LGW-Spot1
Seychelles Point Larue Intl. Airport – Spotting Guide
November 5, 2017
London City Airport Spotting Guide
November 22, 2017London Gatwick Airport Spotting Guide
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- last modified on March 14, 2019
London Gatwick is a major international airport 47.5km (29.5 miles) south of Central London. After Heathrow, it’s the second busiest airport in the UK, and it’s the eighth busiest in Europe. Until 2016 it was also the busiest single-use runway airport in the world, but it has now lost this title to Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji in India. 46 million passengers passed through Gatwick in 2018.
Unlike London Heathrow, Gatwick is mainly used by charter/tourist traffic and low cost carriers. In terms of passenger numbers, easyJet is by far the largest operator, followed by British Airways, TUI, Ryanair, Thomas Cook, Virgin Atlantic and Norwegian. Latter use the airport as a hub for their new long haul network offering flights on the 787 to destinations all over the world. You will also get some interesting operators which you won´t see at Heathrow like Westjet or Rwand Air.
Cargo traffic and General Aviation plays no major role at LGW.
Written by Bas Velders, Alan Edwards, Severin Hackenberger, Clive Grant and Fabio Farolfi (Spot 6). Last visit/update visit August 2018).
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| Airport Information | Runways | 08R/26L | 08L/26R | |
| 3,316m (10,879ft) | 2,551m (8,369ft) | |||
| Terminals | North | South | ||
| easyJet, TUI, Virgin | British Airways, Norwegian, Ryanair, Thomas Cook, flybe | |||
| Spotting Information | Ladder | Not needed, though useful at Spot #5. | ||
| Car | Necessary for Spots #2 & 3 as these locations are a long distance from the terminals, and the perimeter road is not served by local buses. It may be possible to take a free bus between the terminals and the Purple Parking car park nearby, walking to and from these two spots from there. | |||
| Restrooms | Inside the terminal or the nearby villages you’ll find quite a lot of hotels and restaurants with restrooms. | |||
| Drinks/Food | Inside the terminal or the nearby villages you’ll find quite a lot of shops, hotels and restaurants. | |||
| Hotels | The Hampton by Hilton, Sofitel and Premier Inn hotels are all alongside the North Terminal and there are several others close by. The BLOC Hotel in the South Terminal provides views of the airport, with the Hilton and Courtyard by Marriott nearby. South of the airport, there is the recently refurbished Maple Manor Hotel on Charlwood Road. This hotel is also convenient for Spots #4 + #5 when Gatwick is on easterly operations. | |||
| Season | Whilst Gatwick is a busy airport year round, the summer months between May and October see higher movement levels with a greater variety of traffic, and of course longer days and hopefully better weather. | |||
| Runway Usage | General Info | There is only one runway in use at any time and opportunities for photography, of landing traffic in particular, are available whichever end is in use. Usage: As the main runway, 08R/26L will always be used unless it’s closed due to an emergency or when runway maintenance is scheduled. In this case 08L/26R will be brought into use. There is no preference for either easterly or westerly operations so the runway end in use will depend on the wind direction. However, as the prevailing winds are westerly, 26L is likely to be in operation approximately two-thirds of the time. |
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Spot #1 – Blue car park 1 – 26L arrivals |
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| WHERE | The spot is located on level number 5 of “Blue car park 1” multi-storey car park next to the terminal. Just take the elevator or stairs to rech this level and walk to the southern end of this car park, until you’ve reached a position with a clear view.
