Great plane spotting roads

[OCGuy81]

Does anybody else here find themselves not just a roadgeek, but a plane/aviation geek as well?  I'm in the latter category, as is my son, and I've been making quite a few drives lately to spot planes. 

My go-to is along MacArthur north of the 405 in Irvine for planes arriving at SNA.  I usually pull into a parking lot right before the 55 freeway (which arriving planes basically parallel for landing at SNA majority of the time) and watch landings.

Red Hills Ave is a good place to watch departures from SNA.

There are lots of roads near LAX that provide great plane spotting opportunities as well.  Vista DelMar Park, right off Vista DelMar is my go to for LAX plane spotting.

What roads will you find yourself driving along that provide good opportunities to spot low flying aircrafts?

[TheStranger]

Old Bayshore Highway near SFO (former Alternate US 101 and US 101 from many decades ago) has at least two notable parks where spotting is easy: the Bayfront park on the Millbrae/Burlingame border, and Fisherman's Park further southeast.  (The state park in the middle, Robert Wooley, is alright too if you walk far enough from the parking lot).  Overall, many roads in northern San Mateo County are good spots to watch the action at SFO: Skyline Boulevard/Route 35 in Pacifica and Westborough Boulevard in South San Francisco both take you towards the route planes taking off to go internationally fly over, I-380 east of course approaches the airport itself, and the Bayshore Freeway/today's US 101 sometimes gets planes directly flying over it as a result of its proximity to the airport perimeter.

[bassoon1986]

TX 26 near Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, Texas gives lots of sightings from DFW. Also Industrial Drive in Bossier City, LA as it borders Barksdale AFB.

[1995hoo]

GW Parkway north of Reagan Airport. From the northbound side you can park at Gravelly Point just north of the airport and get some great photos.

[hbelkins]

I'd think anyplace with a "Low Flying Planes" road sign would be worthwhile. Examples I can think of are US 50 between DC and Annapolis, and I-86 between Elmira and Corning.

[formulanone]

If you like traffic, try your hand at I-75 in Atlanta. Traffic wasn't moving too fast when I took this shot (some cropping).



On the other hand, this is arguably safer...

[english si]

M25 near Heathrow - even in good traffic you'll see 2 or 3 planes make their final approach or ascent with fairly decent closeness. And that's looking out the windshield. Look east if they are landing and you'll see 4 or 5 of them coming in (visibility dependant).

Travel at rush hour and you'll get loads more without needing to come off the motorway and park up!

[empirestate]

Ballyhoo Road, Dutch Harbor, AK

Beacon Hill Road, St. Martin

And the NJ Turnpike eastern spur.

[SteveG1988]

US2 in grand forks ND, The airport and Air Force Base have runways that go right over US2

[realjd]

SR528 at MCO is great if the planes are landing from the north. Also just about anywhere on the north end of downtown in SAN.

[OCGuy81]

SR528 at MCO is great if the planes are landing from the north. Also just about anywhere on the north end of downtown in SAN.

Yes! SAN is a great place to plane spot because of the airport's proximity to downtown, and how quickly the planes have to drop because of the terrain.

Balboa Park has several great spots to plane spot, and then there's the infamous parking garage right before the runway.

[ET21]

I-294 around O'Hare is always filled with planes taking off and landing throughout the day. I wouldn't recommend snapping shots unless you're going southbound which always becomes a major jam due to rush hour.

MDW there is a nice park not too far away in a suburb called Burbank where I always see takeoffs and landings from.

[1995hoo]

The street that runs along Maho Beach outside SXM.

The cops there only realized at the last second that Concorde used afterburners. Had they not cleared spotters off the fence, some people would have been burned to a crisp.

[TheStranger]

SR528 at MCO is great if the planes are landing from the north. Also just about anywhere on the north end of downtown in SAN.

Yes! SAN is a great place to plane spot because of the airport's proximity to downtown, and how quickly the planes have to drop because of the terrain.

Balboa Park has several great spots to plane spot, and then there's the infamous parking garage right before the runway.

