Spotting in England

If you’re driving up to Manchester and you’re looking for airliners then Birmingham, Coventry and East Midlands are only a couple of miles off your route and well worth a quick visit. If you want military or light aircraft as well, even more fields could be added easily.

Hi Erik,

Having visited all these airports, I’d recommend Heathrow, Gatwick, and Manchester – There aren’t many airlines you will miss out on that way!

Stansted is very interesting in the early morning and late evening, but other than that you won’t see much other than Ryanair and Easyjet. I’d also recommend considering Glasgow, mainly because spotting there is so easy and there are some quite nice backgrounds to be had!

I have spotting guides for all of these airports online:

Glasgow: http://andrew-butcher.fotopic.net/p55418389.html
Gatwick: http://andrew-butcher.fotopic.net/p50238082.html
London City: http://andrew-butcher.fotopic.net/p50238081.html
Manchester: http://andrew-butcher.fotopic.net/p50238079.html
Heathrow: http://andrew-butcher.fotopic.net/p50211479.html
Luton: http://andrew-butcher.fotopic.net/p50209789.html
Stansted: http://andrew-butcher.fotopic.net/p50208780.html

Let me know if I can help any more

Andrew

Hi guys,

I have a short question for you. Is it allowed to use a scanner in the UK?

I’m pretty sure this was discussed recently and according to the Law, using a scanner is illegal. However I’ve yet to hear or experience anyone being questioned or arrested for using one, so you’ll be fine but to be sure, hide it inside your coat etc.. 🙂

Hi guys,

I have a short question for you. Is it allowed to use a scanner in the UK?

Thanks for the info everybody! Much appreciated.

Info on LGW and LCY to come.

I’m going there as a photographer. Looking forward for the further info.

Grtz, Erik

www.ringwayreports.co.uk

This has a link to the best spots around MAN.
Welcome aboard.

http://www.ringwayreports.co.uk/

Why make it hard?:confused::D

www.ringwayreports.co.uk

This has a link to the best spots around MAN.
Welcome aboard.

Hi there Erik.

May I ask are you a photographer or just a spotter? What I’ve written below is really the instructions for someone with a camera.

Luton is my home airport, and I would suggest it is well worth a visit. Traffic is mostly EasyJet and RyanAir but there are a lot of British and European carriers that have several flights per day (including your own Transavia now). The best thing about luton though is the number of bizjets. On an average day you can expect to see 4 or 5 an hour.
http://www.spotterswiki.com/index.php?title=London_Luton_Airport_%28LTN/EGGW%29
The best spot at Luton is probably the one titled “Crash gate”. It has free parking and gets you very close to the runway. If you don’t have a step ladder you will be shooting through a fence.

Heathrow is also very good because of the constant flow of traffic there. Including Singapore A380, Kingfisher A330, Air France 777 and of course loads of BA.
http://www.spotterswiki.com/index.php?title=London_Heathrow_Airport_%28LHR/EGLL%29
Best spot here is “Myrtle Avenue”, from here you can catch 27L arrivalls but not departures. If you want to catch departures (SIA A380 deps at 11:30 daily) i would suggest the “27L climbouts” spot. Both spots are dependant on 27L being in use, so only one can be good enough to use at one time, not both.

Info on LGW and LCY to come.

Yes, he’s going to be using a rental car – he asked this on my forum, but my answer obviously wasn’t good enough…

Don’t get me wrong, but there was nothing wrong with your answer. But it is always nice to get input from other people too.

But to get things clear. Yes, I’m going to rent a car there.

Yes, he’s going to be using a rental car – he asked this on my forum, but my answer obviously wasn’t good enough…

There’s nothing whatsoever wrong with asking here as well, Sam, as this place has several thousand times the members your forum has. Not to mention the fact that other people may suggest things very different to you. I’m sure your previous suggestions were appreciated, but you have yet to learn not everyone thinks like you.

Hello and welcome, Nuckleuz! Don’t worry… We’re not all as short tempered as Northern_Git. 😉

Paul

Yes, he’s going to be using a rental car – he asked this on my forum, but my answer obviously wasn’t good enough…

Good evening!

I’m new to this forum and I shall first introduce myself to you! My name is Erik and I’m a spotter from the Netherlands. Mostly I’m active at Schiphol but nowadays you also see me a lot at Eindhoven Airport. This because of the military activity at Eindhoven.

For the coming summer I’m planning a trip to England. I would like to visit the following airports: Stansted, Gatwick, Luton, Heathrow, City Airport and last but not least Manchester. I know that this seems a lot, but it is my vacation after all.

I’m hoping that you guys will share some tips of spotting at the various fields. And which spots at the airports are really worth visiting and which aren’t?

Hoping to hear from you!

Grtz, Erik

Goede avond!

Welcome to the board. Could you please let us know how you intend to go there? Will you have a car, or are you dependant on public transport?

All above mentioned airports are very good, except for Stansted. At Stansted spotting is very hard.