Introduction
If you are new to Plane Spotting, then the chances are that you will not have decided on how you’ll keep track of your sightings and what information you will record. The truth be told, it was easier before technology. If you had a pen and a notebook, you were good to go. And for someone new to the hobby, a pen and notebook will suffice for a while.
But as with most things in life, moving to a technology based solution will be somewhere along the spotting road map. So, I’m going to create a short series of posts about using Excel, LibreOffice Calc or Google Sheets for your log. Now I’m not advocating that people use a spread sheet to replace a database function, although Excel does have pretty extensive database type functionality. But I would suggest that for someone starting out, one of these applications will get you going and give you time to evaluate the other logging options.
Why a spread sheet?
So as someone starting out as a spotter, you’re going to need a medium to record information. And, in truth you could do a lot with Word or all sorts of other applications. Where spread sheets like Excel score highly is flexibility, need to change the format of the data, add a photograph or a new data point and in most cases they are available free.
It should also be pointed out that there is a lot of help out there for new users.
What to record?
OK, here is the first place where you will find a degree of disharmony. Now what I’m suggesting here is just a personal view point, you need to have an opinion on this yourself. Most spotters capture between four and ten information points, but this is where spotting gets to be really personal;
The things that I record.
This is the list of data points that I record, it is my list – you don’t have to follow what I do. There will be significant differences from what I collect as a spotter and what you collect, it’s the nature of the hobby.
Serial or Registration
The serial number, usually visibleĀ on the aircraft. Registrations identify the country of origin and they are unique.
Manufacturer
The manufacturer name, should be self explanatory. But they change with mergers, acquisitions buy outs. If you’ve been around a while you’ll know that the first 35 C-17’s are McDonnell-Douglas and the rest are Boeing.
Model Name
What the model is known as, if it was a Boeing it could be a B737, 737-236 basicaly this is how you want to record the model. With military aircraft, it could be C-141A, C-141B or Starlifter it is completely down to your preferences.
Manufactured Serial Number
Often called the Construction Number, it is a serial number assigned by the manufacturer during the build process.
Operator or Owner
Who it is that outwardly operates the aircraft, American Airlines, British Airways or some other entity. It could be a private individual, a flying club, the government or the military – the list is pretty long.
Location and Date
This should be self explanatory, but for clarity the location is where I was when I saw the plane and the date is the date that I first saw the plane.
Things that I don't record.
This is list of data points that I don’t record, it’s just a list – not everything will be in it. You might want to record all kinds of other data, there are probably hundreds of data points that are available – you just have to capture them..
Flight Number
The number assigned to the flight, usually it is the same for the route – sometimes it might be something like PAG001 if it is going one way and PAG002 if going the other.
Route
This is a commonly collected data point, something like LHR-JFK (London Heathrow to John F Kennedy).
Did I photograph it?
Really simple, did you photograph it. What is the image file called, where is it stored on your computer – the list goes on.
First Sighting
The first time you saw this aircraft, they can have several I dentities – these are generally called “Scrapes”, short for a Paint Scrape.
Special Paint, Military or Civil?
Is it Military or Civil, is there something else special about the aircraft like a special paint scheme.
Special Flight
This should be self explanatory, but for clarity this could be a Charter flight for a special event. Or it could be something like the G20 meetings, it could be a flight transporting a celebrity – again any number of reasons.
Heads Up on Spread Sheets
As you’ll have seen, you can pretty much collect any data that you want or that you can find out. It’s actually one of the main things that I find appealing, but be aware that there is a bit of effort in finding each piece of data. Although I hold the view point that you can’t have too much data, it is easy to be overwhelmed – so choose what data you feel is suitable for you.
In my opinion, this is why a spread sheet is one of the best tools for the plane spotter when you are starting out. They allow you to easilly change the format of the data that you collect, make it easy to extract the data if you wish to move it to a commercial application like Aerodata or Plane Base. So they are a good place to start, they don’t cost significant money and there is plenty of help available if you want to get serious using one.
What about commercial applications?
There are quite a number of applications out there, so the quality and functionality will be variable. There will be packages that charge quite a lot of money, they will provide much of what you want. Some will ship you a demonstration version, others have decent web sites and are widely used in the spotting community. But remember, you are not in control of what data you get. In many cases it will be more than you want or need, but it may not have something that you do consider important.
It is also worth noting that the data is input and updated by teams who in most cases have an interest in fitting with the existing userbase for the product. There is nothing atall the matter with this approach, but if the information you wan’t isn’t there – then it may not be the package for you.