CLE-Spot2
Cleveland Hopkins Intl. Airport – Spotting Guide
- last modified on October 24, 2024
Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport is the primary airport for Northeast Ohio, an area with an estimated 4 million people, and can be found roughly 17km southwest of the centre of Cleveland. CLE currently has flights to/from most every major US city, Canada, Mexico and the Dominican Republic. The airport was a Continental hub until the United merger in 2010. Since then, Frontier has made Cleveland a focus city. The airport served just over 10 million passengers in 2019 and is thus among the 50 busiest US airports. It was opened back in 1925 and named after the former city manager William Rowland Hopkins.
Written by Severin Hackenberger in cooperation with Alex Crail, Davin Amy and William Noble. Last Update: Oct 2024 – Spot 1
| Rating | |
| Movements |  |
| Airline Variety | |
| Photo Locations | |
| Weather | |
| Airport Information | |
| Runways | |
| 06L/24R | 2.743m (9.000ft) Concrete |
| 06R/24L | 3.043m (9.956ft) Concrete |
| 10/28 | 1.834m (6.018ft) Asphalt/Concrete |
| Terminals | |
| Concourse A | Allegiant Air, Frontier, Spirit, All international arrivals and charters |
| Concourse B | Delta, Delta Connection, Southwest |
| Concourse c | Air Canada Express, American, American Eagle, JetBlue, United, United Express |
| Concourse D | Vaccant since 2013 |
| Spotting Information | |
| Ladder | Needed at some spots (see detailed description), however only use it as little as possible/really needed to avoid problems and suspicious attention. |
| Car/Public Transport | Needed to get around. There is onlay a public transport from downtown to the terminal. |
| Drinks/Food | Terminal building (Fast food stores or pre-security shops), gas stations, Burger King |
| Hotels | Sheraton Cleveland Airport Hotel is nearby as well as other airport hotels, but none offers exclusive spotter views. |
| Season | Best spotting period is June-August, but late March till early November is generally good. Avoid December-Feburary for daytime spotting (minimal sunlight) and bad weather are typical these days. |
| Security | There should be no issues, but the danger of controls is always there. So genereally keep a low profile and your ID with you! Also, be respectful as many locations are on companies’ properties! |
| Runway Usage | |
| General Info | Primary runways are 24R/24L/6R/6L. 10/28 is also used however very infrequently. |
| 06L/24R | Used for all departures. Sometimes used for early morning or late night arrivals. Only exceptions are extremely high winds in the 10/28 direction or runway closure. |
| 06L/24R | Used for all arrivals. Used for departures when 06R/24L is closed. Only exceptions are extremely high winds in the 10/28 direction or runway closure. |
| 10/28 | Seldom used due to short length. Only used when winds are 20+ knots in the runway heading or when both other runways are closed. Infrequently used by private aircraft to avoid long taxis. |
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| WHERE | Update Oct 2024: The owner don’t wanna see spotters on his property anymore. “No Trespassing” signs along the interior perimeter of the property parking lot and the driveway entrance has been installed. |
| WHAT | |
| TIME | |
| MISC. | |
| FOCAL LENGTH | |
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Spot #2 – Mazzella Parking lot – 06/24 Movements |
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| WHERE | South of the airport you will find another company along Aerospace Pkwy from which parking lot you can take nice pictures again. Head for Mazella Lifting company or use “21000 Aerospace Pkwy, Cleveland, OH 44142” in your gps to reach the spot, which can be found at the backside of the facility to be exact in their parking area there. |
| WHAT | This location is useable during either 06 or 24 opeartions generally. You can see runway movements as well as vacating/taxiing aircraft. |
| TIME | Sunrise till early noon. |
| MISC. | This spot however is useable during weekends only. They run a business Monday-Friday and it’s super busy but at weekends they don’t care. So please only use this spot on weekends as that is what the business has asked! You will also want to bring a ladder to this location as a fence is quite high unless you can shoot through it. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 100-400mm |
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Spot #3 – Postal Road – International/Charter ramp |
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| WHERE | Turn off Berea Fwy into Postal Rd south of the airport’s cargo/industry area. Keep heading northbound on Postal Rd then till you reach a little gate on your left just on the opposite side of the UPS facilities. You can stop your car there quickly, make your shots and leave again. If you miss the spot by our description here, use “5801 Postal Rd, Cleveland, OH 44135” for your gps. |
| WHAT | At this location you will have the opportunity to photograph any large international aircraft or charter flights. They will park these aircraft on the old deice pad and most will stay a few days. This spot gets shut down however if Air Force One comes to town. |
| TIME | Sunrise till noon. |
| MISC. | A ladder is reuired for this spot but try not to hang around for longer than 30 min to one hour. As stated before, this spot gets shut down if Air Force one comes to town or any other high ranking official. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 24-200mm works best. There are 5 parking spots and sometimes a cargo DC-9 at spot 5 is hard to reach with 200 and may require something slightly larger. |
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Spot #4 – Postal road south – Cargo ramp |
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| WHERE | Just once you turned off Berea Fwy onto Postal Rd, the road will make a right turn and continue northwards. You have already reached the spot then after the mentioned curve as it is located along the fence on your right on the meadow simply. Park your car on the side of the road/grass, take your shot and leave. |
