Spotting in OTP/BBU/TSR

Hello Ro-Spotters!

Let me introduce myself at first. I'm a Polish spotter with some 15 years of experience in aviation photography. I'm mostly interested in civil aircraft, although if there is a nice military plane I do not hesitate to take a picture of it (if it's possible and allowed). During last few months I've been frequently visiting Bucharest for business purposes. I managed to take a few photos while departing from OTP (including Tarom retrojet published on jetphotos.net - http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=6436407). Unfortunately most of my visits to Romania usualy last ca. 24 hrs so there is no much time for spotting.

Anyway - there is a chance that I will visit Bucharest over the next weekend and will have some free time for photography. Having seen 'no photo' signs on fences both at OTP and BBU, I wonder if there is any other photo position for both airports which would allow taking pictures of arriving aircraft without a risk to be stopped by the police. I presume that some of you might have posted already answers to my question in other threat, but unfortunately I don't speak Romanian. Therefore I would be glad if somebody could give me some advice in this matter.

I've got also one more question: it seems that I will be also visiting TSR for a short time. Is there any position for photography at the terminal? I will only have ca. two hours free while departing to BUD.

Best wishes & happy New Year!!!

Tomasz

Hello Tomasz and welcome to our forum! the problem with both BBU and OTP is that they have signs, but there are some places where you could take photos especially at OTP. a main one would be across the road on the end of runway 08L. you can get there, as you exit from the airport, go straight ahead, cross the road by a gangway wich will be on your left side, than go right, and you will be under the planes. my advice is to go on the field, and more to the right, therefore you will not be seen by the patrol car that circles around the runway, and you will be able to catch the planes very nice. See the graphic i did. the best place would be the X2, but it's up to you from where you think you might be able to catch the best angle.
hope this will help, and maybe some of our guys in Bucharest will be able to come with you, all you have to do is announce the exact day and hour.
thanks for joining us!

Hello TK and welcome to Romanian Spotters forum!

There are a few spots around OTB and BBU airports from where you can photograph airplanes. I've never done spotting at BBU from outside the airport area so I do not know the spots there. Spotting sites at OTP are mostly reacheable by car when there is good weather. Indeed, you are not allowed to take photographs over the fence of the airport but as long as you do not turn your camera to the airport ground and take only aerial shots I think no one will say a thing. I intend to go to OTP for a few hours of spotting this Saturday, so maybe you can join if you want

Best wishes,

Vali

@ Virusu,

Thanks a lot for detailed information.

@ Vali

It would be great if we could do spotting together. Will contact you as soon as my flights are confirmed.

Cheers

Tomasz

TK a scris:

@ Virusu,

Thanks a lot for detailed information.

Tomasz

your welcome, it's my pleasure, and if you need any more help don't hesitate

TK , Welcome to our forum!

TK a scris:

Hello Ro-Spotters!

Anyway - there is a chance that I will visit Bucharest over the next weekend and will have some free time for photography. Having seen 'no photo' signs on fences both at OTP and BBU, I wonder if there is any other photo position for both airports which would allow taking pictures of arriving aircraft without a risk to be stopped by the police. I presume that some of you might have posted already answers to my question in other threat, but unfortunately I don't speak Romanian. Therefore I would be glad if somebody could give me some advice in this matter.

Hello,

At OTP there is no risk of having any problems with the police as long as you don't take photos of the 90th base or turn your camera directly towards the runway while standing on DN1 main road. As virusu said, you can walk (even drive - if the mud is frozen) along the ILS lighting of rwy 8R, I think the unpaved road is called Nicolae Tonitza . On your left hand side you will find a big concrete parking area where you can leave your car. You can take pictures from there or climb on a small mound of earth further on in the field to achieve a higher position. In winter this is the best spotting place, as the sun will be behind you from early morning til about 3pm. You can see here some pictures taken from there. 55mm is more than enough here. There are more spots but they're far less accessible.

virusu's spot x1 is useless in winter; you will only get backlit shots from there.

