It’s that time again – some spotters have been arrested for acting ‘suspiciously’ and a newspaper has printed the story (click to read it).
Two spotters in India had booked into the Radisson New Delhi, requesting a room overlooking the airport. When the pair didn’t emerge from their room for 24 hours, hotel staff got suspicious and called the police, who promptly arrested them.
The spotters were found with binoculars, laptop containing Google maps of the airport, cameras, and an electronic ‘gadget’ which can track individual movements of aircraft.
Now, to all of the fellow spotters out there, we know these tools as part and parcel of the hobby. You take binoculars to note registrations, cameras to photograph aircraft, maps to find the best spotting locations, and an SBS (read, electronic ‘gadget’ for tracking aircraft movements) to monitor which aircraft are coming and going – particularly at night when you can’t see the registrations.
And as for not emerging for 24 hours – well, when you find a good, comfortable room with a great view of the aircraft, then why would you leave before you had to?
So, is this going to start a whole new wave of suspicion and unneccessary arrests of innocent people enjoying their hobby – just because of the jittery nature of air travel these days? Will this make you think again about booking your favourite plane-spotting hotel for a future trip?
