Answer from the site managers:

Hi all,

DM is working to fix this at this very moment. Hopefully will be sorted out real soon. In the meanwhile I find that the “Fit Screen” function works fine for viewing images.

Regards,

Edward

Is that even legal? The safety implications might be profound. Imagine an emergency landing and everyone needs to go off the slides. The slides are not nice and smooth as you’d perhaps expect. They will be painfull at best.

You should take a look at http://www.nycaviation.com. They got very detailed information on JFK and LGA. They got no information on EWR though.

JFK
Don’t bother unless you got a car. I tried spotting there without car and for photography it is a hard deal.

LGA
Great airport for spotting. There are two main spots that are easily accesbile with public transport/foot.

The first one is a few 100 metres of the US Airways / NWA terminal. Exit the terminal and walk to the left. Walk besides the road leading into the parking area, away from the terminal. On your left you will find a small park. You can easily find it as there is a memorial for soldiers missing in action, thus follow the US flag, the MIA flag and the flags for the various branches of the armed forces. You might not see them immediately due to the trees, but they are there.

Once there you got two options. Either walk up the pedestrian bridge and spot from there. This is a nice spot as the planes will pass by pretty much at eye height. I made my photos there with a 70-200 mm lense. That really is too small, although with agressive cropping you can get photos that are (barely) JP.net level. Ideally a 300-400 mm lense will do.

The second option, one I only found out about when back home, is to continue walking next to the waterfront. After a 20 minute walk you should be close to the point where the planes have to bank to make the turn. Apparantly 70-200 mm will sufice here, but as I said I did not try it myself.

Another spot nearby is Planeview Park. The M60 bus passes here from La Guardia. The smaller lenses will suffice here quite nicely. I used the 70-200 and some of the longer planes (757 is pretty much the max here) only barely fit.

EWR
This place has some nice views, but at all times keep a low profile!

Personally the best spot would be on top of parking area 4 but only when runway 11/29 is used. You got a view over 11/29, part of the C terminal (continental heavies) and the cargo area. When I was there I was sent off in under 15 minutes. I was not that bothered as no planes had flown in, but the second I stepped into the elevator back down a United Express ERJ came in. The view is quite cool as the plane came in close by and at eye level. Had I had 5 minutes more I would have had a great photo!

There are no windows in terminal C, though you should be able to see the planes from the monorail. Photography from the train is not allowed, so try to get a carriage of your own if you can.

There are large windows in terminal B, so views over the apron are good. The action on the runway could also easily be shot for 757 size planes using my 70-200. A 300mm will probably also include 737s and a 400mm should cover you entirely.

Terminal A also has large windows like terminal B. On top of that there are two small open-air terraces on either side. Views there are quite nice. On one side you got a view over a cul-de-sac for Air Canada and friends and Air Tran.

The other terrace has a view over one of the piers of A terminal (US Airways) and a pier of terminal B (KLM, NWA). In the distance oneo f the active runways and taxiways can be seen. Distance is about the same as inside, so 200mm should suffice for 757s taking off, and well enough for ERJs taxiing past.

Do not eat at the Italian restaurant (forgot if it was terminal A of B). It got me running with the food coming out the wrong way. It really was that bad.

For what it’s worth, next month Virgin Atlantic will do a testflight with one of their 747s flying to AMS using bio-fuel. Exactly what kind of bio-fuel this is going to be has not been announced. Virgin did say the bio-fuel would not pose a treat to the food or water supplies.

The flight will go to AMS empty, so not particularly environmentally friendly regardless. 😉 (willing to bet that the plane would have to to AMS anyway as KLM performs heavy maintenance for virgin, but that’s speculation on my part)

I’m still not sure I get it.

If, for the sake of argument, DHL takes 2 days to send a letter from Aus to the UK, how long would be a reasonable time for the postal system to do it?

4 days? 5?

Surely not twice that?

You get what you pay for. A DHL letter from NL to DE costs roughly 25 euros, a similar letter by mail at most 1,50 in stamps. No doubt for Australia the price difference will be likewise.

I do not work in the aviation biz, so take my word for whatever you want. But I do not think you should worry, and here’s why:

My name is rather unique in being insanely large (37 letters including spaces, excluding christian names). It is therefor routinely spelled differently in varying computer systems. In some systems the full name fits, in some the last letter does not fit, in some only a fraction of my name fits. And that is not even counting typo’s. At last count I had 43 versions of my name. 😀

If I go flying I will need my passport and frequent flyer pass. A ticket is booked with my credit card. Now here’s the interesting bit:

* My passport has the full name including christian names.
* My credit/debit card has initials only and half my last name.
* My Skyteam pass has no initials or first name, but around three quarters or my family name.

The above mix of names seems to bother no one. Only disadvantage is that the self-serve check-in boots never seem to recognise me, even when entering my Skyteam pass into the machine.

Now you will no doubt expect me to reveal my full name…. tough luck. This long name is ideal for preventing anyone from assuming my identity online! I could post my bank account number (which I won’t do either) and people could still not get any money since even the bank has difficulty keeping track of my name! :dev2:

You where braver then I was. I did not go spotting today even though it is the last weekend for the Kaagbaan spot. I like your Braathens shot, did not know there will still planes around in Braathens livery. Thought they had all been repainted into SAS already.