It is every plane enthusiast’s dream to walk onto an airfield and land what is arguably the best seat in the house for plane-spotting.
Recently, Melbourne Airport hosted a Spotter’s Day, inviting 24 people with a passion for aviation onto the airfield to get up close to aircraft in a rare opportunity.
The 24 lucky spotters were selected after the Melbourne Aircraft Spotter’s group on Facebook ran a competition asking members to provide their favourite photos of aircraft at Melbourne Airport.
Created in 2012, the group has almost 6000 members. The group invites passionate members to post information about upcoming movements as well as any chatter that involves Melbourne and surrounding airports, including both military and civil.
The Melbourne Aircraft Spotter’s group is also home to a range of aircraft photography from all aspects of the aviation industry.
The airport and the group’s admin team worked collaboratively to select the winners of the photo competition, granting the 24 spotters exclusive airside opportunity which ran from 8.30am to noon.
During that time there were 48 arrivals and 46 departures, with some of the highlights including catching the landing of the Air New Zealand Boeing 777, Malaysia Airlines’ A330 unique livery and Singapore Airlines’ A380 take-off.
