Nerdy spotting question...
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Nerdy spotting question...
Hi there...
I've been spotting for around four years now at Bristol Airport. Not really that serious about it; only spotted around 600 aircraft in that time.
One question I do have though. Some of the EasyJet planes I've got aren't in the latest Civil Aircraft Markings book of 2009. They've been re-registered, some of them to HB-*** for example. Do I count them as spotted even though it was in the previous livery or do I lose them as the number doesn't exist any more?
Thanks in anticipation. Great forum by the way!
I've been spotting for around four years now at Bristol Airport. Not really that serious about it; only spotted around 600 aircraft in that time.
One question I do have though. Some of the EasyJet planes I've got aren't in the latest Civil Aircraft Markings book of 2009. They've been re-registered, some of them to HB-*** for example. Do I count them as spotted even though it was in the previous livery or do I lose them as the number doesn't exist any more?
Thanks in anticipation. Great forum by the way!
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nerdy spotting
The Airframe is really what you are seeing and it can be rereg many times
in its lifetime .Many add the REG Updates to there lists so they can keep
track on its History . Problems arise when a REG is reallocated to another
type So you will have to make a note of the New REG on a differant Airframe
Easy really just get the right logging Software or make your own
Tony
in its lifetime .Many add the REG Updates to there lists so they can keep
track on its History . Problems arise when a REG is reallocated to another
type So you will have to make a note of the New REG on a differant Airframe
Easy really just get the right logging Software or make your own
Tony
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Reginal S.Potter Academy versus Con Number College
* dons anorak
There are two classical schools of thought.
The Reginald S. Potter Academy favours the registration carried at the time, allowing one to "cop" or "spot" the aircraft a number of times over it's lifetime.
Hence I have seen G-EZMS with easyJet and HB-JZM when it went over to the Swiss register. A double bite at the cherry if you will.
Alas some see this as cheating (!)
The more modern orthodoxy is the "airframe" spotter, who sees the aircraft once, ticks it off and need never see it again no matter how many exotic registrations it carries. This leads to all sorts of oddities.
I remember a chap at PIK a few years back being quite adamant that he was not at all interested in that Arabic B707 in the visual circuit as he had in 1972 seen it as G-A*** with BOAC.
Pick what suits your interest and run with it. Both are good fun, and neither is right. So long as you get out in the sun and fresh air I reckon.
There are two classical schools of thought.
The Reginald S. Potter Academy favours the registration carried at the time, allowing one to "cop" or "spot" the aircraft a number of times over it's lifetime.
Hence I have seen G-EZMS with easyJet and HB-JZM when it went over to the Swiss register. A double bite at the cherry if you will.
Alas some see this as cheating (!)
The more modern orthodoxy is the "airframe" spotter, who sees the aircraft once, ticks it off and need never see it again no matter how many exotic registrations it carries. This leads to all sorts of oddities.
I remember a chap at PIK a few years back being quite adamant that he was not at all interested in that Arabic B707 in the visual circuit as he had in 1972 seen it as G-A*** with BOAC.
Pick what suits your interest and run with it. Both are good fun, and neither is right. So long as you get out in the sun and fresh air I reckon.
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Thanks a lot for both replies, guys....
I transferred all the numbers across from the 2008 book to the 2009 one. There was about thirty planes which had been re-registered so I've just marked their numbers down. After all, I've actually seen that plane albeit with a different coat of paint on and I'm not going to see the "old" plane ever again...
Thanks once again and Skipness, don't forget to take your anorak off, it's going to be warm today!!
I transferred all the numbers across from the 2008 book to the 2009 one. There was about thirty planes which had been re-registered so I've just marked their numbers down. After all, I've actually seen that plane albeit with a different coat of paint on and I'm not going to see the "old" plane ever again...
Thanks once again and Skipness, don't forget to take your anorak off, it's going to be warm today!!
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registers changing
And those collecting the Newish M register they re reg regular.
and now VQ-B Loads of Russions on that + a few BIZ
Both lists on my website
Tony
and now VQ-B Loads of Russions on that + a few BIZ
Both lists on my website
Tony
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I have been spotting for nearly 45 years and it is the reg you are collecting,even if it has changed a few times,each reg after the original one is called a "scrape"
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Guys, Please don't take this the wrong way becasue I don't think there is anything wrong with Plane spotting but, why?
