View allAll Photos Tagged PlaneWatching
I took these photos at Los Vegas McCarren International (LAS) in August 2021. It was God awful hot so heat haze was a factor. I took most of these photos from the LaQuinta Airport South hotel - good place to shoot when the landings and takeoffs are east to west. It was good to see air activity picking up too.
I flew into LAX at the end of March 2022 to attend WonderCon in Anaheim. I came down early to do some plane watching and aviation photography. Because of the insane price of rental cars and gas I opted to stay at the H Hotel, famous for their 12th floor terrace. Air traffic definitely has picked up since my last visit. A lot of heavies were active and international traffic seems back to normal. About the only negatives were very few special liveries and the same murky, gray, blah sky that always happens when I'm there. Oh well, maybe next time!
I took these photos at the end of March 2022 at LAX.
We had a layover at Sea-Tac and took advantage of a day lounge pass for the lounge in the North Terminal. Excellent choice. With our elite status we have access to lounges in many airports and this one was one of the best. Planes were landing and taking off from the South so landing had the planes turning off the runways before we could see them. I took these photos in mid-September 2022 at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
We had not planned on doing any plane watching while on Kauai. We were actually headed to a nearby lighthouse when we were realized we were driving very close to the active runway. Nice area so for the next two afternoons we packed a picnic and came here for a few hours. It's not a very busy airport and most of the traffic is Hawaiian Airlines and Southwest but the setting is awesome, right next to the Pacific Ocean.
We were in the Los Angeles area on a short trip in August 2021. My wife gave me a pass to go to Clutters Park for a few hours. Excellent plane watching - it was good to see so many international flights back at LAX. Photography wise, the heat haze was pretty intense and I wasn't paying close enough attention to my camera settings - what a bonehead. I guess I'll need to return to LAX for more practice!
We had not planned on doing any plane watching while on Kauai. We were actually headed to a nearby lighthouse when we were realized we were driving very close to the active runway. Nice area so for the next two afternoons we packed a picnic and came here for a few hours. It's not a very busy airport and most of the traffic is Hawaiian Airlines and Southwest but the setting is awesome, right next to the Pacific Ocean.
Some last minute photos from London Heather Terminal 5 while waiting to board our flight home. I need to find some good spots for Runway 9L landings for future reference.
The wife was in the mood to relax and then go shopping so she gave me a day pass. I spent it at the Myrtle Avenue field. What a great day for photography, LHR was very busy and the weather was great - nice way to spend several hours before darkness set in. I took these photos at the beginning of October 2022.
Some photos from the Premier Inn Terminal 4 before heading out to explore London. For some reason my photos from this hotel aren't as crisp as they used to be. Baffling. I took these photos at the end of September 2022.
We had a layover at Sea-Tac and took advantage of a day lounge pass for the lounge in the North Terminal. Excellent choice. With our elite status we have access to lounges in many airports and this one was one of the best. Planes were landing and taking off from the South so landing had the planes turning off the runways before we could see them. I took these photos in mid-September 2022 at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
Photos from my 2nd day at the 22-1 Red Flag Exercises held at Nellis AFB outside of Las Vegas. The morning was very slow but things picked up shortly after noon. A number of fighters took off, followed by 2 B-52s, 3 B-2s, and a number of support aircraft. A major wind event was coming into Las Vegas and I think that led to a lot of last minute Flex West departure cancellations. It also made things very dusty, gritty, and hazy. For recovery operations everyone made a beeline to the Cheyenne Avenue spots. Excellent day but it was freezing by the time the last B-2 landed shortly after sunset. I took these photos on 2/1/2022.
I flew into LAX at the end of March 2022 to attend WonderCon in Anaheim. I came down early to do some plane watching and aviation photography. Because of the insane price of rental cars and gas I opted to stay at the H Hotel, famous for their 12th floor terrace. Air traffic definitely has picked up since my last visit. A lot of heavies were active and international traffic seems back to normal. About the only negatives were very few special liveries and the same murky, gray, blah sky that always happens when I'm there. Oh well, maybe next time!
I took these photos at the end of March 2022 at LAX.
My wife and I visited Las Vegas to check out Red Flag 21-3, a big exercise for the USAF, Navy, and some foreign countries. It's a great experience watching so many warplanes coming and going. Las Vegas in August is HOT - as in over 100 degrees so we were sweltering. I still can't seem to get consistent tack sharp photos of the high speed takeoffs so I will keep practicing. Any advice is welcome.
I took these photos outside of Nellis AFB, Las Vegas, in early August 2021.
Every year the Warhawk Air Museum at Nampa Airport organizes the Warbird Roundup featuring aircraft from the WW II era and some other special visitors. This year's roundup was possibly the best ever - a great assortment of classic warbirds and a F-35A Lighting II from Hill AFB doing a demo flight. Picture perfect weather too.
