Planespotting at PIT

[jimcfs]

GoFaresBoy (my 5 year old son) and I are driving through PIT this weekend on our way to grandma's house in CAK. He hasn't been to a big airport (at least that he can remember), and he wants daddy to show him some airplanes... at least something bigger than those little B1900's we have at BLF.

Where is a good place to go at PIT to plane watch? The PIT area has changed so much since the days I spent many a weekend coming into the 'Burgh for Pirate games. I'm sure some locals would have some good recommendations.

I wish we didn't have the post 9/11 restrictions on the terminals, as he'd have a ball going out into the airside terminal.

 

[proudf/a]

GoFaresBoy (my 5 year old son) and I are driving through PIT this weekend on our way to grandma's house in CAK. He hasn't been to a big airport (at least that he can remember), and he wants daddy to show him some airplanes... at least something bigger than those little B1900's we have at BLF.

Where is a good place to go at PIT to plane watch? The PIT area has changed so much since the days I spent many a weekend coming into the 'Burgh for Pirate games. I'm sure some locals would have some good recommendations.

I wish we didn't have the post 9/11 restrictions on the terminals, as he'd have a ball going out into the airside terminal.

There is no real good answer for you. People use to park along the on ramp to the airport, security no longer allows that. I have seen people just pulled off 60N right before the airport exit. If you drive toward the airport, you will most likely see other cars sitting and waiting. Good Luck.

 

[ClueByFour]

If PIT is landing 32, you can try Ressurection cemetary. It's just off of business 60 (http://maps.google.com/?ll=40.475224,-80.202169&spn=0.026312,0.048752)

It's just slightly short of and slightly off the centerline of 32, so you will get a pretty good view of a bunch of different things on final.

The parking deck (short term) has a good view of 28R departures, as well.

 

[trvlr64]

I 2nd the cemetary. The planes fly low enough there at times you an see the passengers through the window....and wave!

 

[pilot]

Well now, lets see if we can broadcast for the world to see just where would be a great vantage point to get as close a possible to a landing airliner.

Makes sense to me.

Come on folks, use your heads.

pilot

 

[jimcfs]

Thanks for the cemetary info, ClueByFour and trvlr64. I knew about the golf course (played there a long, long time ago), but didn't remember the cemetary. Then again, it's been how long since PIT's been a real hub?

I'll take GoFaresBoy there on our way out of town on Saturday... and then drive him by the terminal.

Thanks for the info everyone.

 

[whlinder]

I wish we didn't have the post 9/11 restrictions on the terminals, as he'd have a ball going out into the airside terminal.

Refundable tickets are your friend. Loan WN a couple of hundred...

 

[FWAAA]

Well now, lets see if we can broadcast for the world to see just where would be a great vantage point to get as close a possible to a landing airliner.

Makes sense to me.

Come on folks, use your heads.

pilot

Sorry, but I have to disagree with you. Strongly. There isn't a big enough rolleyes Smiley to adequately capture my gut reaction to your post. The paranoia evident in your post is really distressing.

Flame away for this one as well: In-N-Out Burger on Sepulveda is a great place to watch arrivals at LAX. You'll see brown and orange 737 after 737 arrive all day and into the evening. Right over your head. And Dockweiler State Beach at the other end of LAX is a great vantage point for takeoffs.

There are some beach neighborhoods in Jamaica, NY, where you can watch JFK operations as well. And in SFO, there's a public park just south of the airport (its name escapes me) where you can get great views of arrivals.

Ya know, if terrorists routinely blew up airliners here in the USA near the airports, then I might sorta agree with you. But planespotters aren't blowing up airliners here. And assuming that OBL and his gang moniter places like this for their next mission is just a little too paranoid for my tastes. If aviation security were compromised by public discussion like occurs here - then this entire site ought to be shut down, because nearly every post on this site could be argued to add to the collective intelligence of potential terrorists.

 

[delldude]

Well now, lets see if we can broadcast for the world to see just where would be a great vantage point to get as close a possible to a landing airliner.

Makes sense to me.

