Airplanes are one of my major interests beside my professional career. I often play Microsoft Flight Simulator.I’ve tried to create a few pages that might come in handy when you’re about to buy a VC (Virtual Cockpit), or when you want to have a look at real planes at Schiphol Airport.
Make a choice:
In the Netherlands there are several spotting spots, in my case i especially enjoy (so now and then) to visit the runways at Schiphol Airport (EHAM).
At Schiphol airport there are six runways in operation:
Fokkerbaan/ Oostbaan – 04/22
Kaagbaan – 06/24
Buitenveldertbaan – 09/27
Polderbaan – 18R/36L
Zwanenburgbaan – 18C/36C
Aalsmeerderbaan – 18L/36R
Visiting the spotter spots around the runways can be quite entertaining, especially when it is windy. You can see the pilots fight against the (cross)winds. Beware that not all spotting places are legalized (although they look like that), the police is keeping an eye on several spots and will fine you when you’re on a not on a official spotting spot.
The legal spotting places i know are located next to the Polderbaan (links to spot), Buitenveldertbaan and Zwanenburgbaan.
Use Google Maps to navigate to the spotting spots near the runways.
When you decide to go spotting at Schiphol it is necessary to obtain information about the current runway usage for arrivals and departures. There are several sources for this, the official source is Luchtverkeersleiding.nl where you can find the current runway usage.
Runway Usage Twitter Feed @4ehamspotters
To make this information more accesible i’ve created an automated Twitter feed that updates you with a maximum frequency of 5 minutes when the runway usage changes. The information of this feed is derived from lvnl.nl. Feel free to start following this feed as it is essential to know which runways are used when you would like to spot.