Airport Police

Anybody had any issues with Airport Police? Just last week my wife was flying back from FL and I was waiting to pick her up. Thought I might try my hand at shooting a plane landing or taking off, so I was well off airport property (maybe 200 yards from the fence) in line with the approach to the runway and got a couple good shots. Well, I decided to go back this past weekend and try again. I scouted around and found a better location on he north end of the runway, still outside the fence line (maybe 10 yards this time) right beside a public road. Stayed in my vehicle and everything. I had just taken my camera out of the bag and had been parked there maybe 5 minutes when the airport police approached me. Ran my tag, wanted to know what I was doing there, etc. I explained and they said nobody was allowed to be near the fence line and I had to leave. I was polite about it and left. Well, I was a bit frustrated because I really wanted to try some more aircraft photography and at this particular airport, the runway is elevated higher than most of the surrounding area. Only like 2 decent vantage points to get any good shots from. This airport is a small Intl airport and it's only 20 minutes from where I live. There are 2 much larger ones, both about 100 miles from me. So I thought about this a good bit and really want to be able to do some photography there.

So while ago, I emailed the airport and explained my situation and that I had been ran off a couple days ago. I received a reply within 5 minutes and I called the lady. She pretty much told me it was standard security procedure to run everybody away from the fence, but I could call her anytime and come out there and she would give me permission and notify the police that I had permission. So I'm gonna give it a try tomorrow. If it works out then I'll be happy. So anybody having any issues with shooting at an airport may try sending an email like I did and you might be ok.

keep us posted.

im curious as well.

FIRST QUESTION: Is this a public road?

SECOND QUESTION: Is this "public road" such that parking is allowed/ safe? Any signs posted?

IMO, you made two "fatal" mistakes:

1) Stopping directly under the approach
2) Shooting from your car

Airports don't usually like people to hang out directly under an approach in close proximity to the actual airport property due to safety concerns (be they real or imagined.) I don't mean airport safety, I mean aircraft safety. They might see you as a possible distraction to the pilots and/or they simply may not want the liability exposure of someday having to explain why they pulled 101 bodies and four Michelins out of the wreckage of a plane that carries 100 passengers and had Goodyear tires on it. Lots of airports / airbases have NO PARKING / STOPPING signs posted within X number of yards on either side of the extended runway center line.

Shooting from inside your car can be construed as attempting to remain hidden. Park in a proper area, get out of your car and be totally obvious. This is simply a matter of perception.

Communicating your desire to shoot is never a bad idea. We routinely do it with security folks at airports and air bases. Sometimes they send someone around to check us out and sometimes they don't but either way, they know we're there and why we're there as well.

Good Luck...

It is a public road (city road with light traffic) with a wide pull off area on each side. Only signs posted are no trespassing signs on the actual fence it's self. Only no Parking sign was on a gate in the fence that was wasn't in front of. I was parked in the entrance to a dirt service road and I was stopped right off the pavement and short of the no trespassing signs for anybody going down the dirt road.
I should have clarified, I wasn't directly in line with the approach, but roughly 100 yards off to one side of it. I figured the opposite about being in the vehicle thing. I work for a large railroad and the railroad police usually only approach and run people off on the property that are outside of their vehicle. I figured maybe the same here, stay in the vehicle and they might not view you as messing with anything or getting hurt.

As an update, I called the lady this morning and she just asked a couple questions. What I was driving, how long I planned to be there, and where I would be. Then said come on over, not a problem. I stayed there about an hour and a half and 3 airport police vehicles rode by me and 2 even waved and kept right on driving. So it worked out good in the end.

Nice, good to see you got it worked out. Unlike you, my only good vantage points at PIT are at business parking lots so I can get chased out of there. Now show us some of your photos.

Getting ready to post a couple

Glad to hear it all worked out well for you. One thing that may get you moved on is the parking part of it. sometimes those dirt service roads have a gate in them for emergency vehilce egress/access, designed to be driven through without stopping, and they may ask you to move you car. But now you have a contact at the airport, maybe work up to airside access request, they can only say no But you never know, may say yes.
I know things are different over there than my home airport, but it seems from reading forums, some places hassle the spotters/photogs, others positively encourage them.