Come on folks, use your heads.

pilot

dunno what you're concerned about........
if they were going to pop off a MANPAD i'm sure they'd rehearse a quick shot from a vehicle within a half a mile away and not at runways end.

good vantage point for viewing a/c is at the entrance to the FAA tower and maintenance base right after you turn off rt 60.big lot and they pass overhead if they're using 28 right

 

[NeedForSpeed]

dunno what you're concerned about

good vantage point for viewing a/c is at the entrance to the FAA tower and maintenance base right after you turn off rt 60.big lot and they pass overhead if they're using 28 right

Beat me to the punch, Dude....Great place to watch aircraft!!

 

[ClueByFour]

Well now, lets see if we can broadcast for the world to see just where would be a great vantage point to get as close a possible to a landing airliner.

Makes sense to me.

Come on folks, use your heads.

pilot

Gee, wilbur--it's not like Ahmed the Awful has not thought of this before. Or the couple of thousand people who prolly head up to the cemetary at PIT to, you know, visit their passed. Or the few thousand a day who drive down 60 and see flights on final a couple of hundred feet overhead. Or dropped off a package at the PIT Fedex. Or stayed in the Embassy Suites or the Crown Plaze (hey--double bonus--you can MANPAD 28L and R from one hotel!).

Or enjoyed a drink at the infamous Sea Shell Lounge in Moon Township (hey--I hear they have a patio now--you could take the shot while doing a shot).

The list goes on. Find something worth being paranoid about--this type of "recon" was the work of a kid, even before the evil internet....

 

[FrankWasRight]

Well now, lets see if we can broadcast for the world to see just where would be a great vantage point to get as close a possible to a landing airliner.

Makes sense to me.

Come on folks, use your heads.

pilot

Oh,let's see...Ever hear the PHL ATIS mention something about "ships in river channel.." ? Or see the boats off the end of 33L in BOS,or 1/19 in DCA ? The bad guys already know this stuff-use YOUR head.

 

[Mtnman928]

Sorry, but I have to disagree with you. Strongly. There isn't a big enough rolleyes Smiley to adequately capture my gut reaction to your post. The paranoia evident in your post is really distressing.

Flame away for this one as well: In-N-Out Burger on Sepulveda is a great place to watch arrivals at LAX. You'll see brown and orange 737 after 737 arrive all day and into the evening. Right over your head. And Dockweiler State Beach at the other end of LAX is a great vantage point for takeoffs.

There are some beach neighborhoods in Jamaica, NY, where you can watch JFK operations as well. And in SFO, there's a public park just south of the airport (its name escapes me) where you can get great views of arrivals.

Ya know, if terrorists routinely blew up airliners here in the USA near the airports, then I might sorta agree with you. But planespotters aren't blowing up airliners here. And assuming that OBL and his gang moniter places like this for their next mission is just a little too paranoid for my tastes. If aviation security were compromised by public discussion like occurs here - then this entire site ought to be shut down, because nearly every post on this site could be argued to add to the collective intelligence of potential terrorists.

While you are there watching the arrivals, go inside and enjoy a delicious Hamburger 'Animal Style' with a chocolate shake.

Mtnman

P.S. Just about any airport has some kind of highway, street or access road that is available to any and all people to travel on. Just a quick stop and you could do just about anything to an aircraft or airport building.

 

[FCYTravis]

Given that all-aspect long-range MANPADS like the Stinger have been available for decades, Ahmed the Awful could be sitting on the balcony of his apartment complex in San Mateo and take out a 747 on final for SFO.

Approach patterns and maps are published by the FAA. Visual intelligence is as simple as driving over to an airport and looking up in the sky.

As I sit here in the media center of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, I'm watching a monitor showing a bored camera operator tracking his TV camera along an Aeromexico MD-80 on final approach for Mexico City International Airport. If the camera operator was a terrorist with a Redeye...

Pretending people don't know something isn't security - it's obscurity. Pretending people don't know things as blatantly obvious as airport takeoff and landing patterns isn't security either - it's stupidity.

 

[700UW]

Busch Race?