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.

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

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.

If you plan on visiting Phoneix, or any of the nearby storage airports, then I can’t reccommend this link enough:

www.visitingphx.com

It is run by spotters at Phoneix and covers all the comings and goings, news, and latest photos.

What is also invaluable is the lists of aircraft currently stored at places like Goodyear, Chandler etc – often updated daily, so you’ll know how accurate it is when you plan on visiting.

For those of you in the North East of England, or planning on visiting the area, there’s an excellent website for Durham Tees Valley (formerly Teesside) Airport, run by Dave Anderson.

It lists all planned movements and automatically updates them in real time with registrations, types, and other information. It’s a unique tool for the local spotters and perfect if you’re planning a trip.

The site also has a lot of trip reports, photographs and other information on there.

Take a look at www.dtvmovements.co.uk