Have not tried it myself, but a mate of mine requested his pass roughly 2 years ago from below mail adress. Include a copy of your passport’s photo page.

[email]xavier.huby@seine-saint-denis.pref.gouv.fr[/email]

Typing your mail in French will help. Try Google Translate if you have difficulties with French.

Waiting times vary a lot. Can be days, can be weeks.

edited to add an example letter which I tweaked from a German site:

Bonjour Monsieur Huby,

je m’apelle INSERT NAME et j’habite à INSERT CITY, L’Angleterre. Je suis «Planespotter» et je vais visiter Paris a quelques semaines. Je veux prendre avions en photo à Charlles-De-Gaulles.

Je sais, que j’ai besoin d’ une permission. Est-ce que tu me peux délivrer une permission comme ça?
Mon adresse est :

INSERT YOUR ADDRESS

Mon carte d’identité est joint à notes annexes.

Meilleures salutations,

INSERT SIGNATURE, NAME, CONTACT DETAILS etc

—-

Loosely translated you get:

Hello mr Huby,

I am INSERT NAME and I live in INSERT CITY, England. I am a «Planespotter» and will visit Paris in a few weeks. I would like to take aircraft photos at CDG.

I heard that a permit is required to do so. Could you please provide me with such a permit?

INSERT YOUR ADDRESS

You will find a copy of my identity card in the attachment.

Best regards,

INSERT SIGNATURE, NAME, CONTACT DETAILS etc

You can’t really compare the two though. Back then the B747 had many things in its favour that the A380 today does not have.

1) Back when the B747 was introduced a lot of airlines did not need to make a profit. State owned airlines everywhere, and in the USA de-regulation had not set in yet. A lot of airlines bought the B747 more for prestige then for viable economic gain. When de-regulation did start a lot of B747s ended up on the 2nd hand market.
2) When de-regulation set in, the desire for frequency over size led to a greater demand for small and medium jets at the expense of large jets. This is still the case.
3) If you wanted a very long haul jet, the B747 was the only thing in the market. The DC-10 and L1011 had not come out yet. The A300 had not come out yet either, and its first versions were local and regional anyway. Existing B707s and DC8s did have transatlantic range, but not much more then that. Contrast that with today where even a (lightly loaded) B737 or A318 can jump the Atlantic.
4) If you wanted a large jet the B747 was your only option. The A380 has to compete with the B747, B777, A330 and A340. That is not even counting a large amount of second hand widebodies that are readily and cheaply available.
5) When the A380 came out the economy was (and still is) in the crapper. Not so much for the B747.

Certainly a RAF A330. You can clearly identify the A330’s winglets as well as the darker grey lightning flash on the forward fuselage.

Plane has been found at the Tweede Maasvlakte, a reclamation project for the Rotterdam port. The fire brigade, ambulances and medevac chopper are on site.

All four occupants of the plane are badly injured. One of them has been removed from the plane, the other three are still believed to be in the plane.

http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/12234061/__Vliegtuigwrak_gevonden_voor_kust__.html

Best tip I can give you is to move away from the official spotter area. Instead move to the other side of the runway. All your photos are backlit and, if I can be very honest, it spoils the set.

The other side of the runway is pedestrian only, the IJweg. Don’t park your car here cause the police check it often. Also, one of the farmers that live on this road is a bitch and she will report anyone to the police.

If you are by car I would advise parking at the parallelweg at the Schipholweg. It’s a somewhat long walk, count on 30 minutes, but it’s worth it.

—

On the subject of battery grips, it really depends on personal taste. Some people love them, some don’t because they add weight. Generally speaking though when you got a heavy lense, for instance the canon 100-400L, then it might be usefull as it will balance out the camera a bit more. On lighter lenses, fior instance the kit lense, having a battery grip would probably be overkill.

Assuming you don’t shoot 10 photos of every plane, then with weather like this your battery should easily run a full day with room to spare. During cold days in winter you might need to use a second battery as batteries don’t like to be cold, but then who does?

Cool antonov! Even better then the one we had at EIN thursday and friday!

What’s the OEO? Is it just the identified for sharklets? If so, then I am willing to bet the point is still moot. If Airbus develops it, and that is a big if, then no airline or leasing company will order the A318OEO. It’s too big for the job. Apparantly the A319 has practically the same running costs but has several more seats to raise the revenue. And if the A319 is too big, cheaper Embraers can be found. Much cheaper Fokkers if you don’t mind going 2nd hand.