Spotting at Mascot in October

[Werner K]

Hi all,

my partner & I will be in Sydney in October this year and we were planning on doing some plane spotting at Mascot. At this stage we're not sure exactly what days we'll be in Sydney.

So, I'm after some preliminary information to help plan our trip itinerary. My partner is mainly interested in 747's while I would be interested in the MD-11F's which I know do visit Sydney. Also any wide bodies are of interest as well.

Are there any days in particular where the abovementioned planes are more likely to be in Sydney?
Is any particular time of day better than another for "heavy" arrivals/departures e.g. morning vs afternoon?

During October, is there any bias towards which runway is most often in use for international arrivals/departures?

From reading the Wiki Mascot spotting guide, it appears as though for the morning, Shep's Tower site would be the best while during the afternoon, the International Terminal & Kyeemagh Beach sites would be best. It appears as though the Qantas Drive site may be ok for either morning or afternoon? These would be the sites we would look at viewing from. Are there any problems/tips to viewing from any of these sites?

I remember years ago (mid 80's) taking a break from the crazy Sydney traffic at Kyeemagh Beach and seeing a KLM plane (don't recall what it was) pass in front of me on Taxiway Alpha and it was awesome.

For the International Terminal site, it appears as though the cheapest option for viewing is to park near the rowing club on the other side of Cooks River and walk over the bridge. Do you walk on the northern or southern side of the bridge to safely get to the International Terminal? Another option would be to catch public transport to the terminal.

Any information would be most appreciated. It would be good to meet up with any regular Sydney spotters once we know what dates we'll be in Sydney.

regards,

Werner

[Werner K]

Hi all,

we have now settled on Fri Oct 14 for our day of plane spotting at Mascot.

Will both MD-11F's be arriving in Sydney on this day? Anything else unusual that arrives/departs on a Friday?

Is there any up to date information on the viewing spots as I'm not sure how old the info is on the sites I found by Googling.

Is there anyone likely to be about who might wish to meet up and point us in the right direction to ensure we have an enjoyable spotting session?

I myself have a Sigma 18-250mm lens while my partner has a Canon 75-250mm lens for photographing aircraft. I also have a video camera with a reasonable zoom on it.

Any suggestions/help would be appreciated.

regards,

Werner

[paul.f]

Hello Werner,

Try the Sydney Airport Message Board website it has more activity these days than this site not much is posted here anymore I think Facebook and etc have killed this site