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Welcome - Sydney Airport Spotting Weekend 2014 - CONFIRMED - All the details here!
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Hello all, The Sydney Airport Spotting Weekend is here again! Friday 4th - Saturday 5th April, 2014 These gatherings once began back in 1999 and were organised by a collective group of keen aviation enthusiasts, of whom many are still with us today. Over the years, the weekends have grown larger, along with attendee numbers, more exciting activities to become involved in, and of course more and more friendships have been created. The goal of the weekend is to enable an opportunity to introduce new people to our hobby, put faces to familiar names and catch up with people we may not often see, but rather only communicate with, "online". It’s an event held right alongside the Sydney Airport Runways attracting people from all over Australia and New Zealand with the one common interest of Aviation. Aircraft Spotters, Aviation Enthusiasts, Photographers, Pilots, Engineers, aspiring children, and many more attend each year in an attempt to get as close to the action as possible, and have lots of fun along the way. This will be our 10th Spotting Weekend in Sydney, and to celebrate such a milestone, we've teamed up with Sydney Airport Corporation Limited to put on a weekend you will not forget! This year Sydney Airport will be offering two airfield tours that allow photography. Packed in between will also be an afternoon Plane Spotting session along with an Aviation Trivia contest all from a high vantage point. SACL is making available their corporate office rooftop at the airport which has an impressive 180 degree runway view to host proceedings. Both airfield tours will include a reasonable amount of time on the airfield to photograph aircraft landings and take-offs and will also consist of a tour around the inside perimeter fence. This forum's Spotting Weekends in the past have collectively maintained a generous following over the years of hard-core enthusiasts whereby our membership kindles the feeling of belonging to a credible group that maintains integrity in the industry for professionalism and reliable information. We're very lucky and sincerely appreciate that Sydney Airport kindly recognise our existence, experience, enthusiasm, the impact and relationships YSSY Forum have developed in the aviation community over the years and hopefully continue to do so. In lieu of this, SACL have afforded our YSSY Forum members exclusive access to one of the airfield tours; that being on Saturday morning 5th April. This tour will be specifically only available for active contributors of YSSY Forum over the past 12 months who also maintain current tenure in excess of 6 months from before the 5th April 2014. Together, we're also excited to announce that Canon Australia will be present during the afternoon's spotting event demonstrating some new products, where you'll also have the exciting opportunity to bang your canon camera body onto the back of various super telephoto lenses available for use during the session. After Canon’s product demonstrations, Sydney Airport and YSSY Forum will offer light refreshments and finger food. We also strongly recommend that you take time out to enter the Aviation Trivia Competition. Several stakeholders have offered great experiences that will be raffled after Saturday’s airfield tour as lucky door prizes and as part of the Trivia Competition in the evening. Not an event to be missed, there's some amazing one-time only experiences up for grabs. It is important to remember, this is the second time that collaboration with SACL for an event of this kind has taken place, and we really appreciate the drive and enthusiasm of Anne Walker on behalf of Sydney Airport to help bring this event alive and to offer such exciting experiences so seldom available. A lot of time and effort behind the scenes goes into pulling these events together whereby email trails of approvals and planning all come into play. Please take note of the particulars relating to the weekend's events below: Available Airside Tours
The weekend's events will go ahead in all weather conditions except in extreme storms (lighting and thunder). What to bring
If you require accommodation over the weekend we recommend using the onsite hotel. For more information visit Rydges Hotel specific Aviation Enthusiasts package here [link]. Important
To guarantee each of you have an equal chance to go airside, please register your interest for either session on the following web page [link]. Registrations are OPEN now, and will close on Friday, 21 March 9am. On Friday, 21 March at 10am names will be drawn out at random. Participants will be notified and provided with the required documentation to be completed and returned by Tuesday, 1 April at 10am. Should a participant not provide the required documentation within that time period, waitlisted applicants will be called upon. SCHEDULE OF EVENTS FRIDAY, 4 APRIL 2014 12:00 - 13:30 Meet and Greet. Lunch - St George Rowers Club 14:00 Meet at Sydney Airport Media Centre for sign in prior to airfield tour (If you are late, your seat may be cancelled) 14:30 - 16:30 Airfield tour to commence from Gate25 for 2 hours 16:30 - 19:30 SACL Rooftop Evening Event - Unique high vantage point photography experience - Canon Australia Product Demonstrations - Aviation Trivia Contest - Lucky Door Prizes - Light finger food and refreshments 19:30 End of Day One SATURDAY, 5 APRIL 2014 06:00 Meet at Sydney Airport Media Centre for sign in prior to airfield tour (If you are late, your seat may be cancelled) 06:30 - 09:00 Airfield tour to commence from Gate25 for 2.5 hours 09:30 - 10:00 Airport Watch Program held by AFP In conclusion... Please go ahead and register your details and good luck to all those eager for a seat on the airfield tours. Naturally, not everyone can be selected, but I encourage you all to participate in the evening gathering from 4.30pm on the Friday, as it promises to be a fun-filled afternoon of spotting, trivia, demonstration along with food and refreshments all from an amazing vantage point. We've also conveniently left most of Saturday and Sunday open for your own plane spotting interests where you might even enjoy the company of new found friends. I'm already aware of the many regulars who will once again return to YSSY for this year’s event, and I look forward to meeting many more of you, in particular those newer members who have yet to partake in one of the many successful Sydney Airport Message Board events. So, for those of you who have never been along to a Spotting Weekend in the past, or even to one of our Forum gatherings at local restaurants, let me warmly welcome you to join in and come along to Sydney Airport during 4th -5th April 2014. I look forward to seeing you in person in April. Cheers, Kurt. |
How exciting. This is a great news for the community.