There's also the frontage road and neighborhood on the north/east side of I-5 that offers some good spots to see landing aircraft!

[Bruce]

SR 518 is pretty good for planespotting near Sea-Tac. Same goes for the light rail line, which is elevated above the airport freeway and has a great view of the northern terminals on the way in.

[PHLBOS]

Hog Island/Fort Mifflin Roads run around PHL's airfield.  Many airliner photographers park alongside the road to get some good lading photos; especially when Runway 27R is used.

One photographer's there on a daily basis and posts his photos in his website, www.phlairline.com.

For BOS (Logan Airport); when the planes use Runway 22L for landings, one can literally be driving along MA 1A (from just south of Downtown Lynn to East Boston) and see them. 

One excellent spot to see the planes just prior to landing (on BOS' 22L) is MA 145/Saratoga & Main St. at the East Boston/Winthrop line.

Revere Beach Blvd. (where the original Kelly's is located) is also another road to see planes coming in.

[wphiii]

There's a whole designated parking area off of MD 176 right across the road from BWI just so people can watch the planes come and go. You can also access a walking/biking trail there that completely circumnavigates the airport.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1630197,-76.663612,3a,75y,120.28h,78.39t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sBDt_If6vJG5Igkb3s2sXZA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[empirestate]

There's a whole designated parking area off of MD 176 right across the road from BWI just so people can watch the planes come and go. You can also access a walking/biking trail there that completely circumnavigates the airport.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1630197,-76.663612,3a,75y,120.28h,78.39t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sBDt_If6vJG5Igkb3s2sXZA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Oh yeah, I remember seeing that and being very confused, because you can't bring shaving cream into the airport gate area, or photograph a minor county courthouse in New Jersey, but apparently the government will build you a whole place to sit around and watch airplanes so you can figure out where to stick the bomb.

[hm insulators]

I-10 passing Phoenix Sky Harbor.

[WillWeaverRVA]

VA 156 and US 60 near Richmond International are also great for plane spotting.

[noelbotevera]

VA 267 east of VA 28. Don't worry, there's a shoulder you can park on. You'll see planes departing at Dulles.

------------------------------------

VA 28 near the Air and Space Center. Get off at Air and Space Parkway or Frying Pan Road (or stay on VA 28), and you have a clear shot at Dulles Airport. The runway faces the Air and Space Center (as the Air and Space Center was once Dulles).

[1995hoo]

.... (as the Air and Space Center was once Dulles).

Not sure what you mean there. The museum is on airport grounds and has a connection to one of the runways, but the museum was built as a museum and was never an airport terminal or the like.

[noelbotevera]

.... (as the Air and Space Center was once Dulles).

Not sure what you mean there. The museum is on airport grounds and has a connection to one of the runways, but the museum was built as a museum and was never an airport terminal or the like.

It has an air traffic control tower and everything. It's layout is like an airport. you go through gates, then to the parking lot, then you enter the main concourse of the airport. In fact, one of the exhibits is original equipment since it was an airport (control panels and the aviation alphabet sign).

[Kacie Jane]

.... (as the Air and Space Center was once Dulles).

Not sure what you mean there. The museum is on airport grounds and has a connection to one of the runways, but the museum was built as a museum and was never an airport terminal or the like.

It has an air traffic control tower and everything. It's layout is like an airport. you go through gates, then to the parking lot, then you enter the main concourse of the airport. In fact, one of the exhibits is original equipment since it was an airport (control panels and the aviation alphabet sign).

It's a museum designed to look (and in some ways, function) like an airport.  But it was built in the 90s, long after Dulles opened.  It was not "once Dulles" itself.

[txstateends]

TX 114-TX 121 on the north side of DFW Airport; or park just off the freeway at Founder's Plaza on N. Airfield Drive to be safer and still get your plane-gawk on.

Meanwhile, not far away, Love Field in Dallas has side-street flight views along Mockingbird, Lemmon, and Northwest Highway.