{"id":465601,"date":"2026-02-08T03:04:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T03:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/465601\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T03:04:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T03:04:14","slug":"plane-spotters-call-for-dedicated-aircraft-viewing-area-at-adelaide-airport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/465601\/","title":{"rendered":"Plane spotters call for dedicated aircraft viewing area at Adelaide Airport"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Antonov AN-124-100 is an absolute unit of a cargo plane \u2014 it is one of the world’s heaviest and a favourite of Adelaide plane spotter Cameron Roberts.<\/p>\n

He recalls seeing the Soviet-era giant touch down at Adelaide Airport in 2023 with his younger brother Gregory.<\/p>\n

“Seriously, it’s like such a cool plane to see,” Cameron said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Antonov AN-124-100, in a photo taken by Cameron Roberts in 2023. (Supplied: Cameron Roberts)<\/p>\n

The two brothers share a love of plane spotting<\/a>, the hobby of observing and documenting aircraft, usually with photography.<\/p>\n

While it is a popular pastime worldwide, there is a network of enthusiasts in Adelaide armed with telephoto lenses, flight scanners and radios on a mission to capture the miracle of flight up close.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Cameron Roberts and Gregory Roberts share a love for plane spotting. (ABC News: Daniel Taylor)<\/p>\n

“I’m a little bit surprised how popular this is,” Gregory says.<\/p>\n

Despite the interest, many in the community say it is getting harder to take photos of the planes, pointing to recent projects at Adelaide Airport<\/a>, development around the area and an ongoing battle with the fence and other additions.<\/p>\n

“They’re taking over sort of old locations where most people take photos from,” Cameron says.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

The brothers at a plane spotting location known as Circus Block near Adelaide Airport. (ABC News: Daniel Taylor)<\/p>\n

To get a clear shot, the brothers regularly rely on stepladders and climb nearby objects such as a skate park half-pipe, tree stumps and large concrete blocks.<\/p>\n

“It’s a bit difficult trying to get photos where there’s all these obstructions,” Cameron said.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Gregory and Cameron Roberts take photos from ladders. (ABC News: Daniel Taylor)<\/p>\n

On the ground every day<\/p>\n

On any given day, there are plane spotters set up somewhere around Adelaide Airport.<\/p>\n

Among them is 14-year-old Harrison Lawson, who catches a bus down, venturing through security to take photos from inside the terminal.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Plane spotter Harrison Lawson takes photos from within the Adelaide Airport terminal. (ABC News: Ashlin Blieschke)<\/p>\n

“Every day or so I like to come down and look around,” Harrison says.<\/p>\n

“I really enjoy being close up to the aircraft while they’re parked at the gate.”<\/p>\n

Harrison prefers keeping out of the heat and likes the atmosphere inside, but he says it is not ideal for taking photos.<\/p>\n

“The glare can get in the way quite a lot; it’s bit annoying sometimes but, I mean, there’s not really a lot you can do about that,” he says.<\/p>\n

\"Fingers<\/p>\n

Harrison Lawson using a popular flight tracking app. (ABC News: Ashlin Blieschke)<\/p>\n

It is one of the reasons why most plane spotters find themselves in a small handful of public spaces outside the airport, choosing them based on the size of the planes, the runway used, the wind and the position of the sun.<\/p>\n

Appetite for watching planes<\/p>\n

Back in 2008<\/a>, a Qantas A380 caused gridlock around the Tapleys Hill Road car park \u2014 a well-known spotting area \u2014 as crowds tried to catch a glimpse of its first landing in Adelaide.<\/p>\n

Spotters are keenly aware of aircraft visiting for the first time and any with special markings or liveries.<\/p>\n

“They’re a big thing for a lot of the community to photograph when they come into Adelaide,” says Cameron and Gregory’s dad, Darin Roberts, a plane spotter himself.<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

InPlaneSight record a live stream of the Adelaide Airport. (ABC News: Daniel Taylor)<\/p>\n

Every Monday, hundreds tune in to a live stream of regular tarmac activity with running commentary.<\/p>\n