As of BBU, spotting is quite scarce , and so is traffic. Same thing applies here, no photos from the main road, but if you wish you can seek your way through smaller streets looking for a good place.

Don't forget to take warm clothes . Have a nice stay in Romania and hopefully we may have a look at your pictures when you get back!

Thanks for new hints.

Probably I won't have a car, so I will have to relay on walking only. Probably I would walk any area close to Aquapark (if I can recall it well) close to the 8R rwy and stay at the parking nearby.

Let's hope the weather will be nice on the weekend!!!

BRGDS

Tomasz

Hi everybody.
Im new here. Thank you for your info about BBU and OTP, it is usefull for me too. But let me introduce mysefl little bit and why Im here.
Im Daniel Havlik, plane spotter (who could expect that, right ? ) from Slovakia and Im going to Romania in a few days.
So Im looking for some usefull tips about spotting at Tirgu Mures and Arad airports.
How is the spotting at these two local airports ? Is it allowed to take pictures there ? Whats the situation there ?
I know that these are not the busiest airports of the world, but I will spend there some time so it would be nice to take also some plane pictures. As I mentioned I will go also to Bucharest. I would like to see the special Tarom retrojet. Do you have any information about the flight-plans and times of this aircraft for 31th Jan - 2nd February ?

So if you have anything about the airports I will visit please drop some lines here for me, I will be very thankful.

At the end let me make a little advertisment for myself, you are welcome to see my photos here:
http://www.jetphotos.net//showphotos.php?userid=6379

Best regards from Slovakia

Daniel

hello Daniel! great shots you got there on JP
This is the scheduled timetable of arad
http://www.aeroportularad.ro/php/destinatii.php?lang=en

as for Targu Mures, there is not too much traffic, but anyway you cand find information here, go to flight connection and scroll down
http://www.targumuresairport.ro/indexa.htm

as for the retro-jet, it ussualy flyes daily from OTP but i cannot help you with the hours... maybe some of our guys in Bucharest might be able to do that.
Best regards, and let us know the exact dates when you're going to the airports, maybe some of our guys will join you and help with the best areas!
good day to you

Virusu,thanks for your reply.By the way, I see you are from Alba Iulia, I will make a short stop in your city too It looks pretty nice.

And what about the places to take pictures at Arad and Tirgu Mures ? Do someone has any information ?
I will be in T.Mures on 29th and 30th January, 30th to 31th in Arad and then 3 days at Bucharest.

If here is someone who could help me with Arad and T.Mures spotting places or Tarom-retrojet flight times
I will be very happy.

Thanks again and have a nice day


Daniel

bts.spotter a scris:

And what about the places to take pictures at Arad and Tirgu Mures ? Do someone has any information ?
I will be in T.Mures on 29th and 30th January, 30th to 31th in Arad and then 3 days at Bucharest.

If here is someone who could help me with Arad and T.Mures spotting places or Tarom-retrojet flight times
I will be very happy.

Thanks again and have a nice day


Daniel

Hi Daniel,
I can help you for spotting in Arad. I sent you a private message and I wait for your replay for details.
See you soon,
Eugen

Hello Ro-Spotters

First of all, I'd like to thank you for giving us the opportunity to register on your forum.

I'm a planespotter from Madeira Island, Portugal.
My name is Rui Alves and I'll be flying to Bucharest with another fellow Madeira Spotters friend, Jorge Abreu.

We'll fly from Madrid, with Easyjet.
We shall be landing in OTP, Friday 01 May, at 11:10 and we have to fly back Sunday 03 May, at 12:25.

We have been reading your answers to other foreign spotters.
Even so, We'd like to add some extra questions:
1) On OTP, your answers talk about the need to rent a car.
If we have a car, can you please tell us any other spots, from where we can photograph?

2) It worth to go to Bucharest Baneasa Airport 02 May, for some spotting?
What kind of traffic do you have there?

3) The matter about the dogs, is it really something to be concerned about?

