Bigo747 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Posted (10 years 9 months 1 week 3 days 2 hours ago) and read 1903 times:
Does your Airport have an Observation Deck for the public to watch aircraft ..... Is it good enough for spotting and photographing aircraft ? What and How much can you see of the airport and do you use it for spotting ?
Tbonecapalbo From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 1, posted (10 years 9 months 1 week 3 days 2 hours ago) and read 1827 times:
TPA doesn't have an observation deck per se, however the parking garages give excellent views of the entire airport, all the terminals, and all the runways. Plus, TPA officials are typically very spotter friendly as many people are always on the garages watching planes.
MSP still has an observation deck on top of Concourse D. It isn't high enough to view all of the terminals, but it Affords a decent view of 12L/30R.
Je89_w From United States of America, joined Mar 2002, 2327 posts, RR: 10 Reply 2, posted (10 years 9 months 1 week 2 days 22 hours ago) and read 1795 times:
AIRLINERS.NET CREW PHOTO SCREENER
Honolulu USED to have an excellent place for the public--open air etc. Now it's only for ticketed passengers after 9-11.
Trickijedi From United States of America, joined May 2001, 3266 posts, RR: 5 Reply 4, posted (10 years 9 months 1 week 2 days 22 hours ago) and read 1785 times:
OHare doesn't have an observation deck and frankly I doubt that one will ever be built. Consequently, I'm a little irked about it because OHare is a great place to be able to watch plane activity. I quite envy those whose cities that have airports that have one. I, on the other hand, can only wish.
Its better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air than be in the air wishing you were on the ground. Fly safe!
Paulianer From Germany, joined Jul 2002, 875 posts, RR: 15 Reply 5, posted (10 years 9 months 1 week 2 days 22 hours ago) and read 1783 times:
HAM has an excellent observation deck. You can take good picture of nearly most of the aircrafts with a 300mm lens. It's the best photo point for Arrivals on runway 23 and departures as well...
If the aircraft takes off from runway 05 you can shot the climbing plane, but depends on the type of plane
Runway 33 and 15 are ok for bigger planes like 757, 767, A300, A310 and all the heavy stuff from Lufthansa Technik which is based at Hamburg Fuhlsbuttel.
You can also shot taxiing planes or planes at the gate or apron.
ILOVEA340 From United States of America, joined Oct 1999, 2100 posts, RR: 5 Reply 8, posted (10 years 9 months 1 week 2 days 19 hours ago) and read 1724 times:
ZRH has always and will always have the greatest observation deck. With cheap bus rides to the runway intersection
Brian_ga From United States of America, joined May 2001, 286 posts, RR: 0 Reply 12, posted (10 years 9 months 1 week 2 days 13 hours ago) and read 1647 times:
ATL...we do not have a observation deck, I wish we did.
brian_ga
Keep looking up, that's the secret to life....Snoopy
LOT767SP-LPA From Poland, joined May 2002, 154 posts, RR: 1 Reply 13, posted (10 years 9 months 1 week 2 days 12 hours ago) and read 1628 times:
WAW has an excellent observation deck, You can see all directions for landings and take-offs. It is open from 7:30 till 20:00, but You can't see military area. I would give 9 points for 10 scale.
Adam T. From United States of America, joined Jun 2000, 957 posts, RR: 6 Reply 14, posted (10 years 9 months 1 week 2 days 12 hours ago) and read 1626 times:
In Charlotte we have one that is actually on the outer perimeter of the airport...away from the Terminal. It was closed for a long time because of 9-11. It's actually pretty good...it's always packed when I go. You can get goodviews and good shots if you have a long lens. mine has 80mm zoom on it and the aircraft are a littel small in the picture to post on Airliners.net
I think that little park by DCA is a GREAT place to spot. With all the security in Washington, D.C. I was shocked at how close the park was to the planes when thye were landing.
