Shooting Through Airliner Windows

[Emergency Exit]

Hey Canon shooters. New to the forum but not to Canon DSLR photography.

I'm going to be travelling by airplane within a couple of days and as an enthusiast planespotter, this is a great chance for me to snap more shots I can hopefully get up to ANET.

The problem is I live in Papua Indonesia, and the airliner windows here are quite dirty - they have irremovable colored stains, scratches and spider webs inside, and unless it's a brand-new Garuda 738 I'm in, I can clearly notice some bad spots in my photos, otherwise great for uploading. Anyone else have this experience, and how do they get around it?

Also, it's a great moment to shoot wing shots when it just turned night and the plane circles over the lights of the city to line up for landing. When shot long exposures, the scene produces a nice effect of the lights producing a circular pattern, similar to those shots of the stars forming circles above the earth. But it's incredibly hard to keep the camera still. Any methods or equipment that can help regarding this?

Thanks!

[FlyingPhotog]

Your best bet for the latter style of shot is a soft rubber hood you can rest against the window. Pressing against the window will give you some stability and the hood can help block extraneous light. The downside is you're in contact with the aircraft so bumps and vibrations will be transmitted directly to your camera.

As for the state of window cleanliness, carry a soft cloth with which you can wipe the inner pane. Not much you can do about the triple-pane effect unless they'll let you open a window.