Advice needed - I need to improve my propeller aircraft photography skill - I'm trying for crisp images and propeller blur but I'm not quite there yet. If you can help please send me a Flickrmail with your recommended settings. Thanks!
I took these photos at the end of August 2022 at the Nampa Airport, Nampa Idaho.
The wife and I went to San Diego to visit family in August 2021. One of our must do activities is to picnic on Dog Run Beach on Coronado Island. We find a spot almost at the end of the runway at NAS North Island and hope for the best. Air activity is always so unpredictable. On this day no fighters were up and about but we did see a cool mix of trainers, a C-130 dropping paratroopers, and some other rare types (for us) plus a few Navy ships. We had awesome skies and good food too. Definitely not a bad way to spend a few hours!
My wife and I spent some time at Nellis in November 2020 - great experience but our photos sucked big time. I think operator error on our settings. We decided to drive back down (10.5 hours) to Las Vegas in December 2020 to get some more photo practice (and for her to do some more shopping). Overall the photos turned out much better but still not where we want to be quality wise - especially when trying to photograph fighters taking off. Any advice? The landing shots look much better but we had better lighting and slower aircraft speeds.
We caught the tail end of one of the weapon school courses so it was a hopping place - we didn't mind that at all!
The wife was in the mood to relax and then go shopping so she gave me a day pass. I spent it at the Myrtle Avenue field. What a great day for photography, LHR was very busy and the weather was great - nice way to spend several hours before darkness set in. I took these photos at the beginning of October 2022.
I had planned to go to Nellis on this day for Red Flag 22-1 but the winds were extreme - 40-50 mph so I guessed not too much would be happening. Very dusty and stuff was blowing everywhere. I stayed near LAS but it was pretty boring. Good day to catch up on reading and photo editing. I took these photos in early February 2022.
We flew into London from Istanbul on a gorgeous morning in mid-April 2020. I hoped to do some aviation photography and take multiple trips during our 10 days in London but the gods had different ideas. My wife and I both had nasty head colds from Istanbul (we tested negative for COVID). We landed on 27L and I was excited but by the time we cleared Passport Control, collected our bags and headed to the hotel, I noticed planes were taking off on 9R. Believe it or not, easterly operations lasted all 10 days we were there. We barely left the hotel in the first few days. Not a very good start to a long awaited trip.
See some Buzz aircraft in my video here www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tac5bEdtQk includes Alaska Airlines 737-Max-9
After spending (wasting) two days at Nellis I headed back to my hotel near LAS. Beautiful weather so I found a spot in a small strip mall near the LaQuinta and just relaxed. I was fortunate to capture some special liveries and new planes (to me). I took these photos at the end of November 2022.
After spending (wasting) two days at Nellis I headed back to my hotel near LAS. Beautiful weather so I found a spot in a small strip mall near the LaQuinta and just relaxed. I was fortunate to capture some special liveries and new planes (to me). I took these photos at the end of November 2022.
A rare and unusual visitor to London Stansted - seen in 2013 - this 224th Flight Unit of Russia Ilyushin IL76 with the classic old engines.
See the video www.youtube.com/watch?v=obp17aiIL58
We love heading to Nellis Air Force Base 1-2 times a year to catch the Red Flag Exercise. There is usually a really good mix of US and international forces. This year there were RAF Typhoons and a tanker. I understand the Australians headed for it but didn't make it by the time we were there. We lucked out in that many of the takeoffs involved Flex West departures which put the fighters banking right over the Speedway. We had really good weather (except for the wind) and really enjoyed this trip. We were there for 2.5 days in late January 2023.
I took advantage of some very cheap airfares and flew into Fort Lauderdale for a few days. Since planes were landing at MIA from the West I headed to MIA - good choice. Great weather, a very nice mix of aircraft, except for the steady stream of American Airlines jets.
I took these photos in early February 2025. What a nice mid-winter break!
Photos from my 2nd day at the 22-1 Red Flag Exercises held at Nellis AFB outside of Las Vegas. The morning was very slow but things picked up shortly after noon. A number of fighters took off, followed by 2 B-52s, 3 B-2s, and a number of support aircraft. A major wind event was coming into Las Vegas and I think that led to a lot of last minute Flex West departure cancellations. It also made things very dusty, gritty, and hazy. For recovery operations everyone made a beeline to the Cheyenne Avenue spots. Excellent day but it was freezing by the time the last B-2 landed shortly after sunset. I took these photos on 2/1/2022.
Another day spent inside the Premier Inn T4 at Heathrow Airport caring for a sick wife. Decent plane watching but still dealing with easterly operations and shooting through double pane/glazed windows. It was still nice to see a wide variety of heavies and special liveries. I took these photos at the end of April 2022.