I hope to be selected this time around, since I missed out on the previous gathering, due to not meeting the forum's minimum length of 6 months of registration. Thank you Kurt and the SCAL team, especially Anne Walker for the opportunity. Should be a great event and one to look forward to. Regards, Hendra |
Thanks Kurt, all registered.
Good to see you today again. |
Unreal, Cheers Kurt, just registered then. Hopefully i'll be lucky enough to attend my 1st proper Spotters Weekend :D:D
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Thanks Kurt - I have also registered, good luck to everyone in the draw and I am sure everyone who can make it will enjoy the activities.
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reckon I might have to get my ***** up to Sydney for this! good work Amsy.
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Sweet. See you down there.
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Well done to Kurt and team as well the good folk at SACL for organising what will be a fantastic event.
I will be doing my best to be there, providing the work roster allows it, so once I am back there on Monday to check for those dates, I will be registering for the times I am available. For me, I sincerely hope it all works out so I can have the opportunity to catch up with some of you fine folk on this board. Cheers Jim |
I hope to be there! Sounds like a great weekend!
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Fantastic news! The last airfield tour was an awesome experience and I'm sure this year's events will be no different. Well done to the team for making this possible.
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Sorry if this is a silly question but why is the spotting weekend on Friday and Saturday and not Sunday?
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Could possibly be due to the CBR airport open day on the Sunday, if it is, thanks for the consideration as I am meant to be volunteering at that so it means I'm not torn between the two :D
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Hi Daniel,
Not a silly question at all. With regards to the Airfield Tours, we had to work within the constraints of the airport and what they considered were the appropriate times to allow such tours to be conducted. Things for consideration were organiser, security, escort and external stakeholder availability; bus availability; safety; timing of the day due airport operations, workload etc; ease of catering also... With all those things in mind SACL proposed that the best combination would be the Friday afternoon tour / Evening gathering / Saturday morning tour. As I also mentioned before, the official part of the Spotting Weekend leads really well into the rest of the weekend, leaving most of Saturday and Sunday open for your own plane spotting interests where you might even enjoy the company of new found friends. This will especially be convenient for those planning a long a weekend at the airport, and will also suit many interstate guests. I hope this answers your questions and thank you for your understanding. |
This spotting weekend sounds so good, and I was really hoping it was going to fall on my week off so I could make it to my first spotting weekend, but the dates cant please everyone. I am sure to all those going will have a blast. Good job admin on organising this.
Cheers |
Great effort Kurt and others.
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Great Work Guys,
I really do hope you all enjoy it, I'm only 17 & I hope to be on the next one. Enjoy it guys |
Thanks Kurt.
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I can only say, Well Done, to all concerned :-))
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I'd like to add my thanks for the efforts of Mr Ams and the people at SACL for their efforts in organising such events. It's great that SACL and SAMB are cooperating to this level.
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Thank you everyone. I hope to see you on an Airfield Tour or at the Friday evening's Spotting and Trivia Session.
By the way, here are some photos of the SACL Rooftop which is where we will be gathering for spotting, food, refreshments, trivia and the use of Canon's equipment and demonstrations on Friday 4th April between 4.30pm and 7.30pm. Don't forget to register here to come along: http://www.sydneyairport.com.au/corp...y-weekend.aspx This is one expansive view, and up 9 levels high. Pictures of the Rooftop: http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g1...8.jpg~original http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g1...8.jpg~original Pictures from the rooftop: http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g1...9.jpg~original http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g1...a.jpg~original |
Tickets are all booked. Looking forward to some good times!!
