2012 Spotting Weekend Wrap Up and Thank You's (extra photos)

[Kurt A]

Well, I think it’s a wrap!

Our 9th Sydney Airport Spotting Weekend comes to an end. I only have kind words of thanks for all of those people who turned up and chose to partake in this year’s Spotting Weekend. It was yet another successful event, one which was no doubt enjoyed thoroughly by everyone who came. It was a great chance for each of you to meet up or catch up with your fellow Aviation Friends, Spotters and other enthusiasts or just your mates.

So much time and effort goes into making these events really worthwhile and fun for everyone, so for me, it’s quite fulfilling to pull such an event together, and to see firsthand, people really enjoying themselves, meeting new people, forging friendships and learning new things. I’ve always loved the Spotting Weekends and hope we can continue to draw interest for more events in the future.

Of course, no event like this is possible without the help, support and guidance of a few valuable contributors of whom I’d really love to thank and praise. Not only have their efforts helped make this year’s weekend yet another success but some of their contributions and willingness to give has been extremely overwhelming.

Firstly, a huge personal thanks to Anne Walker and Nigel Coghlan from SACL for their amazing involvement in not only helping the Airside Bus Tour become reality, but also seeing it through on the day and being the most amazing hosts that you were. Thanks also to Michael Brown and Rachel from SACL who on the day also looked after the group and made sure everything ran smoothly.



Anne also very cheekily kept a few surprises up her sleeve for the entire group on the day, with 3 amazing lucky-bus-door-prizes which were given away at the end of the tour. Anne, thank you!!

So firstly, congratulations goes to Seth Jaworski for taking out the major of the prizes which is an exclusive media pass to access YSSY airside and be part of the media contingent for the launch of Scoot in early June. Congratulations also to Kieran Wells and Bernie P. who were the two lucky recipients to receive a Sydney Airport Control Tower Tour after the bus tour! What an opportunity for all three winners!

I can only be more and more appreciative of SACL and to those individuals who care enough about our minority spotter group and community. Your support is overwhelming and very much welcomed. So thank you!

A special word of thanks also goes to those 34 spotters who in my opinion were extremely well behaved throughout the entire 3 hours on Saturday morning. You my friends may have just paved way for similar events like this to run again in the future.

Another general word of thanks to those other members of SACL management whom I make contact with every year to advise them of our proposed movements and activities over the weekend. Thank you for allowing the Sydney Airport Message Board to create and hold such an event on the Sydney Airport grounds. We’ve always been very pro-active with our communication to SACL, and we’ve never had any concerns from their team. We’re very appreciative of their support and relationship.

Also on the Saturday we enjoyed our traditional Spotting Weekend Dinner and incorporated the 3rd Aviation Trivia Contest of its kind which was held at the St George Rowers Club. The Trivia Event was proudly created and presented by supreme trivia host, Mr Stephen Brown. My sincere thanks go to him for his support throughout the preparation and presentation of the evening.

It was every individual for themself on the night, and it certainly proved to be quite an interesting contest. Thanks to all who came for dinner and who participated in the trivia to make it such an enjoyable event. For those that missed out this time around, make sure you come to our next organised event. Guaranteed a great time!

Congratulations go to Brad L. for sweeping 1st prize managing to secure 11 out of 15 correct answers for the Trivia. He scored himself an Emirates A380 Model Aircraft donated by Amity Travel and Luke Chittock, a Hornets book from Australian Aviation and Andrew McLaughlin, a Framed Print of a Qantas B737 from Nathan Long, and numerous other aviation memorabilia and merchandise.

Our 4 Lucky Door prize winners were Matthew Chisholm, Tony G, Jason ? and Glenn Stewart. Each winner scored a framed print of an aircraft along with numerous other aviation memorabilia and merchandise.

Thanks to Andrew McLaughlin, David Morrell, Nathan Long and Luke Chittock for kindly donating such great prizes. Your support is truly appreciated and highly valued.

We were also lucky and once again pleased to have Mark Taylor join us at the Spotting Weekend dinner. Mark brought along and demonstrated his Kinetic SBS-3 receiver which was able to track inbound and outbound aircraft at Sydney Airport in real-time on his laptop for display. This is yet another dynamic feature of the Spotting Weekend and attracts a different and more unique enthusiast. So it was great to be able to offer this as another varied interest for those that enjoyed his presentation. I thank Mark for his commitment.

Thanks to Joe Corrigan for hosting Sunday’s Boeing 747 Flight Simulator Session. What an experience! You truly put on a great afternoon for those that attended. A rundown on all flight controls and flight systems, a few fly-by’s down the Vegas strip, an under the Harbour Bridge thrill, numerous circuits around YSSY under full ATC on Vatpac’s Virtual Pilot Network and personal flights for all who attended. Thank you for willingly opening your doors to allow us to experience this seldom opportunity. Well done!

I sincerely enjoy putting on these weekends for all of you, and I really appreciate your support, so I truly thank all those that were able to come and enjoy the weekend with us, especially those that travelled interstate. I hope you all had a great time. I am confident we'll be able to host many more fun and successful Spotting Weekends and gatherings into the future.

Here are a few more photos from the weekend’s events. Enjoy, and hopefully see you again sometime by the fence line.

Cheers
amsy




Friday afternoon spotting by the 34L/16R Old Tower Beach Car Park


Airside Bus Tour




Saturday afternoon spotting by the 34L/16R Old Tower Beach Car Park



Saturday night dinner at St George Rowing Club


Saturday night Trivia Contest


Sunday morning at Millstream


Sunday morning at RWY 25 Threshold




Sunday afternoon at Joe Corrigan's Boing 747 Flight Simulator Session