I've never understood what is interesting about keeping track of a a series of letters or numbers ( planes or trains). Yes, I know you guys find it fascinating but can anyone just explain it?
Is there some underlying purpose, do you analyse flight times and check that the aircraft are flying to/from? something more interesting /sinister. Can you swap registrations?
Wherever, I go there are alwasy anoraks around the globe doing the same - I just don't geddit. Am I missing something - if so, what?
S1E , if replying please try not to be rude again!
I've never understood what is interesting about keeping track of a a series of letters or numbers ( planes or trains). Yes, I know you guys find it fascinating but can anyone just explain it?
Is there some underlying purpose, do you analyse flight times and check that the aircraft are flying to/from? something more interesting /sinister. Can you swap registrations?
Wherever, I go there are alwasy anoraks around the globe doing the same - I just don't geddit. Am I missing something - if so, what?
S1E , if replying please try not to be rude again!
Munnyspinner, this has been done to death. There are thousands of hobbies/passtimes/sports that, when analysed, have no constructive purpose at all. Some like to sit by a lake all day trying to catch a bigger fish than the last - then throw it back into the water. Others enjoy hitting a small ball with various types of sticks until it goes into a small hole. They compete to see who can do it in the fewest possible strokes.They are all just a way that a particular individual enjoys chilling out. I don't know if you enjoy reading aviation magazines, but many interesting articles, especially in PROPLINER for instance, are written by, or from the records of yesteryears spotters. One once told me, "today's sighting is tomorrow's history".
All sorts of people are anoraks of one sort or another. And, finally, planespotting (including logging registrations) is practised by bank managers, lawyers, doctors and commercial airline pilots. Some are quite open about it, others not.
All sorts of people are anoraks of one sort or another. And, finally, planespotting (including logging registrations) is practised by bank managers, lawyers, doctors and commercial airline pilots. Some are quite open about it, others not.
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no problen
hi
no offence was taken by me but its just that we have been through this
time and time again perhaps you were not on then but we all like our
hobbys and pastimes many of us active in other Aviation things and
the thing that gets to most of us is the NERD \ANORACK Title use to
describe PLANE SPOTTERS , TRAIN SPOTTERS STAMP COLLECTERS
and many other hobbys We just enjoy what we do .
Best wishes
Tony
no offence was taken by me but its just that we have been through this
time and time again perhaps you were not on then but we all like our
hobbys and pastimes many of us active in other Aviation things and
the thing that gets to most of us is the NERD \ANORACK Title use to
describe PLANE SPOTTERS , TRAIN SPOTTERS STAMP COLLECTERS
and many other hobbys We just enjoy what we do .
Best wishes
Tony
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Originally Posted by Munnyspinner
Look, honest I wasn't having a go but, was just curious.
And it's a cliche, but if you need to ask then you couldn't possibly understand the answer. Kind of like the perennial football vs. rugby nonsense that goes on in these fora.
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Only just spotted the question about "why do we spot planes?"....
With me, it started about the summer of 2005. My boys had watched "Airport" or "Airline" and wanted to go and see some real planes. I took them out to BRS that weekend and they loved it though the noise scared them first time round (they were four). We went out a few weekends running then they started asking whether we'd seen any of them before. I had no idea so began to write the numbers down. Found a book online that all the numbers were in and off we went...
Like I said, in four years now I've not been anywhere else except Bristol so can't consider myself a serious spotter. It's a bit of fun and no doubt they'll grow out of it; until then, it's better than being inside stuck on a PS2 all the time. It's fresh air and sunshine, well sometimes it is anyway...
With me, it started about the summer of 2005. My boys had watched "Airport" or "Airline" and wanted to go and see some real planes. I took them out to BRS that weekend and they loved it though the noise scared them first time round (they were four). We went out a few weekends running then they started asking whether we'd seen any of them before. I had no idea so began to write the numbers down. Found a book online that all the numbers were in and off we went...
Like I said, in four years now I've not been anywhere else except Bristol so can't consider myself a serious spotter. It's a bit of fun and no doubt they'll grow out of it; until then, it's better than being inside stuck on a PS2 all the time. It's fresh air and sunshine, well sometimes it is anyway...