As always massive thanks to everyone who organises and helps out with this weekend! |
Hello everyone,
This is just a quick note to let you know that both airfield tour allocations for our upcoming Spotting Weekend in April have now been exhausted and that participant selections were made randomly by computer today based on the original registration received and by eligibility outlined in the initial notification at the start of this thread. Those successful applicants should have by now been contacted by Sydney Airport with confirmation details and important information that requires adherence. Please check your email inbox. Again, congratulations to all those who were successful in randomly attaining a spot on a tour, and for all those unfortunately unsuccessful this time around, please continue to support us and the Spotting Weekend by attending both the SACL Rooftop event on Friday afternoon from 4.30pm and the AFP (Australian Federal Police) Airport Watch Presentation on Saturday morning at Sydney Airport Media Centre. Both these events are free and everyone is invited and welcome. We already have over 50 people coming to the SACL Rooftop event, so it's set to be an awesome gathering of like minded people. Come join us! Please register your interest on the following web page [link]. Thank you, and I look forward to seeing you in April! |
The roof top event, does that require a notification from SACL regarding attendance or do you just show up if you have already registered? Also with regards to the roof top event, is it 1645 sharp or whenever you can make it within the time it's on, at this point in time it doesn't look like I will be able to finish work at CBR airport until 1515!
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This a fantastic idea. Well done to all who organised it. I received my email yesterday. Due to work I'll only be at the Saturday events. It'll be good to meet some new like minded plane obsessed people :)
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Hi everyone, just a quick update.
For those who have received confirmation for an Airfield Bus Tour, please ensure you send your ID Access form and ID to the following email address prior 1 April. Yssy.Planespotter@syd.com.au We're also hoping to send out a reminder to those who have registered for the SACL Rooftop event, mainly about the location and timing requirements. For entrance to the SACL Rooftop, we ask that you bring your confirmation print-out from the EventBrite Website, so we can verify your attendance when you arrive. We request that everyone arrives by 4.45pm to ease the access to the rooftop. But of course we understand that not everyone can arrive on time. In this case, if you're already aware that you will be arriving late, please let either myself or Anne Walker at Sydney Airport know by contacting us below. This way, we can plan to have an internal SACL Staff Member available to swipe your access to the rooftop during the event. Anne Walker Yssy.Planespotter@syd.com.au Kurt A boardadmin@yssyforum.net Currently over 65 registrations received for the SACL Rooftop event. Don't miss the party, register here to come [link] See you all soon. |
Best of luck guys, not sure how I missed seeing this until I saw Keiran's post on Facebook today. Let's hope the rain clears and this is an enormous success. Best wishes!
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As of one the lucky "tourists" on the tour today, all I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you. The tour was great and the weather improved, despite the gloomy forecast.
I am sure everyone will agree that Anne, Kurt and Nigel put on a superb tour - words can't express how great the morning was. Thank you to all involved! |
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.... I'm crying that I have just missed out again twice!! :(
I have just found out that my friend's photos in fb. Will there be the same again next year? |
Thanks to Kurt, Anne and Nigel for the tour this morning! It was an amazing experience to watch the activity a little closer and get some nice shots of rotations and landings and some different angles to the norm.
Was also great to meet some folks from the forum as well. Hoping that this will happen again soon. |
I was one of the lucky persons who was selected for the Friday afternoon spotting event. Though the weather was a disappointment, but a big thank you to Kurt, Anne and Nigel for organising everything. It was an amazing experience to watch all the planes this close-up.
Also, it was fantastic to meet everyone. Hope this will happen again soon. |
And why wouldn't you guys be happy :D, the SACL Rooftop Evening Event was a great opportunity to meet everyone, check out some impressive Canon gear, enjoy the nibbles, have a little fun with the Trivia, and shoot some images from the 8th Floor balcony. Let's not forget to mention the amazing prizes, including visits to the Tower today at 10:30am for 6 lucky people.
Then again this morning, the weather gods smiled down on us for the Saturday Airside Tour, we all enjoyed a couple of great shooting locations, and a visit to the AARF Station including a water cannon demonstration. The Airside Tour ended with a presentation from the AFP on the Airport Watch program. Anne, Nigel and Kurt, you have done it again, delivering several amazing events over this weekend, both airside and at the Terminal. A personal thank you from me, but I am sure everyone attending has nothing but praise for your efforts this year. http://www.16Right.com/MessageBoard/...140405-233.jpg |
Awesome!
I agree with Grahame and want to add my personal thanks as well to Anne, Kurt and Nigel for the effort that has been put in to make yesterday and today so memorable. The weather yesterday was a bit of a dampener but the evening food, drink and trivia 'exam' proved a big hit. Starry skies this morning and a forecast of fog was a good omen, and so it proved to be with three hours of uninterrupted pure gold airside photo ops, not to mention the Kurt vs Nigel banter as a bonus, and the use of Morris Biondi's mini scanner plugged in to the bus' PA system to make us feel at home. The visit to AARF East was impressive. At $2m a piece and the ability to accelerate from 0 - 100 in 18 seconds, these tenders are amazing. Especially liked the massive V12 engines being kept permanently warm with electric heaters, and the fact that the power plug automatically disconnects when the tender leaves the station - no need to delay while someone climbs up to disconnect! The six-wheel drive 34 tonners are soon to be replaced with eight-wheel drive 50 tonners, and the fire station building will have to be enlarged to accommodate them!