Seen at Farnborough International Air Show 2018 is this brand new Airbus A350-1000XWB. The aircraft in the Airbus Industrie Carbon Livery
Check out the video of this aircraft performing acrobatic display
Some last minute photos from London Heather Terminal 5 while waiting to board our flight home. I need to find some good spots for Runway 9L landings for future reference.
Every year the Warhawk Air Museum at Nampa Airport organizes the Warbird Roundup featuring aircraft from the WW II era and some other special visitors. This year's roundup was possibly the best ever - a great assortment of classic warbirds and a F-35A Lighting II from Hill AFB doing a demo flight. Picture perfect weather too.
Advice needed - I need to improve my propeller aircraft photography skill - I'm trying for crisp images and propeller blur but I'm not quite there yet. If you can help please send me a Flickrmail with your recommended settings. Thanks!
I took these photos at the end of August 2022 at the Nampa Airport, Nampa Idaho.
Titan Airways has recently painted it's 767-300, G-POWD into the new livery.
See this aircraft in my 4K Ultra HD Video here youtu.be/YnzkYMj694s
Somon Air Tajikistan Boeing 737-900 P4-SOM operating on behalf of Atlas Jet Turkey. Seen departing London Stansted Airport 18 May 2018 (strong light, slightly off focus)
Please check out my high quality 4K aviation videos at www.youtube,com/user/bananamanuk
Whenever I visit LAX I expect murky, smoggy. blah skies, which is what I get most of the time. This Monday was completely different - it was absolutely gorgeous. Crystal clear skies, nice breeze, very pleasant temperatures - wow. Also, international traffic has really picked up and more traffic was on the south runways as 24L is closed for a few months. This was probably my best day at LAX ever!
My wife and I spent some time at Nellis in November 2020 - great experience but our photos sucked big time. I think operator error on our settings. We decided to drive back down (10.5 hours) to Las Vegas in December 2020 to get some more practice. Overall the photos turned out much better but still not where we want to be quality wise - especially when trying to photography fighters taking off. Any advice? The landing shots look much better but we had better lighting and slower aircraft speeds.
We caught the tail end of one of the weapon school courses so it was a hopping place - we didn't mind that at all!
My wife took these photos - she denies it but she is an awesome photographer when she decides to pick up a camera.
These photos are from the 2nd day we spent outside Naval Air Facility El Centro in southern CA. Great day to be outside and in the sun. We were able to see some USMC F-18s taking off and landing as well as an RAF C-17.
However, the highlight of the day was watching the Blue Angels practice - we never get tired of these - and Heather got a bunch of great photos.
Since we were in Las Vegas, the wife suggested we go to Nellis Air Force Base to see if anything interested was going on. This was our first time in this area so we weren't sure where to go. We found a nice spot by the Speedway. The air traffic was great - we probably saw about 70 different aircraft takeoff and land - F-15s, F-16s. F-22s, F-35s, a KC-135, some Drakens, and a few US Navy Hawkeyes.
It was a great experience but neither of us got any excellent photos. I'm not sure if we were using the wrong camera settings, or if it was the distance and speed of the planes, if the heat haze was a factor, but most of our shots were grainy, blurry, and just not tack sharp. What a bummer, but we decided to come back in the near future.
I took these photos in mid-November 2020.
Some last minute photos from London Heather Terminal 5 while waiting to board our flight home. I need to find some good spots for Runway 9L landings for future reference.
Yet another day of easterly operations at LHR. I was pretty much stuck in the Premier Inn T4 with a sick wife. About all I could see was heavies taking off and other planes taxiing for takeoff. Still, it's Heathrow so it was definitely worth it! I took these photos in mid-April 2022.
These photos are from our second day the Red Flag 23-1 at Nellis Air Force Base in last January 2023. The day started off good with a bunch of Flex West departures. For some reason which we can't figure out, all the departures switched to straight out departures - pretty boring and not good for photography. Later in the afternoon we headed to Cheyenne Avenue for the recovery operations - and we weren't disappointed but it seems like the heavies landed on 21L instead. Oh well!
My wife and I stopped over in London for a few days on the way to Bavaria in October 2022. After we checked in to the Premier Inn I headed to the Myrtle Avenue Field for a few hours. Gorgeous day and a great way to try to overcome jet lag!
Whenever we visit family in San Diego we try to spend some time at the dog park on the beach near NAS North Island. Great area to relax. Plane watching at the airfield is hit and miss - and that last few trips have been misses. We were there a few hours on a lovely afternoon in early March 2023 and things were pretty dead. Oh well, better luck next time.
I stopped at the Hibiscus parking garage at FLL to spend a few hours plane watching. Beautiful day outside and air traffic is picking up finally. Unfortunately I didn't pay enough attention to my camera settings and some of the photos are not tack sharp - I hate that. FLL is very spotter friendly and I see a return trip in my future!
I took these photos in mid-December 2021.