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September 9, 2020Grand Rapids Gerald R. Ford Airport – Spotting Guide
- last modified on September 8, 2022
Gerald R. Ford International Airport (IATA: GRR, ICAO: KGRR). located southeast of Grand Rapids, Michigan, handelds around 3 mio passengery annually. It is a focus city for Allegiant Air.
| General Information | |
| Terminal | There is one terminal with two concourses |
| Runway | The airport has three runways, but 08R/26L is the busiest one. |
| Geralton-Mount Magnet Rd – 21 Arrivals | |
|---|---|
| WHERE | The location is the official viewing area of the airport. Take MI Route 6 to the Broadmoor AVE SE exit (#15). Then, you want to take Patterson AVE to the end of Kraft AVE North, the park is on the right. One will need a vehicle to get to this location. There is a fence, but the park is situated on a hill. Typically, we stand on top of the picnic tables when photographing and that is sufficient. |
| WHAT | From the park, one can see all ops on 8R/26L (The main runway). Since the park is quite long, it does not matter the direction of traffic. Also, taxiways A and D are visible. 8L/26R is not visible, and is only used for small props. 35/17 is also not visible, but the majority of traffic use 26L/8R. |
| TIME | Backlighting is never a problem at GRR, but heat haze can be. We typically go only in November or December. Even in January or February, the heat haze can be bad. |
| MISC. | There are bathrooms, over 100 parking spaces, drinking fountains and a shaded area, but no restaurants are nearby. GRR is one of the last remaining airports with a designated spotting area. Police patrol the area, but they won’t bother you. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | All pictures can be achieved with 400mm. An A320 or 737 needs about 100 to 200 mm, while a Phenom or a Citation needs about 400 mm. |
The viewing area is great! One thing though is that a 200mm can work for smaller jets on 8R/26L. If you really want to get zoomed in on the little jets then a 400mm would definitely work.
The Grand Rapids viewing area is very nice It gives you a good view of everything. There are no annoying mounds of dirt blocking the way, and there are even public bathrooms too.