Do you ever go to your local airport and....

[Cass]

just watch the planes take off and land?

We love doing this... there are some great spots along Airport Road in Toronto and the jets come right over your head to the runway...very very cool.

On a nice summer day there are dozens of cars/families doing the same thing, some with cameras & picnic lunches... kids love it too.

There is one spot in particular that is hard to get but it is right at the end of the runway and you face where the plane approaches, if we are lucky enough to get that spot we put the top down on our convertable, put the seats back and the jets just ROAR over us from like 100 feet. Woohoo

 

[Servants of Evan]

My son and I just did this last night. It was a "Guys Day." We drove to Cleveland to spend the afternoon tobogganing and then I asked him what he wanted to do... and he wanted to see the planes. There's a pull off on Brookpark road right on the approach line which unfortunately was already occupied, so we headed up to the Bomber Squad's parking lot for a nice view... Unfortunately, we mostly got the commuter jets at that time of the evening and only one 732... I was hoping for a 738 or larger but it wasn't to be...

 

[Daisy Duck 5]

There is a spot in Halifax where people do this as well but I have never done it before.

 

[Marseeya]

We used to go to the airport and Pittsburgh and do it, but you can't go into the airmall anymore. Unless they've changed it in the last year...

 

[Servants of Evan]

Years ago you could go to Cleveland Hopkins airport where there was an observation deck. You could either stay in the glass-enclosed area or walk out onto the roof-top observation area. They had ATC piped in so you could listen to the planes on approach and it was totally cool. On a few occasions my girlfriend (to be wife) and I would go to the airport solely for a little "travel dreaming..." Unfortunately, those days of moderate security are long gone.

 

[mommaU4]

OMG, I love doing that!!

When DH and I were dating we used to go to San Diego all the time and one of our favorite things to do was get some take out and go park by the airport and watch the planes. There was a small parking lot at the end of the runway and we would watch them from there. It's probably gone or blocked off now. We would sit there and talk. It was kinda romantic.

We did that a couple times in Vegas too. You can tune into the air traffic control channels and listen in. It was fun to imagine all the people coming into the city, some for their first time and to wonder what sort of "adventures" they'd have while in Vegas. Were they there to get married, divorced, would they lose everything or hit the jackpot?

They have a parking lot at our airport here in Traverse City that you can observe and listen but the airport is so small and the air travel is so light it's kinda boring.

 

[safetymom]

We used to go out to the airport, walk around, have lunch every Sunday. Loved watching the planes but that all ended after 9/11.

 

[Kimickey]

Yes matter of fact I just did it last night at Ronald Regan National Airport. There is a park called Gravely Point that sits right off of the Potomac River and all of the airplanes fly right over the park and land right on the runway. It's pretty cool because you can bike, skate, run, walk amongst other activities at this park. Also BWI (Thurgood Marshal Baltimore Washington International Airport) has the same type of park that I visit quite frequently as well.

 

[olena]

I've always wanted to do that, but Atlanta isn't a good place to try it. I don't know how close you can get to the runway and even if you could, the area around the airport is too unsafe to just hang around.

 

[monarchsfan16]

We did when I was younger, but the roads around Manchester Airport have all changed since I was that young. I don't know how easy it would be anymore. We also used to go sometimes with dad on Sunday morning, have breakfast at the McDonalds there (before he remembered he's Italian and does know how to cook...), and go up on the observation level that they have and watch the planes come in and leave. Even now, when we go to pick people up at the airport we still will go up to the observation level to watch the planes come in (it's not blocked by security)

 

[gshanny]

We aren't very close to any real airports.
OT, but we did have fun watching the planes while waiting for ours the other day in Orlando. The scary thing was the ledge in front of us. We were sitting behind the Delta area next to the Midwest Airlines area. The ledge had all kinds of bird droppings. On the ledge was a bone that looked kind of like a chicken leg. We want to know what kind of bird brought that up there?!?! It is too high for a person to have set it up there. I had to take a picture of it to show a friend. She gets my weird sense of humor and would understand the funniness of it.lol

 

[chesirechik]

Used to love to do that at Pittsburgh Int'l, but the way it is set up now, you just can't!

 

[safetymom]

PIT was the airport we always used to go to. Whatever happened to them opening up the airside terminal on certain days for locals to shop? When we left 2 years ago they were talking about it.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

That was our big cheap date in high school...go to Logan Airport, and watch the planes from the Observation Deck. I'm assuming the days of being able to do that are long gone. And to be honest, I can't be in Boston and not feel a little eerie seeing planes take off from Logan since the two planes that crashed into the World Trade Center left from Logan.

 

[Cass]

Just today (after I posted) we had to go to a trade show just by the airport.... we saw British Airways landing, it was awesome

 

[monarchsfan16]

And to be honest, I can't be in Boston and not feel a little eerie seeing planes take off from Logan since the two planes that crashed into the World Trade Center left from Logan.

It is so eerie seeing the planes leave Logan now. I was scared to death when we flew from there last April. It just represents so much for my family. I have never been so glad to touch down in Orlando (yeah Disney's great but it also meant we survived).

 

[Hermosa11]

YEP, used to do it at the San Francisco Airport. Great place and many others would park and watch. I miss that.

 

[J.Cooper]

Oh my goodness. I LOVE this thread. For a long time I thought I was the only one who would love to go and watch the airplanes at the airport. I would tell a few friends I love doing this and they thought I was strange . DH knows I love this and I got him enjoying it too. We'll go get some take out, find a good spot to park and watch the planes come in and take off. We normally do this in the summer/fall. I've always had a fascination with airplanes. I love being at an airport. When I have to fly out for work, my co-worker likes to people watch and I like to airplane watch

 

[BillSears]

I used to do it all the time as a kid. I lived about 5 miles from the airport and I'd bike over a couple of times a month.

Maybe this summer I'll pack a lunch and drive over, it's only about 25 minutes away. That's alot less time then I spent biking there.

 

[tiggerlover]

Haven't done that in years! When DH was stationed in San Diego he used to work in a building right near the runway and when he had the night duty I would sometimes visit and we would sit on plastic lawn chairs on the roof area and watch the planes land and take off.....oh, what sweet memories!!!