Or the parking lot on GW Parkway right before the 14 st. bridge exit.


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Sheraton Gateway at LAX. The Club lounge, and all the rooms facing the Airport.


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You do have to ask for permission to get up there, and it is not easy. I had the opportunity to be up there once, and let me tell you that tops the premier LAX spot.

In STL on the west end of the runways is what they call the PVA (public viewing area). Same spot where they will be building the new runway. Almost always a lot of people.

BEAN thanks for the tip, doing a mileage run on AA from STL via DFW to FLL for $98RT (found it on Travelocity dream map) later in August and will be there one night so am looking for things to do. Perfect timing


CAP was there for the first time with my daughter this past weekend. Lots of families, nic people. Highlight was when one of the larger TWA jets came in for landing and for no apparent reason aborted at about 20 vertical feet. Very strange but very impressive given the size of the aircraft and its rapid ascent.

"This is your capt speaking. We will be landing in 1 minute folks hope you enjoyed the flight...(aborted landing)... err for those that did enjoy the flight here are bonus 20 minutes for you."



[This message has been edited by Mvic (edited 07-20-2000).]

Beat this. Sydney offers "Tarmac Tours". You get into a mini bus and drive ALL around the airport proper. Over the runways. Next to landing panes (man - the DUST!) the VIP section, the maintennce hangars, the weather stations, etc.

About $A25 (=US 4 cents lately!) and seems it is the ONLY major airport in the world that allows this to the public. Too much security risk most of them cite. They LOCK the van before you depart after security! There is a flashing light on top like a police car at all times.

A REAL experience if anyone has a few spare hours at SYD!

For more info see:
http://www.smh.com.au/travel/9904/10/travel6.html

Generally, I find airports are the best places for viewing planes. You hardly ever see one in a supermarket.

(Ok, ok. I'll go to bed now.)

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

ozstamps suggestion of the SYD "tarmac tours" reminded me that AMS has a similar thing called "Schiphol World Tour" where they take you on a bus tour on the airside. It costs NLG 15 (about $8 USD). They run everyone through security check and load you on a bus which drives around slowly around the passenger and cargo terminals pointing out all sorts of things. Great for a close up look at the planes.

The approx. one hour tour, unfortunately, is only in Dutch (en mijn Nederlands is niet zo goed) but it was well worth it anyways.

FewMiles..

My favorite place for plane watching is at the King County Airport, most often known as Boeing field. This is the Airport the Boeing uses for testing planes as well as painting many of them.

It's always entertaining to drive along the field and try to guess what all of the tail paint jobs represent. It was also entertaining when there were only five 777s to see the entire production run sitting side by side.

This field is also where the old warbirds and newer military planes use when they come into town. It's pretty cool to see a B-52 and a Stealth fly in on the same day.

PHX has a couple of great spots, but since they have had a lot of construction lately, don't know how that may be today.

CLT has a great spot near the Aviation Museum. It looks like a closed dirt and gravel road, but it is OPEN. Has a great hill to sit on just beyond the glide path to the beginning of one runway. Can't get any closer than that.

I have to second the post about FRA. I get such a charge at Flughaven Frankfurt with all of the international travel and the wide variety of tail markings. Just took awhile to get over the polizei with uzi's everywhere!

ozstamps, can you easily find out if the SYD tours need to be booked in advance? Or can I roll off of a morning flight into SYD, stow my luggage somewhere, and just get on a tour in the next hour or two?

spartacus, I love FRA, too! It was such a thrill to come there in the '80s, at the height of the cold war, and see all those planes from Soviet-block countries one would never get to see states-side. Ditto for Iranian, Libyan, others. Ever noticed how they are always parked away from the terminal, all by themselves? No jet-ways for them.

The parking garage across from the Int'l Terminal at LAX is a good spot too. Through a staircase you can access the roof and you get good views of planes landing & taking off on both runways, as well as close ups of international carriers.
The airport hotel at MIA has a bar with good terminal views. There is/was an outdoor observation area but the last time I was there (a couple of years ago) it was closed, I think, for renovations.
The top of the garage at MCO is also a pretty good spot. An airport cop came up there & watched me for a few minutes before realizing my binoculors were harmless, got bored & left.
Not like you want to watch planes in Hawaii, but the oceanview rooms at the Sheraton Waikiki allow neat views of planes taking off over the ocean.
Can you tell I'm easily excited by this topic?

At San Diego, while driving on I5 you can get big jets to fly 200-300 ft over you. It is fun pacing your car so that the jet passes you overhead and then watch it land less than 30 seconds later. This happens when the jets are landing going Westwards (slightly NorthWest). Also going on I15 you have the same experience with the Military base (Miramar maybe). This 4th of July while driving to and fro San Diego I had the thrill of being under an F-14, DL 757, SW 737 and some more.