth the visit if you need any of the Air Canada fleet. Most of the country’s other airlines also visit, as well as various regional types from the main US carriers across the border.

The airport can be quite complex to negotiate, and never has one perfect solution to the spotter given the differing runway directions – especially if photography is your thing.

The best bet intially is to drive the perimeter road which will give you a good idea of what aircraft are in, and where the best spots may be.

The best place to join this road is at ground level outside Terminal 1. Look out for Silver Dart Drive and follow it as it passes the various ramps and runways. It soon turns into Convair Drive, and then Courtneypark Drive E. Turn onto Dixie Road, Derry Road E, and then Airport Road to take you back to the terminals and complete the loop.

There are various vantage locations around this perimeter road, although sometimes the police may move you on. A courtesy call to the airport police has often been very much welcomed, with the spotters being encouraged to carry on at will.

The best spots seem to be on the mound to the west of the FedEx ramp, and in the midfield cargo terminal area.

I just came across a great website for the spotting community around New York City. It has guides and maps to all the main airports there, and many other interesting and useful bits of information.

The site is: www.nycaviation.com