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There is a rather nice spot on the opposite side of the airport from the terminal. Space for a few cars, good photographic opportunities:
To get there, leave the terminal and head towards Bristol. There is a left turn just before the Airfield Tavern. Take that, and take the second left, marked for the golf club. Just follow that lane, which takes you all the way around the end of the runway and up t'other side.
To get there, leave the terminal and head towards Bristol. There is a left turn just before the Airfield Tavern. Take that, and take the second left, marked for the golf club. Just follow that lane, which takes you all the way around the end of the runway and up t'other side.
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Chip Hazard. Just noticed this thread. Like Irishair2001 I go for the reg. I've been spotting since 1970 (although stopped for a few years in the 90's) and it is amazing how many times I have seen the same airframe with different registrations...or in the case of US biz jets...the same reg on so many different airframes. I have designed my own data base (MS Access based).
As Gulf4uk and Avman have said, the inevitable questions get asked as to "why"...been there, done that. Each to his or hers own is my motto. For me its just a love of aircraft and gets me out and about...and I have to confess I have visited parts of this country in search of airfields that I would probably never have been to othwerwise. Its certainly given me a good knowledge of backlanes, and thats without sat-nav!
So whether you stick to your local airport (as I did for the first few years) or get out and explore....enjoy the hobby.
Nice shots by the way Martin...I know the spot well.
As Gulf4uk and Avman have said, the inevitable questions get asked as to "why"...been there, done that. Each to his or hers own is my motto. For me its just a love of aircraft and gets me out and about...and I have to confess I have visited parts of this country in search of airfields that I would probably never have been to othwerwise. Its certainly given me a good knowledge of backlanes, and thats without sat-nav!
So whether you stick to your local airport (as I did for the first few years) or get out and explore....enjoy the hobby.
Nice shots by the way Martin...I know the spot well.
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Travelled the world fairly extensively in pursuit of interesting aircraft, but not a reggie collector. When people say 'Ah, you're a plane spotter then!!' I correct them and say 'No, I am an aircraft enthusiast' which covers all bases, and prevents one being called an anorak etc.,
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Generally the spotters I have met have been a friendly and amiable bunch, always there to have a chat and a laugh about the latest comings and goings in the aviation world, mostly they are a font of knowledge about past present and future movements and they will always have a story to tell.
You do of course, as with most hobbies, get one or two people/groups who don't actually believe in sharing any info, these people tend to think any info they recieve is their property and are unwilling to pass it on
there are now more and more closed groups to the spotting fraternity,(there are ways to overcome these barriers though 
) this I feel is the beginning of the end of spotting as we know it, the youngsters (ie: the new blood) amongst us who have managed to pull themselves away from the Xbox and playstation and find some sort of interest in the passing bizjet can now not get the awnser they are looking for straight away as they need to either register or be vetted before joining a group. This will put todays youngster off as in this world today they are used to getting answers straight away ( think google!!!!) I had a conversation at Eelmoor (Farnborough) the other week with a young spotter, he could not believe that when I was young if I had seen something out of the ordinary land at Heathrow I would need to wait 3 months for the LAAS magazine to be delivered to find out the reg!!!!
You do of course, as with most hobbies, get one or two people/groups who don't actually believe in sharing any info, these people tend to think any info they recieve is their property and are unwilling to pass it on
there are now more and more closed groups to the spotting fraternity,(there are ways to overcome these barriers though ) this I feel is the beginning of the end of spotting as we know it, the youngsters (ie: the new blood) amongst us who have managed to pull themselves away from the Xbox and playstation and find some sort of interest in the passing bizjet can now not get the awnser they are looking for straight away as they need to either register or be vetted before joining a group. This will put todays youngster off as in this world today they are used to getting answers straight away ( think google!!!!) I had a conversation at Eelmoor (Farnborough) the other week with a young spotter, he could not believe that when I was young if I had seen something out of the ordinary land at Heathrow I would need to wait 3 months for the LAAS magazine to be delivered to find out the reg!!!!
Not too sure that I see much of problem in registering or being "vetted". If someone is keen and wants to be involved and find out more I am sure they will. If the information is not thrown in front of you i.e. available instantly, it just means you have to do some sleuthing, all part of "spotting"......
Planemike.............
Planemike.............
Last edited by Planemike; 10th Jun 2009 at 13:28.