On top of the super airside tour, eight of us won last night's lucky door prize of a Control Tower visit, and that did not disappoint either. Thanks to Air Services Australia's Phil Lee for the permission and to Margaret for looking after us during her break. Boy, that was some view! We could have spent the day on the balcony if you'd have let us ... :D Am I too old to become ADC East - the busiest job in the tower. For those that missed the Control Tower trip Constable Alina Esteban of the AFP gave an informative presentation on Airport Watch. As responsible members of the aviation community all SAMB members need to take heed and contribute to this initiative as a small token of our appreciation for the indulgences we are granted on days like this. Few airports in the world are as embracing of their aviation enthusiasts as SACL showed today - we are very lucky people! |
I too would like to express my gratitude and appreciation on the job Anne and her "happening" team, Kurt, Nigel, and our bus driver did to make this event so memorable. I can well understand the logistics involved in formulating such an event.
Due to the twin tyrannies of distance and health, I am just a "part-time" member of the camera fraternity in Sydney. I enjoy every opportunity that presents to get down to the Mound or the Beach and catch up with the action and fellow members. So to be lucky enough to be aboard this morning's airside bus tour, was a moment I shall treasure for years to come. I know I reflect the thoughts of many on this mornings tour, who wouldn't mind at all if it "just happened" to occur, just a little more often ;-)) Thanks again everyone Cheers John |
Saturday Airside Tour - The Orchestra.
http://www.16Right.com/MessageBoard/...140405-074.jpg Saturday Airside Tour - The Conductor. http://www.16Right.com/MessageBoard/...140405-075.jpg |
Fantastic event, great time and thank you to all who organised, especially Kurt Ams and the beautiful Anne Walker. Thank you for the special prizes as well, and I cannot wait until the next Spotters Weekend.
Meanwhile, any of you with an interest in Reptiles come to the Australian Reptile Park near Gosford, I volunteer most Sundays. Plenty of different photo ops there too! I really am grateful for this weekend, I am still buzzing! Really look forward to seeing everyone's photographs because the ones I have seen so far have been stunning! |
Hi Kurt,
Many thanks to you, Anne, Nigel, Mr Bus driver and all the other behind the scenes people for putting on a wonderful 2 days for us all. It was great to meet all the YSSY forum & Facebook friends in person, share stories and our love for aviation and photography. This event was just what the doctor ordered and I'm still 'circling the airport' so to speak.... I particularly loved the smell of the Avgas and burning rubber :) I'm so grateful and appreciative to have been given the opportunity to attend the trivia night, go on the Tarmac & Control Tower, it feels like a dream.... that came true. Many thanks, Cheers Nadia X |
Likewise, I like add my thanks to Kurt, Anne, Nigel, the bus driver and all others who have put together such an amazing tour on Saturday morning. It was great to see so many members and finally able to the name to a face of some members.
I haven't been able to go the airport and just watching planes come and go over the last few years, but yesterday was just wonderful. I agree with what Nadina said above, the smell of jet fuel and burning rubber was fantastic. Seeing different aircraft taxiiing metres in front of us, and rotating and touching down is a surreal experience. One that I'm extremely grateful for. Thank you once again for organising this event :) Michael |
I would like to express my thanks to Kurt, Anne and Nigel for all the hard work they have put in to make this event possible. It was great to see the action from up close and smell the Avgas and burning rubber.
Granted my ears were ringing slightly after the event yesterday but it was well worth it. Thank you once again for organising the weekend. |
I would like to thank everybody involved in making the weekend sensational, starting from Kurt, Anne, Nigel, the bus driver, the Federal Police and any body else who helped organise the weekend, also the participants for making it a fun experience. Apologies if i have left anybody out.
I would like to make a special mention for Jayden Laing, for his true act of kindness in my regard, for those of you who don't know he was kind and generous enough to donate his winning ticket to visit the tower to me, only out of the goodness of his heart because i had never been and he had, so mate, a massive thank you once again, i had a wonderful time up there. Regards, Morris |
Big thanks to Kurt, Anne, and to all involved in making this spotting weekend possible. This was my first spotting weekend so it was great to meet new people, hope to see some of ya's out there.
I usually goto the mound, beach, or Rydges during weekends so feel free to come and say hi :) |
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