With apologies to Iggy Pop, Irvine Welsh and Danny Boyle planespotting is a must for life.
It is literally a right of passage for youngsters to be taken to the airport to see the jets take off.
Now thankfully our low-budget airlines have long made it affordable for all of us to take off to foreign shores.
But it is still a thrill to look up at the planes… and a hobby for many to see them take off and land.
My own little jetsetter at home graduated from her childhood passion of trainspotting to following the jumbos.
And brought him and her along for the ride when she organised a family day out at the airport.
For airport day trippers, as were back then and many of you are now, it can be a case of organising your own spot.
Sound as The Mound
So wouldn’t it make sense to structure it?
Well, yes, and that’s why Dublin Airport are doing that very thing at ‘The Mound.’
A new public Aircraft Observation Facility on Old Airport Road.
The new elevated platform will provide ‘a comfortable and safe space for the community.
‘To view aircraft movements, with a clear view of the south runway (10R/28L) and the cross-wind runway (16/34).’
The facility would be covered and ‘fully-lit, with power provided by solar panels located on the site’
And it will feature bike parking and 22 car parking spaces – including spaces dedicated for families and those with reduced mobility.
Getting off the plane spotting
Now there is, and always has been, an offshoot of planespotting.
And that is getting off the plane spotting.
Of course, there has never been anyone bigger than Elvis Presley.
And the only time he visited Britain was for two hours when his US military jet refuelled at Prestwick Airport in the west of Scotland.
And photographer Ian McGhee captured the visit with 200 Elvis fans greeting The King to his ancestral home.
Glasgow Prestwick Mound and Glasgow North Side at Glasgow International are the spots from which to watch planes unofficially.
Which beggars the question why the airports there and in Edinburgh don’t follow Dublin’s lead and build a structure for us.
Mad for it
We can, of course, only dream of what’s on offer at the likes of London Myrtle Avenue or Birmingham Runway End.
But for planespotting enthusiasts there is nowhere they’re more mad for it than Manchester Runway Park.
Where they have a viewing platform, a children’s play area, a walkthrough concorde hangar, five retired aircraft, a cafe and a flight simulator.
And I’m guessing that I ought to keep the fact that I crashed my plane into JFK when I was at the Turkish Airlines HQ in Istanbul.
All of that said planespotting is a must for life.
And we’d be keen to hear your favourite spots.
MEET YOU AT THE PLANESPOTTING
