How can I identify a PIA aircraft?

by | Nov 22, 2023 | Application, Aviation News, Optical Enhancement, Radio, Spotting, Spotting Locations

Well this is a bit of a conundrum, you see a plane look it up on one of the tracking sites and all there is is a ICAO code and a call sign. Everything else, registration, type, origin, destination and many other spotter friendly features are not displayed.

How then do you find out the actual identity of the aircraft and whatever other information that you like to collect?

Well the truth is you won’t get the information without some effort, it’s unlikely that you’ll find out the information without the help of other spotters. The only certain way of identifying these aircraft is a physical sighting, at either end of the flight – so if you can’t be at the airport when it lands then other spotter groups would probably be the place to start.

Typically a week day view of US air space will show thousands of aircraft, and the vast majority of these are readily identifiable using applications or web sites like flightradar24 or in this case globe.adsbexchange.com.

So in most cases looking up and seeing an aircraft, will if you know where you are – make the identification fairly straight forward, a quick look at the app or website and you have everything you need.

In the begining tracking flights was more technical, there were tools like ACARS – but you needed certain technical skills to use that to track aircraft. But along came flightradar24, this was an absolute boon to the spotters.

Lack of privacy was seen to be a problem, so along came the FAA’s LADD (Limiting Aircraft Data Displayed) – which is a filter that the FAA puts in place for anyone taking a data feed from them – the image is LADD subscribed aircraft.

Just to be clear, these three screen shots were taken within a few minutes of each other the bottom shot is filtered by PIA subscribed aircraft.

As you can see, there aren’t that many aircraft in the view. But what I can say is that there is literally no information that would interest a spotter, the navigational information is there but little else is available.

In the next post I’ll go over the options and list some of the ways that you can try and find out the aircraft identity. But in the mean time consider this, both the LADD and the PIA services are free – so it’s likely that people using the LADD service will move to the PIA service.

Spotter Evolution – Beginning.

by | Oct 29, 2022 | Camera, Optical Enhancement, Radio, Spotting, Spotting News

A conversation with a fellow spotter raised a couple of questions about plane spotting, like when it started and why do people do it? The second is probably easier to answer than the first, as in – for the most part people enjoy watching aircraft and other aspects of the hobby. There are probably not that many spotters who have made their fortune from spotting, some have I’m sure but I’m also pretty sure that these people were spotters before they monetised their interest or hobby.

If you go looking for when Plane Spotting (Or probably more correctly) Aircraft Spotting actaully bagan, you can find numerous threads on the older aviation forums – these usually deteriorate into a bun fight during the course of the thread.

Mostly with references to spotters of other things, with Trains, Busses, Cars and even Birds all being denigrated by Aircraft Spotters. And yet I have met a number of Aircraft Spotters who collected information on some or all of the above, after all it is a hobby and as such pretty much on a par with any other hobby.

When did it all start is much more of a quandry, looking through the online archives of publications – the earliest mentions of the hobby that I can find seem to date from the very early 1950’s. Although other sources seem to date it from the 1940’s, however I’m aware of at least one spotter from the early 1930’s – so I’m guessing that it is still all open to confirmation.

A number of sources point to the formation of the Observer Corps as sowing the seeds of the hobby, with the pastime gaining traction after WWII. Although the Observer Corps can rightfully claim that it’s inception goes back to WWI, where the War Office used whatever resources that it could – these included both Army and Naval peronnel along with Special Constables, Lighthouse Keepers and even Boy Scouts to man observation posts and report aircraft movements.

The earliest log that I’m aware of is dated the 12th of December 1935, but I’m sure that it won’t be the earliest log that there is. Most peoples logs probably don’t survive them by long, only in a few instances will there be enough foresight to ensure that the collection of logs survives and goes to somewhere with the resource to hold the it.

The average person during the inter war years is unlikely to have had very much spare time or money to indulge in a hobby like aircraft or any other type of spotting, so at best these people may have stretched to a notebook and pencil – few would have had binoculars or a camera. However after WWII much changed, more free time and more disposable income would lead to more people with time to indulge in a hobby.

