Aircraft spotting

Besides monitoring aircraft, planespotting enthusiasts (who are usually called planespotters) also record information regarding airports, air traffic control communications, airline routes, and more.

With the help of the internet, websites such as FlightAware and Flightradar24 have made it possible for spotters to track and locate specific aircraft from all across the world.

The configuration of the landing gear can be distinctive, as well as the size and shape of the cockpit and passenger windows along with the layout of emergency exits and doors.

[3] Other features include the speed, cockpit placement, colour scheme or special equipment that changes the silhouette of the aircraft.

[5] Some spotters will note and compile the markings, a national insignia or airline livery or logo, a squadron badge or code letters in the case of a military aircraft.

Ancillary activities might include listening-in to air traffic control transmissions (using radio scanners, where that is legal), liaising with other "spotters" to clear up uncertainties as to what aircraft have been seen at specific times or in particular places.

Several internet mailing list groups have been formed to help communicate aircraft seen at airports, queries and anomalies.

[6][7][8] In the wake of the targeting of airports by terrorists, enthusiasts' organisations and police in the UK have cooperated in creating a code of conduct for planespotters, in a similar vein to guidelines devised for train spotters.

[9] Birmingham and Stansted pioneered this approach in Britain and prior to the 2012 London Olympics, RAF Northolt introduced a Flightwatch scheme based on the same cooperative principles.

These changes are also being made abroad in countries such as Australia, where aviation enthusiasts are reporting suspicious or malicious actions to police.

Members are issued identification cards and given training to accurately record and report unusual activities around the airport perimeter.

Meetings are attended and supported by the FBI, Chicago Department of Aviation and the TSA who also provide regular training to group members.

Information on unusual movements of rendition aircraft provided data that was mapped by critical geographers such as Trevor Paglen and the Institute for Applied Autonomy.