| WHAT | At this spot you will see the cargo ramp. You can see a wide variety of planes from CRJ200F to a DC-9F. BerryAviation EMB-120F are often present at this location. |
| TIME | Sunrise till later morning. |
| MISC. | Police patrols this area and often sits/is present in the parking lot accorss the street. This spot should be used as a grab and go spot where you get your photo and bail after. Do not linger around at this spot! |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 18-70mm works best at this spot however a 200mm might be helpful depending what spot along the fence you are at. |
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Spot #5 – Long Term Parking Lot roof – Apron + 06L/R Departures + 24L/R Arrivals |
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| WHERE | A few meters east of the airport terminal and the driveway you will find the airport’s major parking garage. This spot is located on its upper floors, it is as simply as this. Use the “Smart Parking Garage, Cleveland, OH 44135” in your gps to reach the spot and make your way up to the top, there you go already! |
| WHAT | This spot will give you a great overview of many terminals. You can use this spot for great terminal D shots if planes are parked there or good shots of the even number gates at terminal C. You will also get a good view of departures if runway 06L/R are in use as well as arrivals if 24L/R are in use. This gives the chance to get the NASA building in the background of heavier aircraft. |
| TIME | Sunrise to about later noon works best here. Heat haze is also a facor you might have to worry about on the warmer days. |
| MISC. | This is an airport parking lot so plan to spend $5 per hour with a daily max of $20. Also Security might come and see what you are up too but they should be fine and leave asking a few basic questions. During the winter the roof often gets shut down due to snow so park one floor below and take the stairs up to the top. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | A focal length of 400mm or greater will certainly be helpful at this location. |
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Spot #6 – Brookpark Rd – 24R/L Arrivals |
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| WHERE | Northwest of the airport you will find a sort of aviation restaurant with two aircraft displayed in front. Simply turn off Brookpark Rd into Old Grayton Rd and just enter the parking on your right then. You can directly shoot from there or from the restaurant’s terrace. If you miss the location, use “4960 Old Grayton Rd, Cleveland, OH 44135” in your gps. |
| WHAT | From here you can nicely see all 24R/L arrivals. |
| TIME | Summer time is best for this location. After 5pm is best till sunset. In winter the sun don`t really comes over on this side. Heat haze can be bad in the summer especially as a street is between the runway axis and this spot producing lot of heat. |
| MISC. | There is nothing around, so bring everything. Keep a low profile here as you stand along/close to a busy street and some suspicious drivers otherwise may call the cops/security. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 70-300mm should work here nicely |
Unluckily we cannot provide any example pictures yet, but the spots itsself looks like this:
Spot 6, despite the cautions given, is the most comfortable spot to watch airplanes from. You can catch arrivals on the 24s and departures on the 6s from this spot. I’ll try to send some example pics when I can get to my cameras.
Would be nice to get some photos 🙂
There looked to be a spot starting to develop on Aerospace just past Mazzella on the southeast side of the road, as it curves to the south. It was a grassy knoll you accessed from Ruple Pkwy and Grayton Road through the abandoned neighborhood. Haven’t seen people there the past couple times I’ve driven past, so IDK if Brook Park Police chased them or not. I will say the weather wasn’t very supportive of spotting the last couple drive pasts. Maybe somebody else has further insight.
Also There is a Hilton Garden Inn Near The Airport With Amazing Views Of Landings there are only landings and only see 24R and can kinda see other planes on the taxiway and cannot see in night
Yeah I Went There!
Feel free to send us some photos for the guide 🙂
-Julian
As of October 18, 2024 the property owners at location #1 have posted new “No Trespassing” signs along the interior perimeter of the property parking lot where spotters normally park their vehicles for spotting activity. These signs were not there earlier in the week, and they face into the parking lot where to be seen by anyone using the lot. This is in addition to the “No Trespassing” sign which has been posted for years at the driveway entrance for the past several years. Our presence has been tolerated here for the past several years, so I’m not sure what brought about their change of policy, and we are clearly no longer wanted there. It could anything from their employees being uncomfortable with us any longer, idiots speeding into the parking lot, leaving garbage laying around in the grass, criminal activity at night after the business is closed, or all of the above. It’s a crying shame as this is one of the best spotting locations in the country. We have been warned!
Too bad! Guide has been updated. Can you go there at least on weekends when they don`t work there? Any alternatives available?
Thanks, Julian
Julian, since DJ’s update, I’ve driven past Heartland numerous times, and I’ve noticed people in the parking lot near the boundary fence, at around 5:30-6PM. Maybe one or two any given evening, and not consistently. I have also seen people gather on the mound near Ruple Parkway and Aerospace.
Are the no trespassing signs still installed? Wouldn’t recommend it if its still there.
-Julian
Spot #6, The Aviator Event Center & Pub.
Misc: In the past 2 years, a BP gas station and Wendys restaurant has opened about a mile East of this place on Brookpark Road. Walking is iffy as there is no sidewalk but can be done on the grass but beware of animal holes, winter walking this way is not advised as the road is a busy higher speed road.