Adam
Vincent32 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 16, posted (10 years 9 months 1 week 2 days 8 hours ago) and read 1584 times:
Albany, NY does have an observation deck. It was built in 1998 along with the new terminal. The observation deck is directly over the center of the main terminal. From it you can see all three concourses and both runways very clearly. It is also a perfect place to watch arriving and departing traffic on Rwy.1.
PSU.DTW.SCE From United States of America, joined Jan 2002, 6871 posts, RR: 29 Reply 17, posted (10 years 9 months 1 week 2 days 6 hours ago) and read 1553 times:
DTW doesn't have one right now, they did years ago in the Smith terminal but its long closed.....but supposedly the new Westin at the Mid-Field terminal will have one. It doesn't open until this December.
CcrlR From United States of America, joined Aug 2001, 2203 posts, RR: 1 Reply 18, posted (10 years 9 months 1 week 2 days 6 hours ago) and read 1550 times:
The only airport I've been to with a observation deck is MKE. It's north of the airport building and you can see all the runways and some of the terminals too. The only bad thing about it is that sometimes when they come that way they will or won't use 19R. Another thing is that there is this gate that blocks your chance of getting a good shot of one taxiing to 19R.
It's kinda bad that ORD or MDW will never get one but we just have to make do with what we have(access roads, sidewalks and streets).
"He was right, it is a screaming metal deathtrap!"-Cosmo (from the Fairly Oddparents)
Arsenal@LHR From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2001, 7791 posts, RR: 23 Reply 19, posted (10 years 9 months 1 week 2 days 6 hours ago) and read 1540 times:
The LHR spotting gallery is OK, not that big, but reasonable good. The views are excellent though, a full view of 27L is a real treat specially when take-offs are from here.
Trintocan From United Kingdom, joined Apr 2000, 3191 posts, RR: 4 Reply 20, posted (10 years 9 months 1 week 2 days 6 hours ago) and read 1544 times:
In Trinidad and Tobago, POS (Piarco) no longer has an observation deck. The old terminal had a Waving Gallery with views over the western ramp but flagpoles made it not so good for photos. The new terminal has no such facility. The locals do hang out and watch planes by the fences alongside the terminal facing the apron but the views are not amenable for photos. Over in TAB the terminal has a waving gallery but it has been closed for the last 2 years. In the old days that was a great place to hang out and watch planes, even take pictures. I took pics of Condor 767-300 and Caledonian DC-10-30 there.
The nearest airport to me now is Cardiff (CWL) - it has an observation deck which features fine-screen mesh but which photos can be taken through if you use a long lens and stand close.
Cloudy From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 22, posted (10 years 9 months 1 week 2 days 5 hours ago) and read 1530 times:
BWI at least used to have one, the last time I was
there was a couple years ago though. There was even allot of exibits and a map of the Washington area airspace, allong with a speaker you could stand by to listen to air-ground communications.
Bigo747 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 23, posted (10 years 9 months 1 week 2 days 5 hours ago) and read 1524 times:
Well cheers guys !!! I hope that the airports that don't have observation decks will get one or two soon .....My home airport is Auckland International Airport (New Zealand ) and we have two viewing decks one in our international terminal and one in our domestic terminal !!
- This is from the Domestic Viewing Deck ..Close ups of the the Boeing 737s of Air New Zealand and aircraft that taxi pass from international to take off
And there is international viewing deck you can see about 8 gates plus cargo (3gates) and the whole runway and pretty good for photos to ....
Flynavy From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 24, posted (10 years 9 months 1 week 2 days 5 hours ago) and read 1513 times:
Since September 11, 2001, the terminal top parking area (directly adjacent to the Hyatt Hotel located within the main terminal) at Orlando International(MCO) has been closed to most vehicles, but security does allow people in these areas. You have a full view of the entire airfield, including all three runways) from Level 11 (if memory serves), where the helipad is located. In addition, there are large windows in the Hyatt Hotel open to the public where excellent views of the third and fourth airside can be seen.
McCoy Rd. also has a parking area where you can get up-close-and-personal with departures and arrivals (18L, R). The area near the Delta Air Logistics building (located near the threshold of runway 17) also has some areas where parking is allowed (usually). From this area you can get amazing views of most of MCO's international traffic, including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Martinair Holland, among others.
