The Planespotters: Meet the Geeks Who Stalk America's Airports

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The picnic area at Imperial Hill rises above the south side of Los Angeles International Airport. A few passersby sip coffee from a doughnut shop a block away, but the majority of the people here—about eight of them—are leaning on a rail, aiming cameras at a pair of active runways 200 yards distant. As a windowless 747 lumbers into the air, someone calls: "There's a KLM cargo." Shutters click. Two minutes later, the process repeats with another plane and a new identification.

For the past couple of years, Billy Yeung has been coming here two or three days a week. A software architect in his early 30s, he usually spends a few hours methodically scanning and shooting. I ask him what equipment he uses, and he's about to answer when he swivels: There's something interesting on the tarmac. From cabin door to tail, the plane looks like an ordinary passenger jet. But its nose juts sharply forward, conveying less Boeing or Airbus than great blue heron.

"That's Voodoo One," Yeung says. He shoots, talks, then shoots again. Raytheon, the defense contractor, has offices next to the airport. The modified Boeing 727 has sensors hidden in the elongated forward cone; it is the company's private test unit.

I think the plane is cool-looking, but Yeung is blasé. He's shot the aircraft before. What he's really after is a Qatar Airways A340 that arrived a few days ago and has been tucked behind a hangar at the airport ever since. The presence of the craft is peculiar. The Middle Eastern flag carrier has announced first-time service to the United States, but only to New York City, and flights aren't due to start for another two months. That makes seeing the airliner a prize, for both the small crowd here at Imperial Hill and for the global community of like-minded enthusiasts who call themselves planespotters.

Wherever there's a picnic area, parking lot or berm with a clear view of an airstrip, chances are someone's standing there with a camera pointed in its direction. As long as local police accept them as quirky hobbyists, not potential terrorists, planespotters are free to haunt aviation centers, from tiny outposts in Alaska to the huge British hub in Manchester. Los Angeles's LAX, the world's fifth busiest passenger airport, is a hot locale. About 100 observers frequent it, as well as airports in Long Beach, Burbank, Orange County and Ontario, Calif.

Though the origins of planespotting are murky, most people agree that it began with Britain's Royal Observer Corps, which trained civilians to identify and report aircraft during World War II. Like trainspotters, who avidly track the movements of train engines and other rolling stock, planespotters these days collect and trade observations with thousands of their peers. They also share the traits of an even larger and arguably more zealous community: bird-watchers. My father is a "Big Lister" in the vernacular of birders, meaning he's seen more than 7000 of the world's 9500 or so avian species. Over his lifetime he's meticulously recorded every one, crossing the globe in the pursuit of rare finds. When I met my first planespotter, I felt an immediate flash of recognition.

Maybe it's in my genes, but I've got a bit of the spotting bug myself. My job puts me on the road six months a year, and finding a way to pass the time in departure lounges and cramped cabins can be a challenge. I've watched planes take off from the observation deck at Tokyo's Haneda and peeked at military jets aligned on a far runway in Caracas, Venezuela. On one trip to Mexico, I reached into the seat-back pocket of a freshly painted Aero California plane and pulled out an airsickness bag with a Continental Airlines logo. I asked the flight attendant about it. She shrugged. Maybe it was a mix-up in provisioning. Though I didn't realize it at the time, I had encountered the kind of mystery planespotters love.

20. RE: The Planespotters: Meet the Geeks Who Stalk America's Airports
Website: http://www.eDIGImag.com
And of course, not only in the USA and Europe. Africa is a popular destination for the dedicated plane spotter, if they can tear themselves away from their home patches. I get contacted by traveling plane-spotters inbound to Johannesburg's OR TAMBO International airport for the best spots to shoot from, and sometimes booked as a driver for a group of image takers. Some images from these intrepid photographers have appeared in eDIGImag's aviation photographers journal, le Cirque Volant (The Flying Circus)

19. RE: The Planespotters: Meet the Geeks Who Stalk America's Airports
I did not know there were others like me!!! Since as a child my dad took me to RDU to watch planes land and take off, I have always been fascinated by them. He was a WWII flight engineer on a B 24. The Boeing 727, "Whisper Jet" was the thing back in those days at RDU, if I remember correctly.

18. RE: The Planespotters: Meet the Geeks Who Stalk America's Airports
Nice article - we need more articles like this to make people more aware of our hobby and what we do. It's a shame so many airports are anti-spotting.

17. RE: The Planespotters: Meet the Geeks Who Stalk America's Airports
US airport security agencies: Please read this article and disseminate to your employees! Far from being a security threat, we enhance security by being an extra set of eyes!

