Ep.233 - Airport Spotting with Matt Falcus

And, you know, like I sort of hinted at earlier, I've sort of been dragged back into the passion to just literally watch aeroplanes again.

you know watch them land watch them take off taxi wander around the airport but there seems to be a really heavy interest a renewed interest I'd like to suggest but I probably think it's a lot of new entrants and people who have come into airport spotting or just have an interest in aviation what does it tell us about aviation enthusiasm is it on the increase what what's your feel about where it is at the moment

I think, yeah, it's still there.

It's still as popular as it was.

I think it's definitely shifted.

Like I think you mentioned earlier about YouTube.

We all probably do armchair plane squatting now.

There are so many

live

feeds from airports and YouTubers who broadcast movements, which is great.

And it's really renewed an interest.

I think there are lots of young spots, young enthusiasts.

um yeah the internet and smartphones things have really changed things yeah i think flight radar which was a massive thing for the aviation spotting community because it made things so much easier for us and it's it's brought in a lot of new people so many people who are not enthusiasts still have flight radar on their phone yeah yeah it shows how popular it is and everyone's so keen to see if you see an aircraft in the sky a trail to know what it is where it's going yeah and um And we've got

these new boxes, haven't we? And I know Helen Webber, who I spoke to last week, I know she's got one on her desk, one of these new panels with the LED screens that tells you the nearest aircraft.

Have you got one yet?

No, I haven't, but Facebook is advertising it to me every day and I'm It's only a matter of time, I think, before I'm tempted.

But yeah, I see them all the time.

It looks really cool.

I got it on

my Christmas list and my wife said to me, oh my God, you're going to love that.

The fact

these things are coming out and it shows her an interest in aviation still.

So I think lots of spots are out there still.

Now, you mentioned them very briefly when you were off Oshkosh taking registrations.

That's what I started doing back in the day.