Autumn plane spotter

16 May 2015

By Hilton Luke

May 16^th, 2015

PLane spotting

I’m not sure what it is; the crisp autumn air, seeing the sun break the horizon to create a new day or the free activity of watching billions of dollars worth of aviation technology move in and out of the second busiest single-runway airport in the world—probably a bit of all three.

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My nostalgia for this place—Acacia St Loop, Brisbane Airport—began in the early 90’s when my brother and I would not-so-eagerly awake to join dad on a Saturday morning drive to watch planes take off and land. Packed into the bench seat utility, we’d make our way down the highway to the airport with toasted sandwiches in-toe to supply us with enough energy to survive the chilly winter morning to watch the planes.

Unfortunately for dad, the sandwiches didn’t increase our attention span and sometime between the Japan Airlines 747 departure and Korean Air B747-SP arrival we’d begin to lose interest and start pitching our case to head home.

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In 2015, some 20-years on from when dad would take us to ‘watch the planes’, I still find myself amazed how these aerial behemoths not only reach suitable speed to take flight but remain airborne for uncomfortably long periods of time. I’ve been lucky to travel the world in these planes but seeing them up close provides a unique view of the advances in aeronautical engineering and our reliance on these machines to get us from one place to another.

It wasn’t our short attention spans drawing us away from the planes on this occasion, rather the un-flattering midday sun and the commitments of our busy adult lives.

Next time you’re on airport transfer duty, Google ‘Acacia Street Loop, Brisbane Airport’—the plane spotting area is the ideal location to wait and the parking is free!