Common winter runway operations at JFK?

[boeingboy_787]

There are a total of 7 spotting locations in the spotting map-I'm planning to do a day of spotting next week and most likely use public transport.The burger king spot looks ideal as I only have 70-200mm lens to play with. Are there a fair amount of air traffic over 31R for arrivals?

And which runway does the EK A380 usually land on???

[T-Bird76]

There are a total of 7 spotting locations in the spotting map-I'm planning to do a day of spotting next week and most likely use public transport.The burger king spot looks ideal as I only have 70-200mm lens to play with. Are there a fair amount of air traffic over 31R for arrivals?

And which runway does the EK A380 usually land on???

The A380 will only land on 31L, and 22R/L. I don't think she can come in on 13L. When the 31s are in use most of the traffic does come to 31R however traffic will go to 31L as well. You often see a good amount of Delta on 31L as its close to their terminal. Your 70-200mm will be fine from any location to shoot the 31s. I'd recommend the Firestone parking lot. BK will not have the proper light on the planes this time of year.

[flyguy1]

The A380 has landed on both 13L, and 13R. I saw her for the first time on 13L, last Sunday.

[mmedford]

The A380 can land on all runways, I've seen it land on every strip...(except 4L actually, but it has landed 4R before, so 4L shouldn't be an issue)

If it lands on 31R i believe there is a taxi issue that exists...because it could definately hit the 13L glideslope antenna...

[flyguy1]

IIRC, it cannot land on 31R, due to the taxiway issue.

[AirtrafficController]

IIRC, it cannot land on 31R, due to the taxiway issue.

Anyone know what the taxiway issue is? Too sharp of a turn?

[T-Bird76]

IIRC, it cannot land on 31R, due to the taxiway issue.

Anyone know what the taxiway issue is? Too sharp of a turn?

The wings are to wide..they'll end up hitting poles on the other side of the fence.

[mmedford]

If it lands on 31R i believe there is a taxi issue that exists...because it could definately hit the 13L glideslope antenna...

*ahem*

[boeingboy_787]

Thanks for everyone's suggestions and comments-much appreciated.

Since my arrival on last Friday night I've pretty much delved into life in the big apple and havent had much of a time to plane spot. Having a look at the weather forecast it seems that boxing day will have great sunny weather.

My other half is going to raid the shops on boxing day, giving me an oppurtunity to go plane spotting!!!

I think the Firestone parking lot might be the most suitable for me.

:D

[nikon50bigma]

And which runway does the EK A380 usually land on???

Speaking of the A380, how often does it fly into JFK? Still 3x a week?

[moose135]

Speaking of the A380, how often does it fly into JFK? Still 3x a week?
No, it's daily now.

[Delta777LR]

[quote="boeingboy_787":2tqat6mv]There are a total of 7 spotting locations in the spotting map-I'm planning to do a day of spotting next week and most likely use public transport.The burger king spot looks ideal as I only have 70-200mm lens to play with. Are there a fair amount of air traffic over 31R for arrivals?

And which runway does the EK A380 usually land on???

The A380 will only land on 31L, and 22R/L. I don't think she can come in on 13L. When the 31s are in use most of the traffic does come to 31R however traffic will go to 31L as well. You often see a good amount of Delta on 31L as its close to their terminal. Your 70-200mm will be fine from any location to shoot the 31s. I'd recommend the Firestone parking lot. BK will not have the proper light on the planes this time of year.[/quote:2tqat6mv]

The A380 is able to land on 13L since it can actually taxi out on runway 22R. Here she is approaching 13L on December 14th

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o37/sergair/IMG_5401.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o37/sergair/IMG_5404.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o37/sergair/IMG_5405.jpg

[boeingboy_787]

well i spent quite a few hours on Friday plane spotting at Rockaway blvd outside Costco.

Let me give a run down of the day:

-Left home at about 8:30am and got to Jamica centre about an hour later-took the Q113 bus to the area mentioned in the spotters guide. Very easy to find and bus stops just outside Costco. I walked up to Burger king and checked ou the air traffic-the air traffic was taking off towards BK direction and making steep right bank turns-which would have been great if Nikon produced a cheap 400mm prime lens!!!

At about 11am-ish, the air traffic started landing on 31R-perfect. I stood outside of the Costco wholesale mart (along the footpath). Well silly me, because the police rocked up about an hour later.

The offficer is surprisingly nice and asked me what I was doing. i explained to him I am a plane buff etc. and was asked to give me my ID's which thank god I have with me at the time.

I continued taking photos while the officer was doing his thing.

About 10 minutes later, a second police car pulled into the Costco parking lot and approached me-again he was not threatening in any manner and asked me where I had found this spot. i explained to him I did a bit of research and this spot is recommended by many plane spotters in the NYC area. The officer, who has a sense of humor joked "well i guess you can find anything on the interenet. my ex-wife found me on the internet".

Anyway, while the officers was doing their checks, a third police car rocked up!

The first officer then got out of his car and said, '"well we've been getting a crazy amount of calls about a man taking photos of aircraft landing"'.

The other officer then said, ''well you are not doing anything illegal, and we have no reason to not believe you, but you should move to another area behind that building (points to the pet supplies shop at this stage)". so i did excatly just that, and presto, not only the view is better, but i also get to sit on the gaurd rails!!!

'"have a great day", said the officer as he drove off....

I spent another 4 hours spotting there,where i saw many of the wonderful variety of aircraft not seen in Australia. The only downside is that the EK A380 landed on 31L.....oh well. I guess i'll see it in Melbourne one day.

Overall it was an enjoyanble experience and I commend on the officer's professionalism and fairness to their approach with people like me who are obvously not New Yorker's familiar with the area. The officers displayed an attitude that would not make people feel uncomfortable.

Not sure if I was lucky or not, I was kinda expcted to be told that my photos had to be
deleted.

[moose135]

Glad you had a good day. At Costco, it was likely Nassau County Police that questioned you. They have gotten used to our presence, and generally react as they did with you. I don't think I've ever had what I would term a "bad" encounter with NCPD.