16. RE: The Planespotters: Meet the Geeks Who Stalk America's Airports
Nice article, pity you refer to us as geeks !! The correct wording is Aviantologists ! Do you refer to people who watch Basketball and American football as GEEKS, they are after all in Pursuit of there Interest/Hobby ? That aside as I said a Nice article !!

15. RE: The Planespotters: Meet the Geeks Who Stalk America's Airports
Website: www.norfolkgetaway.co.uk
A much different - better - type of article than usually appears in the UK, spoiled only by the use of the word 'Geeks' in the headline - hell, whilst we're out spotting, we could have been doing something else instead, like bomb-making, or child-molesting or adultery; would those 'hobbies' have been more preferable?

14. RE: The Planespotters: Meet the Geeks Who Stalk America's Airports
Website: http://www.airportwatchcanada.com
Here is an program we have created in Canada. It's not perfect in that YYZ is still not as friendly as Manchester, but we're working on it. We've had some good progress over the past four years and hope to one day parallel Manchester with respect to a viewing area.

13. RE: The Planespotters: Meet the Geeks Who Stalk America's Airports
as a former USAF aircrew member, I have become a Plane Spotter. What i used to look at as dots on a screen i love to see first hand.. i am more of a military plane spotter though... nice article...

12. RE: The Planespotters: Meet the Geeks Who Stalk America's Airports
Website: www.pbase.com/zortek
I have been a plane spotter since the mid-50's. It was so much easier then as I could walk into an airport office and get permission to mingle with the planes and pilots. I also would like to see airport security recognoze us as what we are - a valuable security resource, not nuisances. And by the way, I am an aviation security inspector with a government agency and I still "spot".

11. RE: The Planespotters: Meet the Geeks Who Stalk America's Airports
MD-80 Hey - some of us still call Boeing 717/MD-80 types as DC9's!!!!

10. RE: The Planespotters: Meet the Geeks Who Stalk America's Airports
The biggest differentiation is between civil aviation and military aviation spotters.

9. RE: The Planespotters: Meet the Geeks Who Stalk America's Airports
Website: http://www.airplanephotozone.com/search.php?Userid=436&sort=views&order=desc
I fly to different countries and the first thing i do after checking in to the hotel is go right back to the airport to spot.Thank you for this article.

8. RE: The Planespotters: Meet the Geeks Who Stalk America's Airports
Qatar has been flying to EWR since last June, and IAD since last July.

7. RE: The Planespotters: Meet the Geeks Who Stalk America's Airports
Website: http://www.jetphotos.net/showphotos.php?userid=7176
I too have been "spotting" at airports since the 1960's and unfortunately, many law enforcement agencies look upon us as criminals. Rather than work against us, we could provide an added security level and actually help with enforcement. There are certain airports in the world that are actually recognizing us as an asset, rather than a problem. More airports should take this attitude and actually promote our activity as airports like Manchester UK and Las Vegas do.

6. RE: The Planespotters: Meet the Geeks Who Stalk America's Airports
Website: http://josephpries.com
Great article about what we do. Thanks for publishing it! JP

5. RE: The Planespotters: Meet the Geeks Who Stalk America's Airports
Website: airlinehobby.com
I've been plane spotter since 1960 and now have a huge collection of more than 240,000 airliner slides going back to 1941. Selling these old Kodachromes now I supplement my retirement to the tune of around $40,000.00 a year. Some slides that cost me a few cents have sold for more than $500.00. I remember the good old days when LAX had small observation decks between all the terminals with waist high fences keeping you from the ramp. In many airports you could walk freely down the concourses and even get a gate agent to give you a walkaround of an airliner.

4. RE: The Planespotters: Meet the Geeks Who Stalk America's Airports
I didn't realize that I was a plane spotter until I read this article. I live between NAS Jax, Cecil Field and Camp Blanding. I'm always looking up to see who's a local aircraft, or who's in town for the week.

3. The Planespotters: Meet the Geeks Who Stalk America's Airports
Website: http://www.jetphotos.net/showphotos.php?userid=170
Thank you so very much for taking the time to put our hobby under proper light. None of us mean any harm, all we ask is to be left alone.

2. MD-80
Just one little thing about the printable planespotting guide. Yes, McDonell-Douglass merged with Boeing, and many airlines now call the MD-80 a "Boeing," but I think to most planespotters it will always be the McDonell-Douglas MD-80.

1. The Planespotters: Meet the Geeks Who Stalk America's Airports
Website: http://www.jetphotos.net/showphotos.php?userid=30826
Great Article Dan, appreciate your insight into our world. Regards - Vishal Jolapara

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