Its good… Top floor of the multi-storey car park next to the terminal (parking lot in American!) is fine for viewing and photos. Call the airport cops before you go up there let them know what you’re doing and you’ll be fine. Afternoons best for long hauls. Alternatively, do try Washington National which is much closer to downtown and which is great for photos if you set yourself up in the park at the end of the runway, which is known as Gravely Point.

Andy

In general, it depends whether you want to spot, or photograph. At EWR or in its immediate vacinity, you will likely get major grief if you’re seen with a camera. I’m not sure how easy EWR is for just spotting, as I have no interest in spotting myself. At JFK, it is possible to spot discretely by riding the airtrain around the terminals, but its no good for photography. For photography at JFK, there are a few places in the terminals but you’re likely to get questioned there too. For photography you need a car so you can get out to places like Howard Beach (don’t think the air train takes you to the right place). Having said all of that, LGA tends to be fairly friendly – there’s some big windows in one of the terminals and as long as you call the airport police when you arrive to tell them what you’re doing, they let you alone. Likewise, a walk from the terminals alongside Grand Central Parkway either to Plane View Park or the other way for Expressway Visual arrivals will yield some fairly nice pics with little hassle likely.

As suggested above, take a look at nycaviation.com for more detailed information.

Andy

Nothing to worry about I’m sure – inbounds to LCY are controlled by Thames Radar and if the Baron was fairly close the airport that would be subject to control by Thames Radar too.

Andy

For carrying about, the Air Britain AFQR is nice and compact and covers all of the world, whereas EuroJP and Airlines to Europe only cover their respective areas – Airlines to Europe is also published earlier in the year and is thus now more out of date than the others. On the basis of it being small and light, AFQR is my preferred choice as a quick reference book to travel with. However, as I travel with a laptop for much of the time, I actually acquire the full JP Airline Fleets on CD most years, and use that too.

Andy

Its been around for a while now, and is known as “Salmon-Three-Salmon” 😉 The artwork was paid for by the Alaskan Salmon industry to promote their activities.

Andy

It’s ridiculous! The airline with the “brand” British Airways might prefer to buy an American plane with American engines instead of a partly British plane with British engines.

Rob, this really is a counter-productive argument. But you said it was rediculous, the implication CLEARLY being that you thought it was rediculous for BA to buy Boeing [747s] when it could buy Airbus [A380s]. As I said, if the playing field were TOTALLY level it might be faintly rediculous for BA to go to the US for its aircraft, but the playing field will never will be totally level. BA need to protect their own interests more than they do British manufacturing [of large airliners] – in fact, I suspect that BA employs more people in the UK than does Airbus right now, and that alone suggests they should do what’s best for BA and not what’s best for British airliner manufacturing. Xenophobia suggests putting nationalistic interests above all others – I don’t think that there’s much more to say.

Andy

The climb performance (in isolation) of the A340-300 is irrelevent, as is the patriotic argument over buying 747-800s versus A380s. Airlines that have bought A340-300s will have evaluated overall performance – climb, cruise, decent, acquisition costs, maintenance costs, crew costs, etc., etc., etc – against the overall required mission required of it and decided it meets their needs better than the alternative, just as BA will decide on the 747-800 versus the A380 (or neither) on the same basis in the fullness of time.

In recent years, BA have demonstrated an avertion to being an early adopter. Given that they have sat on the fence regarding the A380, waiting to see seems like a sensible approach right now. But likewise, jumping onto the 747-800 bandwagon now could be a mistake for BA too, given that Boeing have dismally failed to sell any passenger versions to date.

My feeling on the long-haul high-capacity market right now is that there are a number of airlines waiting to see what happens when the A380 enters service. No one is moving at present, either towards Airbus or Boeing – order books with neither are growing, so the airlines can play a waiting game. I think we will see a significant number of orders in some 12 months to 18 months from now – i.e. between mid-2007 and the end of 2007. If the A380 goes into service with early adopters relatively smoothly and delivers on its performance guarantees, I think the majority of airlines sitting on the fence will start to talk more about acquisition of the big Airbus. If however there are snags that seem to be taking time to sort out, I think a number of airlines will start talking more seriously to Boeing.

So right now, its down to Airbus to prove its aircraft. Boeing would I think be getting rather jittery now, were it not for the fact that it is cushioned to some extent by orders for the new freighter version of the 747. Time will tell… As I say, I think the big action now will come in the middle of next year.

Andy