why are we despised?
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why are we despised?
what is it about aircraft spotting that creates such negative reactions from many people? im sick of being branded a geek ,nerd anorak,loser etc if i mention to people my interests include( but are not limited to aircraft spotting), this sort of reaction even extends to people engaged in aviation i was recently staying at a hotel close to aldergrove when i got chatting to a couple of pilots and an engineer employed by a well known charter /scheduled carrier in the bar, when i mentioned i was a keen spotter i was treated with barely concealed contempt, why? i would have thought people who actually work in aviation would understand the fascination it holds for many "outsiders"
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I can sympathise there. After "spotting" for some 40+ years, I still get the "nerd, geek, anorak" comments from most people. I work in the industry and they are the worst people for this. The view seems to be that if you take any interest whatsoever in aviation then you are some sort of idiot.
These same people can quote you chapter and verse many and various facts and figures about aviation, regestrations etc but they are NOT interested! Bull****.
My advice is to ignore the people who try to run down your hobby and just get on with it. Stuff the macho idiots who think anything that doesnt involve getting pissed and shagging is nerdy.
Remember, sticks and stones etc!!!
skiddy
These same people can quote you chapter and verse many and various facts and figures about aviation, regestrations etc but they are NOT interested! Bull****.
My advice is to ignore the people who try to run down your hobby and just get on with it. Stuff the macho idiots who think anything that doesnt involve getting pissed and shagging is nerdy.
Remember, sticks and stones etc!!!
skiddy
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Same experience as previous posters, I work in the industry and to be frank it is rather insular, a cosy little club which is difficult to get into. And not even the sharpest tools in the box either. I never cease to be amazed at the number of pilot CVs I receive when I am not even an aircraft operator!!
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LONGBOW1 - You're NOT a geek and there is nothing to be ashamed of for pursuing your hobby. Those who criticise or think badly of us are the real prats, not us.
Don't hide your interest, talk openly about it and you will find a lot of people warm to you and want to talk about it. I know plenty of professional aviation people - some in very senior posts - who collect numbers and thoroughly enjoy their hobby. I stopped writing numbers after a visit to the USA - 10,000 aircraft in a few weeks - but I still enjoy visiting airports and watching aircraft. More power to the "spotters" I say...
Don't hide your interest, talk openly about it and you will find a lot of people warm to you and want to talk about it. I know plenty of professional aviation people - some in very senior posts - who collect numbers and thoroughly enjoy their hobby. I stopped writing numbers after a visit to the USA - 10,000 aircraft in a few weeks - but I still enjoy visiting airports and watching aircraft. More power to the "spotters" I say...
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I fully agree with Heathrow Director.
Many spotters, or avaition enthusiasts as I prefer to hear them referred to as, have subsequently enter the industry and , due to their genuine interest, put a lot more effort into their duties than others who just want a wage-packet.
No harm is done, which is more than can be said of other so-called pastimes and hobbies.
Many spotters, or avaition enthusiasts as I prefer to hear them referred to as, have subsequently enter the industry and , due to their genuine interest, put a lot more effort into their duties than others who just want a wage-packet.
No harm is done, which is more than can be said of other so-called pastimes and hobbies.
Last edited by rej; 8th Jul 2005 at 21:25.
Longbow:
You just keep on doing what you enjoy.
Shame on anyone in the industry who treats you with disrespect.
I always try to be polite and informative to people who have questions.
For the most part they are really quite interesting and fun to talk too.
Strangely enough, I have found, most have no interest at all at becoming pilots or engineers or working in the industry at all.
I even met a guy who was a bus spotter and could ream off all kinds of specs on every bus used in GB.
Carry on Spotting. ( Soon to be a major Motion Picture starring Tom Cruise, Mel Gibson and an appropriately endowed Bimbo )
Cheers
Albatross
You just keep on doing what you enjoy.
Shame on anyone in the industry who treats you with disrespect.
I always try to be polite and informative to people who have questions.
For the most part they are really quite interesting and fun to talk too.
Strangely enough, I have found, most have no interest at all at becoming pilots or engineers or working in the industry at all.
I even met a guy who was a bus spotter and could ream off all kinds of specs on every bus used in GB.
Carry on Spotting. ( Soon to be a major Motion Picture starring Tom Cruise, Mel Gibson and an appropriately endowed Bimbo )
Cheers
Albatross
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Carry on Spotting. ( Soon to be a major Motion Picture starring Tom Cruise, Mel Gibson and an appropriately endowed Bimbo )
I was once branded as "sad" in a pub by a young colleague because I was carrying a copy of Pilot - he was carrying a copy of FHM...