Later,
Chris in Orlando
25 Soku39: I just thought about spotting at DTW in December. Cleveland has a spectator deck but you can only get to it if you have a ticket with an airline that
26 Aviasian: Bangkok's Don Muang Airport has an observation deck on each side of what used to be a restaurant on Level 3 of Terminal 1. It affords quite a good vie
27 Bigo747: I get annoyed with little kids rubbing there fingers across the glass !!! nzjet100
28 TriStar500: I'm not a local there but recently discoverd that... GVA still has an observation deck on top of the "restaurant" building. You'll find a self-service
30 9V-SPF: As it seems, nobody has mentioned FRA so far. There are two observation decks at Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. Unfortunately the one at T2 is closed sinc
31 Dragon-wings: ISP used to have a place along the fence line of the airport (opposite of the terminal) where you could park your car and you would have a very good v
32 HAJ_OW: My homeairport HAJ/Hannover Germany has an observationdeck but it's pretty boring. It's open air, but high above the apron an surrounded by glass :-(
33 Kiwi dave: CHC doesn't have any glass on its observation deck and you get good shots from the deck
34 Che: Cleveland had an excellent spotter deck. Unfortunately it requires going past security so now its for ticked passengers departing from the B concourse
35 CMK10: We have one at HPN but its currently closed because of a "security threat" I talked to the terminal supervisor and he thinks that a terrorist could ea
36 B757300: You gotta be careful of all those spotters with their cameras. They might "shoot" a plane with it.
37 Redngold: KCLE (Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, Cleveland, OH): The Spectator Deck is at the end of Concourse B which is past the security checkpoint,
38 Zrs70: BOS used to ahve a fantastic one on the 16th floor of the control tower. Was a great view that gave!
39 Copa737: Well, Tocumen Int. Airport, does'nt have a Observation desk just a bar-restaurant when you can take photos between the glass.. but of course you have
40 Ouboy79: Not my hometown anymore, but will always have a place in my heart, OKC has one in the B concourse prior to security screening -- so anyone can get int
41 Soontobepilot: SEA used to have one, but it was closed. And beleive it or not, not because of 9/11! It was colsed prior to, with the pre-construction of the new thir
42 Swissgabe: KUL / Kuala Lumpur Intl Airport - Sepang (Malaysia) There is a nice observation deck at KLIA. Its located in at the Departure Level and beyond the ent
43 Sunilgupta: The deck at the base of the tower at Dulles (IAD) remains closed Sunil
44 Bigo747: Once Again Guys Thanks A lot with sharing your information I hope to visit most of your airports sometime !!! nzjet100
45 ILS.25L: Nice to know that there are still airports left with observation desks and good spotters points. Unfortunately nobody tells about how much mm you need
46 Kevin82277: KCAE, Has a great place to view planes, unfourntaly you have to be a passenger now to get there. But when you go out to the terminal, right in the mid
47 Continental: Come to MSP! There's an observation deck, a few flights of stairs up. It's great, you can see the gates perfectly, and more importantly, a perfect vie
48 Android: Kansai in Osaka Japan has probably the best observation dedicated 5 story building with several observation area and musuems. http://www.kiac.co.jp/en
Sponsor Message: 
From , joined Dec 1969, posts, 
From , joined Dec 1969, posts, 
From China, joined May 2006, 0 posts, 
From Germany, joined Jul 2002, 875 posts, 
From East Timor, joined Aug 2001, 760 posts, 
From New Zealand, joined Aug 2000, 895 posts, 
From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2000, 1501 posts, 
From Puerto Rico, joined Dec 2000, 5968 posts, 
From Belgium, joined Jan 2002, 152 posts, 
We used to have a restaurant called 'Wingtips' from where you could see runway 25R, but now the new A-pier is blocking the view.
From Poland, joined May 2002, 154 posts, 
From Netherlands, joined Nov 1999, 4143 posts, 
Printer friendly format 