Parking is not cheap (£12 for 2 hours) so check what’s due before you go! |
| WHAT | All arrivals on 26L and some apron movements with high milimeters. |
| TIME | From late afternoon till sunset in summer. In winter unuseable. |
| MISC. | Nearest facilities are in the terminal.Light poles can be disturbing your view hardly. Keep away security cameras as we received some reports, that security services are sending away spotters from this parking garage once seen on CCTV. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 200mm will cover most things (ATR72 200mm , 738 135mm) |
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#2 – Perimeter Road East – 26 arrivals |
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| WHERE | From inside the South Termnal (there is a shuttle between both terminals) take the lifts opposite Zone D check-in area to level 0 and then turn right out of the tunnel and walk towards Perimeter Road. Walk alongside this road until you have reached the spot (10 minute walk). Spotting is also possible in the late evening (summer): just walk underneath the landing lights back towards the South Terminal. If driving to Gatwick, park in one of the South Terminal car parks and use description as stated above. Access from the former staircase (Concord House), is no longer possible and only staff with a security ID will be able to use it.By car: When you don’t want to park in the expensive airport car parks, you might use the Nestle visitor parking (marked on the map) in the City place area south of spot #3 for parking. We never had problems while using the spot for 4-5 times a 1-2 hours. Sometimes the parking is full, then parking around here is VERY difficult. Walking up here will take ~5 minutes. |
| WHAT | All arrivals on Runways 26L/26R. Don’t hang out near the fence, but stay near the roadside. |
| TIME | All day during the winter. In the summer the light’s OK from about 9 until about 16 and in the evening. |
| MISC. | You can find everything you need in the terminal building. Dis-/Advantages over spot #3: Less distance, so you won’t have problems with heat distortion that easy and you won’t need that high focal lengths, but therefore the angle isn’t that good, it’s not that flat here, which is bad especially for heavies. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | Depending on your location: ~ 60 – 150 mm From the entrance of the staff carpark: ~ 200 – 250 mm |
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#3 – City place – 26L arrivals |
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| WHERE | This spot is located on the walkway by the roadside of “A23″/”London Rd”. Your exact position depends on the angle and the light poles, which can be very disturbing!
By car: You might use the Nestle visitor parking (marked on the map) in the City place area south of this spot for parking. We never had problems while using the spot for 4-5 times a 1-2 hours. Sometimes the parking is full, then parking around here is VERY difficult. By bus: You can use the bus stop next to the Nestle building called “City place”. For more details about the bus lines toppping their and their departure/arrival times, please click on the icon on the map and follow the given link! |
| WHAT | All arrivals on Runways 26L/26R. Don’t hang out near the fence, but stay near the roadside. |
| TIME | All day during the winter. In the summer the light’s OK from about 8 until about 16. |
| MISC. | You can find everything you need in Crawley’s suburb a bit south of this spot. Heat haze can be a problem as well as parking your car! Dis-/Advantages over spot #2: Distance is higher, so you’ll have more problems with heat distortion and need more focal length, but therefore the angle is flatter/better here. This can be seen especially on heavy aircrafts. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 120-350mm
ATR72 = 320mm / B767 = 190mm / A380 = 150mm / A319 = 280mm |
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Spot #4 – Lowfield Heath Road – 08 arrivals |
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| WHERE | Driving from the South Terminal, take the A23 London Road towards Lowfield Heath. Turn right at Lowfield Heath Roundabout and then left onto Charlwood Road. Follow this road to its junction with Bonnetts Lane on the left with the Purple Parking depot on the right. The Road then bends around to the right where it changes to Lowfield Heath Road and Spot #2 is on the left. Although there is a lay-by alongside Spot #2, the police may sometimes move drivers on from here, so it may be better to park in Bonnetts Lane and walk around to this spot. I you’re on foot, you may be able to catch the free bus from the terminals to Purple Parking and walk to the postion from there. The bus runs every twenty minutes. |
| WHAT | All arrivals on Runways 08R/08L |
| TIME | All day during the winter. In the summer the light’s OK from about 09:00 until about 16:00. |
| MISC. | Apart from the Maple Manor Hotel back along Charlwood Road, there are no facilities here so bring what you need. SECURITY UPDATE JULY 2018: We received information and reports, that police and security services send us spotters regularly away from here, because the area around here is already to close by the fence and it is unsafe to let us spot there! |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 100-300mm should cover most things. You can adjust your position to suit the angle you prefer. |
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Spot #5 – Western End Crash Gate – 08R departures |
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| WHERE | This spot is located on the right side of “Lowfield Heath Road”. Shortly after you passed the Arrivalpath lights of runway 08R you’ll get to the crashgate, which is the spot. |
| WHAT | Through a single latch between the pole and the door of the crash gate it’s possible to take photos of aircraft lining up on 08R. |
| TIME | From early afternoon until sunset. |
| MISC. | Just inside the crash gate, the yellow metal barriers can get in the way of photos. At busy times and especially at weekends, this area gets pretty crowded so spaces to take photos is limited. The crash gate is secured so don´t touch it too strong. A ladder is useful to help avoid both of these problems but they are not popular with the authorities who are likely to ask you to remove it. Apart from the Maple Manor Hotel back along Charlwood Road, there are no facilities here so bring what you need. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 50-200mm should cover most things. |
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Spot #6 – Railway Crossbridge – 26L arrivals |
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| WHERE | The location is very easy to find. It´s on a footbridge over the railways. If coming from #1 get down to the rental cars and there is a small path at the southwesternmost corner running up to the bridge. You can also get there if coming from #3 or #2 if you wanna switch the position in the summer evenings. There is a footpath that runs next from the nestle buidling all the way up along the railroads till the bridge. |
| WHAT | Side on shots from the bridge and front shots from the footpath for 26L arrivals. |
| TIME | From late afternoon till sunset in summer. In winter unuseable. |
| MISC. | Terminal is very close so you get everything there. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | Air Baltic 735 = 200mm |
21 Comments
Hi Clive, I’d like to know where you think the majority of plane spotters go in Gatwick (most popular spot) Also, do you think that there will be people there everyday at the busiest spot? Thanks
Hi Connor. As I’m rarely at Gatwick these days, I’m probably not the best person to ask. Maybe one of the Gatwick regulars can give you an answer?