If you enjoy it, do it.
Last edited by treadigraph; 7th Jul 2005 at 12:12.
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Longbow- a lot of people in the industry are there because they love aeroplanes. Pilots especially. I think you will find they were once spotters to a degree themselves- I certainly was whenever I had the chance. Not reggie spotting myself, but just hearing the whine and smelling the jet fuel smells and exhausts at airports. I went on to fly professionally for 34 years (and maybe more to come). Having been one myself, I was always friendly to them, and have chatted with them many times over the years. When my flying days are over, I will be back occasionally on the 'other' side of the fence to see things like A380 and other new ones. I always had a wave for the people at the fence of that pub at MAN.
Don't be disheartened, don't be embarrassed. We share a common interest and love. Unfortunately there are a lot of people in the industry who find the public a nuisance. There are zealous security people who find the public a nuisance. They are 'splinters on the bannister of life'. Enjoy your hobby with no apologies to anyone! It's a bloody sight more fun than stamp collecting, beer mat collecting, watching trashy videos, football, cricket, going to the gym, horse racing, decorating................
Don't be disheartened, don't be embarrassed. We share a common interest and love. Unfortunately there are a lot of people in the industry who find the public a nuisance. There are zealous security people who find the public a nuisance. They are 'splinters on the bannister of life'. Enjoy your hobby with no apologies to anyone! It's a bloody sight more fun than stamp collecting, beer mat collecting, watching trashy videos, football, cricket, going to the gym, horse racing, decorating................
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Skiddy -
we get it the worst as we're on the good ol' Isle of Man!
Oh the flak i have had in the past !!!
But we still carry on spotting, for many of us, the starter of a long career in aviation......!
RR
we get it the worst as we're on the good ol' Isle of Man!
Oh the flak i have had in the past !!!
But we still carry on spotting, for many of us, the starter of a long career in aviation......!
RR
In my experience you will find the majority of pilots are 'closet' spotters...
Most think that because it's their profession they cannot be referred to as anoraks.
Wrong...
I have witnessed some very mature & experienced female/male aviators almost wet themselves with excitement when something unusual or exotic appears in the cockpit window.
As for me?
My only interest is keeping an eye out for any conflicting traffic...
Most think that because it's their profession they cannot be referred to as anoraks.
Wrong...
I have witnessed some very mature & experienced female/male aviators almost wet themselves with excitement when something unusual or exotic appears in the cockpit window.
As for me?
My only interest is keeping an eye out for any conflicting traffic...
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Well spotting at (then) ringway cost me my o levels but i still made it to 13000 hrs and the left seat of a jet. No thanks to the uk system and boys club mentioned earlier. **** em . I still go and watch aircraft and wonder at how fortunate i am to do what i do.
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Not a spotter my self but have a huge interest in the field that pays my mortgage...aerospace.
It is sad (in my experience) to see how workers in this industry are getting less and less interested in the business. In the engine companies that I have worked for, the new college grads have no idea or desire about the product, only their piece of FEM or CFD software. It is like they are missing a large part of the "ground work" needed for a fulfilling career i.e. an interest!!
Keep on spotting and keep on being interested. The feeling is even better when the hardware you see taking off or landing came from your own imagination and experience...more power to you!!
PS Does Ian Allen still do those books listing tail numbers?? I was a spotty (kid) spotter for a few years
It is sad (in my experience) to see how workers in this industry are getting less and less interested in the business. In the engine companies that I have worked for, the new college grads have no idea or desire about the product, only their piece of FEM or CFD software. It is like they are missing a large part of the "ground work" needed for a fulfilling career i.e. an interest!!
Keep on spotting and keep on being interested. The feeling is even better when the hardware you see taking off or landing came from your own imagination and experience...more power to you!!
PS Does Ian Allen still do those books listing tail numbers?? I was a spotty (kid) spotter for a few years
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It is refreshing to hear so many people in the industry, some obviously of quite mature years, speak so enthusiastically about aviation and so warmly towards 'spotters' in this thread.
I am fairly mature myself, having been born towards the end of WWII, and have always had a general interest in aviation, though never been in the business. It is only in comparatively recent years, since my early retirement, that I have been able to indulge this interest more fully.
I am not a spotter in the sense that I collect a/c numbers. I just enjoy seeing aircraft fly, especially taking off and landing, and I am more interested in the capability of a type than with its number. I also enjoy the atmosphere of airports, large or small.
Although I don't collect numbers I do tend to remember aircraft that are named. Back in the 1980s, for example, Britannia called many of their B 737-200s after famous Britons, or at least famous people who had a connection with Britain and usually, though not always, with aviation - Jean Batten I believe was a New Zealander.