Waiting for your pics

Chris

I was at Orlando Sanford and I am 16 and i was walking back to my car when a cop pulled up and told me to come over and he checked my gear and was asking me questions then they ran tag or whatever and i left. I just went to another part of the airport after that where there were no cameras and was there for hours with my buddy.

I also been going to Orlando Intl. which if you been is pretty big and i've been there multiple times and many locations and never got asked anything. The only time i have been asked was when i was under the approach path of aircraft landing. I would stand on light posts right by the runways and pilots would wave to me and i would be shooting for hours and nothing. I hope I stay lucky and dont have to deal with it.

I hope everything works out for you!

To make you feel better, here's my airport security story. After work one afternoon, I drove my Toyota 4x4 up on a hillside near the main runway in Birmingham, Al. I shot the spot before and got some good images of the city skyline at sunset. This particular afternoon, the conditions were such that I just decided to head on home. As I creasted the hill to get back to the hardtop, I noticed a cop had someone pulled over beside the road near the bottom. He saw me, jumped in his car, did a U turn and blocked my way out. Great. As he approached my truck, I asked him what the problem was. Almost rolling his eyes (Barney Fife), he said, "Have you ever heard of a little thing called 9/11"? I gave him my license and registration, he called the vehicle in, and then came back over and said he'd need to detain me until airport security arrived, TSA rules, ya know. I think it was about then that I told him I was the aircraft maintenance director at a nearby hangar and had worked inside the controlled area of the airport for over 20 years... The guy pulls his cell phone out and acted like he had airport operations on the the line. I remember him saying something like "If y'all can't get over here, I'm going to have to let this one go," so that I could clearly hear the "conversation". LOL

The funny part is that the airport authority had some interest in using one of the images from an earlier trip to the same shooting spot. If Barn had only known...

You can see one of the shots from this location here http://ericmcferrin.sm​ugmug.com …EJhp#720972625_​CBMkS-L-LB

I guess I am lucky, I live in a small town, with our own airport.
The runway literally ends(begins? ... depending on the wind) FEET from the pavement of the parking lot. I can stand there, off to the side a little and then shoot, of course, I will call them and ask them for permission first.

Slimsphotos wrote in post #9930373
Waiting for your pics

Chris

https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=846989

Namerifrats wrote in post #9967804
https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=846989

You should have some nice 8x10s made of these and keep them with you.

If you get hassled or questioned again, show these to the cop or security so they see what it is you're trying to accomplish. There are many out there how don't understand the attraction of aviation photography just like there are those who don't understand Urbex or Street Portraiture either.

I always keep three folders of some of my very best images on my iPhone:
- Military
- Commercial
- General Aviation

It's been a handy ice breaker on several occassions.

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #9967890
You should have some nice 8x10s made of these and keep them with you.

If you get hassled or questioned again, show these to the cop or security so they see what it is you're trying to accomplish. There are many out there how don't understand the attraction of aviation photography just like there are those who don't understand Urbex or Street Portraiture either.

I always keep three folders of some of my very best images on my iPhone:
- Military
- Commercial
- General Aviation

It's been a handy ice breaker on several occassions.

Sounds like a good idea. I've been wanting to try and photograph some military aircraft. I live about an hour and a half from Pope AFB, and have thought about riding down there to see what kinda shots I could get. I know alot of people don't understand certain types of interest. I work for the railroad as a freight train Conductor. Alot of people chase us up and down the road taking pictures. Alot of my co-workers don't understand it.

Namerifrats wrote in post #9967946
Sounds like a good idea. I've been wanting to try and photograph some military aircraft. I live about an hour and a half from Pope AFB, and have thought about riding down there to see what kinda shots I could get. I know alot of people don't understand certain types of interest. I work for the railroad as a freight train Conductor. Alot of people chase us up and down the road taking pictures. Alot of my co-workers don't understand it.

I don't "chase" trains, but I do on occasion like to take pictures of them. I live in Elkhart, IN which has a very large rail yard. My dad was a railroader for over 40 years starting with NYC and when the Elkhart yard was built, at that time it was the largest in the world. Just this week I drove by the yards and saw a train that was all very large John Deere equipment. Fortunately I had my camera so I took some pictures. A couple weeks ago I did not have my camera and saw a train with nothing but wood logs. Boy I wished I had my camera for that one.