Hi,
Was just wondering if you could give any spots indoors? I’m taking my Grandparents as they love plane spotting, but it’s going to be cold when I take them, any ideas?
Hi Izzy, from inside personally I don´t know any location to watch the planes. AFAIK everything is behind security. You might try the south car park where you are a little bit covered.
-Julian
Thanks for this guide. Went Tuesday to Gatwick, arrivals were on 08 so went to Lowfield Heath Road. I didn’t position myself right next to the road but on the raised berm. I also saw spotters next to the street and had the idea police/airport security asked them to move, while at that spot I could sit for the full day without any questions.
Hi Paul,
As far as I’m aware, there should be no problem with the authorities if you’re standing in the parking garage and there should be a similar view from the next level down if it’s raining. That said, it’s been quite a while since I’ve used this location, so if anyone knows differently then please let us know.
Cheers, Clive Grant
Hi there,
Will the police move you from the parking garage if you are on foot, and if it is raining is the same or similar view available from the next level down.
Thanks
Paul.
Hi Guys,
We are passing through Gatwick for the day on a connecting flight, is the terminal any use for spotting inor are we better at one of the spots outside?
If you are landslide, there are no views to spot. Airside is the best option. Outside is OK, see the comments below, but you’ll need some time to get to a location
I went to Gatwick today & tried to get to point 1,Perimeter Road East.There is now a barrier & a small hut with 2 guards,When I was there I stopped & asked if it was still alright to go down the road & take photo,s.They said no to my request & said I needed permission first.The stairs in the corner(by the BA check in)are closing also on 20/7/18.Concorde House will be accessible by lift?
Did the guards told you how to get this « permission »?
Hi Mark, thanks for the info. I think there are ongoing constructions and the workers need a permit to access it. I will try to find out more…
-Julian
so if i go through the terminal which leads outside to the perimeter road east are you saying that
i cannot spot aircraft ? what are gatwick upto and can big jets tv sort it out ??
stewart from Doncaster.
Spotting is still possible from there. Just the access to the spot has changed. See desription above for #1.
-Julian
I was at spot 1 last week (August 20). There are no problems getting, or staying there. There is a “check point” but nobody stops you. Just walk straight through. Members of the public use this route to go from the terminal to their jobs at maintenance on the south side. Great location.
Hi David, yes the guide is already updated and they just closed a access stair (concorde house). Of course the spot is still available.
Cheers!
Julian
Hello
Is the bus shuttle to Purple Parking at spot 2 free of charge?
Thank you
Yes Mohamed, the Purple Parking shuttle bus is free and runs every twenty minutes.
Hi guys is it Really Not nessesary to use a ladder at the crash gate?
Hi Dirk
There are gaps in the middle and either side of the crash gate so if there are only 2 or 3 photographers there then you will be ok, but if there are more than that you may need a ladder. Security do drive past regularly and will tell you to take it down though. The mesh is very small and impossible to take pictures through.
Cheers
Alan
Thanks for the infos Alan. We have just updated the guide for this location.
-Julian