What Is Spotting?

You can probably say a lot about me, but most of all, I'm an aircraft spotter, and a rather fanatic one!

This hobby really started in 1992 when the US Army helicopters came back from the first Gulf war through Rotterdam Harbor and Valkenburg Naval Air Station. But ever since I heard and saw my first F-104G taking off from Volkel Air Base when I was just about 10 years old, I visited Volkel and the Dutch air force air shows regularly.

Most people don't really understand this hobby, and I stopped trying to explain it years ago. Aircraft spotting has much to do with taking pictures of aircraft and collecting the tail numbers, but that doesn't explain why it's so exciting. I guess everybody has a passion for something that gives them great satisfaction without being able to explain it. Why does a rock climber climb a dangerous mountain without any safety devices? Because it gives a great 'kick.'  It's the same for spotters: it's the feeling. You don't know what it is without being a spotter yourself. Sorry, but that's the best I can explain it.

There are a lot of different spotters in the world. There is even a spotters saying that no two spotters practice their hobby in the exact same manner. Some spotters like civil aircraft, some only military, some both, some military and other government, etc. Some spotters don't 'do' helicopters, others are not interested in preserved and derelict aircraft. Some spotters are content with going to local airbases and some air shows, others travel the world. Some spotters only take photographs without being interested in tail numbers, others have abandoned their cameras years ago and are real fanatics in collecting tail numbers. And then there is every possibility in between. It's always a funny, but useless, discussion between two spotters on why their way to practice this hobby is the best one, and all the other ways are complete rubbish.

The Art of Spotting Tail Numbers

I am a mix of photographer and tail number collector, but numbers always go before the picture. Although nowadays with the digital cameras the camera is also a good tool for reading the numbers off afterwards. Over the years I've collected several thousands of slides and digital images, I never figured out what to do with them, except for having something to look back on when in doubt of a note in the log or to illustrate an article in a magazine.

I will try to explain what an aircraft spotter actually does. Since I am not a hard-core photographer, I will not attempt to cover that part of the hobby. This explanation is purely about tail number spotting, from here on simply referred to as spotting. I am also a military spotter. Civil aircraft don't interest me that much.

Spotting is actually much like collecting stamps, although at first glance this may seem far fetched. Every aircraft has a unique number, much like the registration plates on a car. Spotters try to collect these tail numbers, more commonly referred to as registration or serial numbers.

Almost every spotter will instantly recognize this tail belonging to a US Air Force F-15E based at Seymore Johnson AFB, its full serial number being 89-0483. When this picture was taken, it belonged to the 335th FS/4th FW,

A simple example: the Dutch air force had ten PC 7 trainer aircraft in service, serialed L-01 to L-10.  A spotter hopes to see all ten of these aircraft, then he has them 'complete'.   This is an easy example, but it gets more difficult to 'spot' all F-16's built, or the complete inventory of the Afghan Armed Forces, or... Get the point? To make the above example just a little bit more complicated: the Dutch air force has afterwards acquired three more PC 7's! Consequently, all those spotters who thought they had them 'complete' no longer do so, and all had to go out 'hunting' after them again. It is not as easy as some people might think, but then again, that's what makes it so much fun!

To be able to perform his hobby, a spotter must have a lot of knowledge, about aircraft types and serials, airfields, events, etc. Luckily, all this information is readily available in books, magazines and so on. Although it is often not realized especially by some military, all this information is legally published! Information spreads rapidly in the spotters community, especially nowadays with e-mail and bulletin boards. There is really not that much going on in military and civil aviation that spotters do not know about. There are also some other basic tools: a powerful telescope (20x or 30x magnification is standard these days), writing material and a lot of patience!

Most spotters maintain a personal database of all the aircraft they have seen over the years, most also keep on record what they have seen on a day-to-day basis. This is often referred to as 'movements.' Be aware that every spotter has his own view on what to write down, and how it is written. There is no uniform system, but most spotters will log their movements in generally the same fashion. Here are some movements of Volkel Airbase:

 Volkel AFB, Thu 14-06-2007 (fictionary)

The header contains the date and the location, in this case Volkel airbase which is my "home"-base. The four letter code is the airfield designator, the first E stands for northwestern Europe, H is the country (Holland) and the second VK is the airfield. Many airfields worldwide have such a code assigned, civil airfields have (also) three letter codes. After that, the based aircraft are first listed, then the visiting aircraft. Not shown here is a listing of possible preserved and derelict aircraft. The columns should be interpreted as follows:

The serial-number, often referred to as the registration-number or tail-number. On most aircraft vital numbers are displayed more or less prominently, but there are some rather unpleasant exceptions. Luckily for us spotters no military ever came up with the bright idea that most spotters would probably call it a day when all tail numbers would be removed from the aircrafts' outside!
 
The code is optional. Some air forces use them, others don't. They are just an extra means of identifying aircraft, but unfortunately for the spotter these codes are hardly ever permanently assigned to a specific aircraft. In the above example, the French Mirage could very well have received another code by now, for instance when it changed squadrons.
 
Aircraft type. Most spotters will list the full aircraft type here, but without the manufacturer and aircraft name. So, F-16A is very much correct, so is F-16A-1-GD, but General Dynamics/Lockheed Martin F-16A Fighting Falcon is just a bit too much.
 
The operating unit, most often at squadron- or wing-level (a squadron has about 10 to 24 aircraft, a wing consists of several squadrons). By the way the abbreviation of the unit is written, the airforce is also easy to deduct. "Smd" is used in Belgium, "Esk" is used in Denmark, etc.
 
Not all spotters are interested in construction numbers. Serial numbers can be changed when an aircraft, for instance, is sold to another air force, but construction numbers will almost always remain unchanged. These numbers are normally not displayed on the outside, but often the serial number is deduced from the construction number.
 

Other Ways of Spotting

The above explanation is more or less what I mean by spotting, but there are many spotters out there who feel very differently about it. I already told you about the photographers who can be very fanatic too. Not mentioned before are the so called radio-listeners. These people have specialized in listening to the air band frequencies. Always handy to have such a fellow with you when you go spotting, because they can often tell you long in advance what is going to happen by listening carefully to air traffic control and pilots. Unfortunately for them their expensive receivers (called 'scanners') are still illegal in many countries. I personally witnessed scanners being confiscated by the local police several times, a costly affair for the unfortunate spotter.

Maybe now you know a little bit about what spotters are up to and what motivates them. Sometimes their activities may seem suspicious, but believe me, they never really are. Spotters do it for their own pleasure and satisfaction, not for anybody else.