AvGeeks and Plane Spotters wait for the British Airways A380 inaugural at YVR.
Written for the Airline Passenger Experience Association – APEX.aero
How do #AvGeeks show their love of aviation? Our regular contributor and resident AvGeek Howard Slutsken counts the ways…
- You look up every time you hear an airplane, and can positively identify the type. By its sound.
- The only reason you’ll spend time in an airport bar is if it has an epic view of the ramp and runway.
- You go to the In-N-Out on Sepulveda in Los Angeles not just for the burgers, but to watch the planes on short final at LAX.
- When you arrive at a terminal you’ve never been to, you take a photo of the carpet.
- When you’re at the gate and you check the fin number of your flight, you’re disappointed when you’ve already flown on that plane.
- You use SeatGuru.com to make sure that there actually is a window beside your window seat.
- At a party, you’re the one correcting everyone else’s misconceptions about airlines and aircraft.
- You get angry when the airplane taking off in a movie is a different type when it lands.
- You tweet the local TV news when they use a graphic of an obsolete airline livery.
- You use the hashtag #FlightOfTheNow when you post a photo of your next flight’s plane.
- Your house is a gallery of aircraft models, photos and memorabilia.
- You drive around a new airport in your rental car hours before your flight, camera ready, to get shots of new additions for your aircraft photo library.
- You know the best plane-spotting locations around your local airport, some that you don’t share with anyone.
- On a road trip, you stop at almost every small airport’s restaurant, to enjoy burgers named after classic airplanes.
- The annual airshow at Oshkosh is your mecca.
- You know the difference between standard winglets, split scimitar winglets and sharklets.
- You just don’t understand it when people say they are afraid of flying.
- Turbulence is fun!
- You’ll book an unconventional itinerary just to fly on a new aircraft type, or visit a new airport.
- The day that in-flight cockpit visits were barred was a very sad day, indeed.