I also remember flying on Britannia's Sir Arthur Whitten Brown, The Hon CS Rolls, Ernest Shackleton, Florence Nightingale (and on a KLM MD 11 of the same name), Sir John Alcock, Sir Frederick Handley Page, Viscount Trenchard, Amy Johnson, Lord Brabazon of Tara, George Stephenson and Sir Thomas Sopwith. However, the most unusual name on a Britannia 732 that I travelled on was something like The O'Neil Hereditary Ruler of Ulster.
I am fairly mature myself, having been born towards the end of WWII, and have always had a general interest in aviation, though never been in the business. It is only in comparatively recent years, since my early retirement, that I have been able to indulge this interest more fully.
I am not a spotter in the sense that I collect a/c numbers. I just enjoy seeing aircraft fly, especially taking off and landing, and I am more interested in the capability of a type than with its number. I also enjoy the atmosphere of airports, large or small.
Although I don't collect numbers I do tend to remember aircraft that are named. Back in the 1980s, for example, Britannia called many of their B 737-200s after famous Britons, or at least famous people who had a connection with Britain and usually, though not always, with aviation - Jean Batten I believe was a New Zealander.
I also remember flying on Britannia's Sir Arthur Whitten Brown, The Hon CS Rolls, Ernest Shackleton, Florence Nightingale (and on a KLM MD 11 of the same name), Sir John Alcock, Sir Frederick Handley Page, Viscount Trenchard, Amy Johnson, Lord Brabazon of Tara, George Stephenson and Sir Thomas Sopwith. However, the most unusual name on a Britannia 732 that I travelled on was something like The O'Neil Hereditary Ruler of Ulster.
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I think 'despised' is too strong a word. I for one, am not a spotter, although I enjoy watching aircraft - otherwise i wouldn't have started flying them. But I must say that I am a little 'perplexed' by the whole spotting hobby, registrations and all. I think it is a peculiarly British thing.
To give an example, recently I was early for work and couldn't be bothered going straight to the crew-room, so I drove up to the local spotter zone. Like everyone else, I hopped out of the car to watch an oncoming jet fly directly overhead in gusty and demanding conditions. There were a couple of spotters nearby. I was surprised to see them jump back in their cars and start scribbling down the registration (I assume) as soon as the a/c went overhead. I for one, was interested in the crosswind landing, but these guys didn't even look up at the critical moment. So I must assume that, in their case at least, collecting the registration was more interesting than the aircraft, the mechanics of flight or the skill or otherwise of the pilot. Strange.
Having said that, I recently flew with a new First Officer and was amazed by his lack of knowledge of aircraft types. Within the space of 10 minutes he asked me what type a jetstream 41 in front of us was (not necessarily a sin) and then asked me whether a 737-300 was a 757! I am increasingly worried that Daddys are putting their sons and daughters through the likes of Oxford simply to get them into a career. What happened to the kids who loved to watch aircraft, became addicted to the smell of kero, scrimped and saved their way into a cockpit and finally landed a flying job. The real enthusiasts. Don't seem to see many of them around the place these days, at least not airside of the fence!
LOST
To give an example, recently I was early for work and couldn't be bothered going straight to the crew-room, so I drove up to the local spotter zone. Like everyone else, I hopped out of the car to watch an oncoming jet fly directly overhead in gusty and demanding conditions. There were a couple of spotters nearby. I was surprised to see them jump back in their cars and start scribbling down the registration (I assume) as soon as the a/c went overhead. I for one, was interested in the crosswind landing, but these guys didn't even look up at the critical moment. So I must assume that, in their case at least, collecting the registration was more interesting than the aircraft, the mechanics of flight or the skill or otherwise of the pilot. Strange.
Having said that, I recently flew with a new First Officer and was amazed by his lack of knowledge of aircraft types. Within the space of 10 minutes he asked me what type a jetstream 41 in front of us was (not necessarily a sin) and then asked me whether a 737-300 was a 757! I am increasingly worried that Daddys are putting their sons and daughters through the likes of Oxford simply to get them into a career. What happened to the kids who loved to watch aircraft, became addicted to the smell of kero, scrimped and saved their way into a cockpit and finally landed a flying job. The real enthusiasts. Don't seem to see many of them around the place these days, at least not airside of the fence!
LOST
Also don't forget that without the Spotters support the admission fee to the PFA Rally / Flying For Fun would be even more expensive. Carry on spotting people!
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I see nothing wrong in aircraft spotting as a hobby.
