Plane Spotters at Sydney - Join In!

[Ray P.]

Originally Posted by NeilP

Hi Guys,
New Member!

I was in Adelaide recently, perched at the fence of the old carpark. I had the AFP drive up next to me, lights ablaze, and questions galore. Real sour *****s too. Now, I certainly understand what they were concerned about, and if I were able to produce some sort of "Spotter's I.D", we all would have felt much better about it. As it was I was able to carry on, but...
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Welcome Neil, unfortunately carrying a card won't guarantee that they won't be "Real sour *****s". Some of these guys are like that no matter what.

From my perspective, if I saw something dodgy, I would call the authorities as I am sure most here would, and I wouldn't need a card to do so. I am a little confused as to what the card will achieve. I mean, if you are out spotting and the AFP pull up, will they check your card, call it in to check if it's legit and then let you continue on. I mean, what if I flashed my RAAF ID, would that make me more trustworthy in their eyes (and no, I have never done that)?

I certainly think the idea has some merit, but this is a two way street and I would expect to see some tangible benefit to be gained by paying for and holding such a card. Scott has hinted on Airside Tours which is certainly a tangible benefit, and better spotting areas which sounds great, but then I am not sure if that means that card carriers only will get access, and if so, how will that be policed?

Scott, I am sure that you are all over these issues as have been the other Airport Spotting groups; I'm just interested to see how this happens.