Along with the above came a veritable treasure trove of equipment availability, courtesy of Government Surplus – in the form of Binoculars, Radio Recievers and trained people admittedly mostly ex-forces but many turned their training towards their new hobby – Aircraft Spotting.

Cheap Optics worth it or not?

by | Jul 1, 2022 | Equipment Reviews., Optical Enhancement, Spotting

There is an old saying, frequently used to justify spending money. “You only get what you pay for.” is the saying, when it comes to an item like binoculars and telescopes – the cost difference beteen the cheapest and the dearest is huge and I wonder if they are that much better.

Here we have two pairs of binoculars both 10×50 and both found on Amazon, with one pair costing one hundred and twenty times more than the other. I’d like to know if the performace difference is as great, I suspect it is not – not that I would even consider a pair of binoculars at over £3,000.

Having a quick look at each of the Amazon reviews for these products is interesting, the cheap binoculars have over 200 reviews and an average score of 4.2. Whereas the expensive binoculars have no reviews, which in truth only indicates that no one has reviewed them on this site. However there are online reviews and huge price variations on other sites, with at least one site retailing these for £1,200 less than Amazon.

Still at over £1,800 they are still out of my price range, so I’m certainly unlikely to be getting my hands on a pair any time soon. For reference, just in case anyone is in the slightest interested. I carry a Bushnell 16×52 monocular in the car at all times, how would I rate it – in truth not great. Although the optics are clear, the magnificatin is closer to 8 and the object lens is about 35mm – but it does now come with a mini tripod and a smartphone holder (mine didn’t) all for the pricely sum of £7.99 so it sits in the car – just in case. And I should add that although the quality isn’t in the same league as many other monoculars or telescopes, the Bushnell cost me less than the average fish supper and that included next day delivery!

Smart Phone Spotting.

by | Jun 30, 2022 | Application, Camera, Equipment Reviews., Online Logging, Optical Enhancement, Software Reviews, Spotting

In this post, where I talk about a smartphone – you can substitue deviced like the iPhone, iPad or and Android tablet. Most people will have one of these devices that they can use, so lets get to what you can do with them in the spotting world.

The primary use for a smartphone is communication, but they are capable of so much more. Sit in a cafe or on public transport and you will see people using them to consume digital media in some format, or they will be creating content of some sort.

So how does this relate to plane spotting, well there are a number of ways of using such a device to assist if you have Mobile Data or WiFi access.. Using free App’s like flightradar24 gives access to aircraft ID’s on a continuos basis, an aircraft flying overhead can be in most cases positively identified and would allow you to capture quite a lot of information.

Typically this App will show things like the registration of the aircraft, owner or operator, flight origin and destination. There are a number of dynamic physical reports, altitude, course, speed along with elapsed time and remaining time for the flight. All available for free. There are a number of other Apps that do the same thing, the main difference between them all is the display – and again most of them can be downloaded free.

Recording Information.

As I’ve already said, a pencil and notebook is all that you need to get started. But with a smartphone there are many more options, simply download one of the free Apps, I use Google Keep this allows you to quickly add notes, voice memo’s, check lists and pictures – they are all kept in one App. This makes accessing the information very easy, but you should note that there are many Apps that have similar functionallity. As most of them are free to try I’d suggest that you try a few.

Using the Camera.

In general the cameras on these devices are good quality, I have used mine to take some very good shots over the years – but generally when I’m very close to the aircraft. The photograph above was taken on a smartphone camera, around six years ago. So if you can be within a few meters of an aircraft, the results will be more than adequate using your phone camera.

Some cameras come with multiple sensors and lens configuration, these provide optical zoom sometimes allowing you to zoom into your area of interest. I have found the digital zoom on a number of phone cameras to produce images that to me were not good enough, you may have more luck – experiment.

Addon Smartphone Lenses.