My own interest in aviation started as a progression from bus spotting and then train spotting. In the 1950's spotting of all varieties was common amongst youths particularly as there were a limited number of other interest available, television being for the privileged few and computer games still unheard of.
A group of us used to cycle all over the home counties from South Essex and regularly visited Stapleford, Southend, Stansted, Heathrow and I remember one epic journey that took in Stansted, Hatfield, Panshanger, Radlett and Luton all in one day by bike. The Roof Gardens at Heathrow were packed every weekend and there was always a rush to be amongst the first in to get the best viewing positions.
I still have my 1956 Ian Allen Civil Aircraft Registrations book, well thumbed and underlined and still buy each edition as it is published.
My interest in collection registrations ended when I discovered another hobby - girls! Even in the early Sixties it was not cool to be known as a spotter.
These days, however, I collect photographs and books and harbour a secret ambition to write a detailed history of Southend Airport, although I doubt that will actually happen.
Back to spotters, generally they accumulate a tremendous knowledge of their subject, which tends to be aired only amongst like types and if there was a way to channel this for the public perhaps the ridicule might cease. After all anyone with a thorough knowledge of, say Shakespeare, would'nt be considered an "anorak", but would probably appear on Mastermind as a genius.
The sad thing is that all the knowledge I have accumulated will be lost when I pass on as my children have their own lives and will consign all my "junk", as they call it, to the bin.
Still, there is hope as my two year old grandson can already recognise a contrail at 30,000 feet!
Cheers in nostalgia
Southender
My own interest in aviation started as a progression from bus spotting and then train spotting. In the 1950's spotting of all varieties was common amongst youths particularly as there were a limited number of other interest available, television being for the privileged few and computer games still unheard of.
A group of us used to cycle all over the home counties from South Essex and regularly visited Stapleford, Southend, Stansted, Heathrow and I remember one epic journey that took in Stansted, Hatfield, Panshanger, Radlett and Luton all in one day by bike. The Roof Gardens at Heathrow were packed every weekend and there was always a rush to be amongst the first in to get the best viewing positions.
I still have my 1956 Ian Allen Civil Aircraft Registrations book, well thumbed and underlined and still buy each edition as it is published.
My interest in collection registrations ended when I discovered another hobby - girls! Even in the early Sixties it was not cool to be known as a spotter.
These days, however, I collect photographs and books and harbour a secret ambition to write a detailed history of Southend Airport, although I doubt that will actually happen.
Back to spotters, generally they accumulate a tremendous knowledge of their subject, which tends to be aired only amongst like types and if there was a way to channel this for the public perhaps the ridicule might cease. After all anyone with a thorough knowledge of, say Shakespeare, would'nt be considered an "anorak", but would probably appear on Mastermind as a genius.
The sad thing is that all the knowledge I have accumulated will be lost when I pass on as my children have their own lives and will consign all my "junk", as they call it, to the bin.
Still, there is hope as my two year old grandson can already recognise a contrail at 30,000 feet!
Cheers in nostalgia
Southender
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Perhaps jealousyWe can enjoy it more than they do and turn off when we want and don't have to get up at 4am in the winter 
I've never really been into the registration malarky, much more just admiring 180,000kg of aircraft rolling down a runway to 170mph and deciding to get airborne and the sound of 60,000lbst being produced.
HD is certainly one of the friendlier (ex)professionals I'm glad to say I have met some mature and not so mature professionals who aren't the type who degrade spotters at every opportunity.
I've never really been into the registration malarky, much more just admiring 180,000kg of aircraft rolling down a runway to 170mph and deciding to get airborne and the sound of 60,000lbst being produced.
HD is certainly one of the friendlier (ex)professionals
I'm glad to say I have met some mature and not so mature professionals who aren't the type who degrade spotters at every opportunity.
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Don't worry about it mate. Every kind of spotter usually experiences the same thing. Ignorance is usually the reason, people who haven't got the ability to develop an interest in anything are generally leading dull lives and resent other peoples interests.
Whilst I don't spot on a regular basis, a day out at Manchester with my grandson is a delight to us both. When I was a frequent business flyer I would always book an airport hotel with a view of the runway, if i had to stay at the airport. I would arrive early for my flight so i could watch aircraft, long connection times when changing planes was never a bother to me..
Their is so much to see and do at an airport...
Whilst I don't spot on a regular basis, a day out at Manchester with my grandson is a delight to us both. When I was a frequent business flyer I would always book an airport hotel with a view of the runway, if i had to stay at the airport. I would arrive early for my flight so i could watch aircraft, long connection times when changing planes was never a bother to me..
Their is so much to see and do at an airport...