Community-youth, Plane-spotting, Youth

SUTD Students’ Plane Spotting Activities

28 Jul 2023
Text by Jarell Lim, SUTD EPD Year 2

We often hear residents in Paya Lebar complaining about the constant roaring of F15SG jets flying above their block, but for us plane spotters it’s another great opportunity to get the perfect shot. Since our campus is situated near Changi Airport, SUTD’s Aviation Interest Group created a telegram topic dedicated to plane spotting, where students may post photos of the planes they’ve managed to catch. The most regularly posted are commercial jets such as Boeing B787s, Airbus A380s, adorned in livery from Singapore Airlines, Scoot, KLM, United Airlines, Emirates, etc. However, RSAF F-15SGs and A330 Multi-Role Transport Tanker (MRTT) planes are rarer around our area, so it’s often more “prized” to catch these planes. It’s a straight-forward and simple hobby, but the chase to capture even better shots and rarer planes will always be quite thrilling for airplane lovers.

Plane spotting isn’t just about waiting outside airports for planes to fly by, it’s also about seeking out events and getting out and around. Most people watch the National Day Parade once every year, but we try to go for every rehearsal to get the right angle of the aerial display. Apart from the iconic Red Lions jumping out of the Hercules C130, the aerial display by the RSAF comprises of the H225M Super Puma, CH-47F Chinook and AH-64D Apache helicopters, F-15SG and F-16D+ fighter jets, and A330 MRTT. With such a big contingent, it was a good opportunity to capture RSAF’s aerial fleet, and with about 10 rehearsals before the actual day, we would have more than enough practice and field experience to determine the best angles and shots.

Many of these displays’ flypast different locations across Marina Bay, so depending on what we wanted to capture, we had to test many venues around. Some of these venues include Marina Bay Sands Rooftop, Funan Mall Rooftop and Esplanade Theatre. Perhaps these locations would be a good starting point for you to plane spot on 9th August. It’s quite easy to capture the RSAF NDP Aerial Display since the timing and locations are all fixed, but when it comes to capturing rarer planes, more planning is needed.

On June 26th, the French air force was deploying a large contingent of warplanes to the Indo-Pacific under the PEGASE 2023 mission, and this contingent comprised of French Rafale fighter jets. Now unless you could fly to France and break into an air base, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to capture them flying into Singapore airspace. We tracked the planes on approach to Paya Lebar Air Base and went as far as the top floor of a HDB block in Circuit Road. We could even spot other plane spotters along the way, one of them positioning themselves at an overhead bridge over a busy road. Fortunately, we were able to capture them in time, and we were happy with the outcome despite making all the way down to Circuit Road.

Spotting of the Dassult Rafale Fighter Jet

You may think that plane spotting is just another photography hobby, but to us, it is also an appreciation of the aircraft designs. Boeing and Airbus commercial jets all look very similar to each other, but their design choices vary from the landing gears to the front windows. Similarly with fighter jets, they may all share the same greyish silhouete, but as you study the control surfaces, engines, and shape of the fighter jet, you will tend to appreciate why every model is so different from each other. That’s the reason why we venture out so far to capture these planes in action, to appreciate all the small details of aviation and aerospace engineering behind the lens.

Photo Credits: SUTD