I have not experimented with the addon lenses for phone cameras , I actually still use a dedicated camera for my photography most of the time. But I have seen some excellent results, although in most cases a tripod was used – don’t let this deter you if you feel that that is the way to go.

Online Logs.

It is possible to log directly into some of the online logging apps, however a word of caution here – even the paid for sites tend to severely restrict what you can download from the site once you get home. But effectively you can use your smartphone to log directly into one of these, which does mean that you have your personal log available wherever you have mobile data or WiFi.

Anyway, Happy Spotting!

Spotting Goodies!

by | Jun 29, 2022 | Camera, Equipment Reviews., Optical Enhancement, Spotting

So you’re thinking about being a plane spotter, what do you really need to start in the hobby? Actually very little and to be honest no investment in technology, although because almost every one has at least some suitable technology already – I’ll deal a bit with that later in the post.

The absolute basics to start as a plane spotter, well as I’ve already said elsewhere on the site – it’s a pencil and a note book. The information and the format that you record it in, does to some extent decide what type of notebook, the pencil bit though is pretty standard ( I should add that having a spare is handy sometimes ), they can be acquired from some shops.

There are any number of reasons why people become plane spotters, for some it was because they lived closer to an airport than say a train station or a bus depot. For most though there was a genuine interest in aviation and of course whether they had seen that plane before, in truth the only way to know that for sure is to record the identification of the aircraft.

Simply recording the date, location, aircraft type, operator and the registration, was probably where we all started. For some, this is as far as the hobby progresses. For others, there is a need to record so much more. This can lead on to Airshow trips, trips abroad, photography and in many cases because of the interest a career in the aviation industry.

It is all down to you and what facets of the hobby you find interesting, the more interesting – the more you are likely to invest in some form of technology.

Probably the first addition that most people go for after a second notebook for a master log is an optical device of some sort. Buit it could be any of, binoculars, telescope, computer, radio or camera again down to personal interest.

What to buy, that is a personal preference but suffice to say that most people have a smart phone and most of these have pretty decent cameras nowadays.  If you have even an entry level smart phone, you will be able to photograph, record video and audio, write notes and install an App like flight radar which will fulfill most of your needs.

There is no need to invest huge sums of money in the hobby, you can start with the basics and add to your equipment remember a notebook and a pencil is all it takes to start. Plane spotting has probably been around since shortly after the Wright Brothers made the first flight, the basics have not changed. The spotter can be someone who just goes to an airshow once a year, or someone who spends all their available spare time watching aircraft – or anywhere in between.

At the extreme ends, there are people who take little more than a passing interest and there are people who invest many thousands of pounds and will make significant efforts to be at an airport or airbase when something unusual is about to appear. This is not much different from the football supporter spectrum, where someone will just glance at the results to someone who goes to every game home and away.

So over and above your pencil and notebook what goodies do you need, the answer to that is actually none. What goodies are good to have, well the aforementioned smart phone is a great place to start. The next goody that I would buy if I was starting again would be a pair of binoculars, I’d probably stay in the range of 7X50 or 10X50 due to the cost. Or a telescope, these are very dependent on the depth of your pocket.

You’ll notice that I don’t leap into the camera arena, for information – you can take excellent photographs on your smart phone either on its own or through binoculars or a telescope. But to be fair, a camera would probably be the next goody to purchase. But whatever goody you are going to buy, within the bounds of affordability – buy what you want. Buying something not to the standard that you want is a false economy, you will probably be unhappy with it and end up replacing it – so you might as well have bought what you wanted first time round (Personal Experience).

A computer or tablet, will give access to a wealth of data – both current and historical. Where you can communicate with like minded people through forums and user groops, a simple search for your local airport may be enough. This will give access to social media where there are large numbers of active groups, sometimes several at the same airport.

An Air Band radio will, depending how close you are to the airport give access to ground to air communications. At any rate even if you live some distance from the airport you should be able to hear the communications from air to ground even if you cant hear the other side.