“If you get a diversion of an A380 or something, you can have 5,000 people watching,” says Mark Spence, who has been helping to run the stream for the last two years with a team of six people.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Live streamer Mark Spence. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

“The planes are landing probably only 300 metres from us, so up nice and close. You can certainly hear them,” Mr Spence says.<\/p>\n

Each week, the team parks down a dead-end road in an industrial area immediately east of the airport and sets up a bunch of multimedia gear, including a 2-metre-tall tripod so the camera can see over the fence.<\/p>\n

“As a photographer, the biggest disappointment is having the fence in the way,” Mr Spence says.<\/p>\n

Mr Spence says it is “definitely getting harder” to spot and is concerned about the future of the hobby.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The view from a plane spotting site known as The Bakery at Adelaide Airport. (ABC News: Daniel Taylor)<\/p>\n

Call for dedicated viewing zone<\/p>\n

Last month, Adelaide Airport started construction of an 1,100-space car park, alerting the community about heavy-vehicle movement around “a popular photography point for the plane spotting community”.<\/p>\n

“We definitely need some sort of official spotting area here at Adelaide,” Mr Spence says.<\/p>\n

“It’d be really cool,” Cameron agrees.<\/p>\n

Sydney Airport and Perth Airport have dedicated infrastructure for taking photos of the planes, which are elevated to limit obstructions.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Viewing sites at Perth Airport (left) and Sydney Airport (right). (Supplied: Perth Airport\/Sydney Airport)<\/p>\n

Last year, Brisbane Airport announced an upgrade to its viewing area, citing “growing demand from people who want to come and have a front-seat view of aviation”.<\/p>\n

It is a move many spotters hope Adelaide Airport can follow, but not on the cards anytime soon, according to Adelaide Airport executive general manager for corporate Alicia Bickmore.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We don’t have plans for one at the moment,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Alicia Bickmore from Adelaide Airport. (ABC News: Ashlin Blieschke)<\/p>\n

“In saying that, we welcome plane spotters’ feedback around where they would like their preferred site to be, to enable us to have planning for any future opportunities.”<\/p>\n

Ms Bickmore said Adelaide was lucky to some have unrestricted views of the runway.<\/p>\n

“It’s quite unique,” she says.<\/p>\n

Ms Bickmore says many members of the public go to the Tapleys Hill Road site, west of the airport, and sites at West Richmond, on the eastern side.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A small number of plane spotters tour the runway each year through a competition run by the airport. (Supplied: Adelaide Airport)<\/p>\n

While the flat car park on Tapleys Hill Road might be the most popular plane spotting location, spotters cannot really see over the fence, and for decades a billboard has been causing headaches for those photographing the aircraft.<\/p>\n

“As soon as they’re lifting off, the billboard cuts half of it off,” Gregory says.<\/p>\n

“Unfortunately, there isn’t a better location\u2026 it’s not the greatest,” Cameron adds.<\/p>\n

“It’s like any hobby: it can live or die by the infrastructure you’ve got around it,” Darin says.<\/p>\n

“It would be nice if we had a viewing platform; I mean we don’t hold any great hope that it will happen, because I don’t see for the people doing it that it has any financial benefit to them.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A United Airlines plane at Adelaide Airport. (ABC News: Daniel Taylor)<\/p>\n

Not everyone agrees<\/p>\n

Calls for a designated viewing zone are not unanimous.<\/p>\n

“I’ve always loved coming down here to watch planes,” says Jasmin Christensen, who pulled over with her children to watch a United Airlines flight take off.<\/p>\n

“I kind of like that you don’t have other amenities here because it keeps people away that maybe shouldn’t come here.<\/p>\n

“If you had toilets or whatever here you’d attract people for more than just watching the planes.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Antonov AN-124-100 is an absolute unit of a cargo plane \u2014 it is one of the world’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":465602,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[80719,64,63,99,238272,36566,238271,27512,238270,238273,15497],"class_list":["post-465601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-adelaide-airport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-flightradar","tag-glenelg","tag-inplanesight","tag-live-stream","tag-plane-spotters","tag-tapleys-hill","tag-viewing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}