Plane spotting – a hobby that raises the adrenaline

By Andrija Pavlović

The moment when you need to note the lading of a plane that flies above or near you leaves indescribable feeling that this hobby gives, comment few young high school students from Niš, which are rare plane spotters in this city.

Although the plane spotting has a huge popularity among the aviation fans since the middle of the 20th century, very few people know about this hobby in Niš.

Aleksa Mladenović and Matija Stojanović decided that they want to be this kind of spotters right after they have watched a Youtube video on landing of a plane from the JAT company on the airport in Niš in 2008, a video taken from Popovica, a place nearby the airstrip.

At that point, they have realized that the airport in Niš has appropriate spotting place. And everything begins from there for these two.

-Th first shot we have made from this place and our first video taken ever was made in the middle of 2012. We have shot the landing of a plane of Montenegro Airlines, Fokker 100. Right away we have made a group on a social media, a group named as „Planes above Niš”, comment the two plane spotters Aleksa and Matija.

These young potters are very interested in aviation from various reasons.

Aleksa, who doesn’t have anything related with the aviation and who doesn’t have any relatives with professions in aviation, notes that he got the idea to be involved in this kind of hobby while he watched the aeromeeting of the Serbian Army that took place on a airport in Niš. From the other hand, Matija, who is a grandson of the first director of the airport in Niš, says that he has liked the aviation since he was a little boy, especially after the re-opening the reconstructed airport in 2003.

They go in action, as they say, when following the web-site of the Niš’ airport arrival and departure timetable.

-If we have enough time to go, we film from the Popovac fields. If not, then we climb on the fortress, on the place above the main bus station, from which you can see the airstrip. Additionally, we film airplanes from every sport from the city, possible for plane spotting, explain Aleksa and Matija.

One of their goals is to „catch” some military jet plane, since there is no flight schedule for military aircrafts.

-We would very much like to film some military plane. We see those place on rare occasions, while waiting for some civil aircrafts, sometimes we catch some army plane, they say.

When asked which is the favorite for both of them, there was no dilema – the Russian transport plane IL – 76, the biggest cargo plane that has used the services of the „Konstantin Veliki” airport. This massive bird has characteristic engine noise and short approach of landing on the airstrip. That causes huge adrenalin rush, they say.

-For us, plane fans, the feeling that a plane flyes just several meters above you, is simply incredible and can’t be described with words. Although I think that the same feeling can experience those who are not plane fans as well, says Aleksa.

These guys are hoping that the local airport, like the big ones around the world, will soon build space for plane spotting.

-These things function better around the world. On the big airports there are specially designed places made for spotters, near the airstrip or on the terminal buildings, claim the plane-spotters from Niš.

Some airports around the world let plane spotters on the platform where the new line has been announced or when some interesting plane arrives. That is why the plane spotters from Niš expect that the local airport will open its doors for them during this year, especially since the airplane company Wizz Air started promoting low budget flights from and to this city.