Fantastic Response
Wow! What can I say, I think we've let the genie out of the bottle, I'm surprised just how many emails are starting to filter through. Apologies to those who I've already responded by email, the following is a cut and paste. What the AFP is trying to achieve is to harness the observation skills of 'plane spotters', so that if they saw something or someone who looked out of place around the airport, they could 'observe and report' the matter to police, through the AFP hotline 131 AFP (131237). Those 'plane spotters' who registered with the program would be subject to background police checks (but I'd have to say plane spotters are mostly law abiding citizens anyway). The question of identifying these 'plane spotters' - I had the idea of issuing an ASIC style card, though with the price of an ASIC card around $190, even if it was subsidised to a certain degree, no-one would join. We're working through that one. Overseas programs have hi-viz vests with 'plane-spotter' on the back. I thought I'd like to see some sort of a rewards program such as free airside bus tour of simualtor flight, but from what I can gather what most plane spotters would like is better access - SACL are very keen to see this program take off, so I hope a point I'd be able to negotiate is access to more suitable viewing/photographing points. The idea of Airport Watch in Sydney is gathering pace, and I'm sure if successful, it won't be long before it is rolled out across Australia. I'll keep you posted and try and respond to your emails, for those of you who have responded thank you, if you'r in contact with other plane spotters, spread the word.
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