Finally, if any member of your group could join us, it would be great!
It's always nice to meet people who share the same interests!

Thanks in advance for your help and support

Kind regards,
Rui Alves & Jorge Abreu
Madeira Island Spotters,
Portugal

PS: You can have a look on some of our work here:
Jorge Abreu
Rui Alves

Hi, Rui and welcom to Romanian Spotters! First of all I want to inform you about the fact that photography from near the perimeter of OTP and BBU airports is permited only with official authorization. At BBU you have no good spots for spotting but at OTP there is one spot from where you can photograph airplanes without any authorization from the officials. The place is next to the fence of Water Park and I recommend the use of lens between 50 and 200 mm (or 300 mm for plane details). I think I will join you for spotting but the weather will not be that good during weekend.

valavia a scris:

Hi, Rui and welcom to Romanian Spotters! First of all I want to inform you about the fact that photography from near the perimeter of OTP and BBU airports is permited only with official authorization. At BBU you have no good spots for spotting but at OTP there is one spot from where you can photograph airplanes without any authorization from the officials. The place is next to the fence of Water Park and I recommend the use of lens between 50 and 200 mm (or 300 mm for plane details). I think I will join you for spotting but the weather will not be that good during weekend.

Thank you for your quick answers!
I'm glad you can join me and Jorge
Great news!!
Unfortunately there's nothing we can do regarding the weather

Regarding the "official authorization", how can we obtain it and what it will allow us to photograph?

One further question: Any rent-a-car recommendation?

Thanks again.

Cheers from Portugal

ruialvesmadeira a scris:

One further question: Any rent-a-car recommendation?

I strongly recommend www.cardelmar.com

It´s a broker operating with various local partners. Very good prices for no km-limit, casco-insurance without francise and including also broken glass or anvelopes, no extra "airport-delivery-fee" and so on. I´ve used them twice and was very pleased by their service. Their prices and insurance conditions were much better than any romanian local offers. When you introduce the data on their front page you should mention as a promotional code: VORTEILVISA! -> about 20% lower prices, but you can pay with any other credit card

Here an all-in example, they don´t have portuguese, but I´m sure you will manage it in spanish. If you chose "English", you will get prices in punds or $, what mostly means extra costs on your credit card:

Citat :

Detalles de su reserva
Desde: 01.05.2009 11:00 Horas
Estación de recogida: Bukarest Otopeni Aeropuerto

Hasta: 03.05.2009 11:00 Horas
Estación de devolución: Bukarest Otopeni Aeropuerto

Categoría del vehículo:Económico
Detalles del vehículo Condiciones de alquiler Categoría:EDMR (ej. Opel Corsa)
Gasolina, 5 Puertas
2 Adultos y 3 Niños
1 Maleta y 1 Bolsas
Aire acondicionado
coche manual
Según disponibilidad

59,40 EUR

Seguro
- Seguro de responsabilidad civil
- Todo incluido: Cobertura con devolución de franquicia
- Todo incluído Plus: Reintegro de la franquicia también en caso de daño en cristales y neumáticos,

I´ve also used the short-time booking (you will get an extra mail confirmation, because booking is less than 72h befor rent. Everything was fine.

Wow Thomas!

Thanks a lot.
Quite useful tips, for sure!

Will you be around on these days?

Hello guys,
my first post around here, just to thank you for your warm welcome last weekend.

It was a great pleasure to be at Bucuresti and meet the local spotters.

For you guys for sure this is not a highlight, but for me and Rui it was, your retrojet TAROM livery



I will post some other pictures, when i edit them,
but please wait for them seated, because i'm too laisy to edit my photos.

Best regards and 'obrigado'

Jorge Miguel Abreu
www.madeiraspotters.net

we'll wait for the photos jorge and, don't worry, the retrojet is always a thrill for everyone

Hi all

Jorge, I guess your Retro is better than mine

In fact, as stated by Jorge, is was a great pleasure to meet you guys.
It was a great weekend.
Even the weather helped, as we were expecting thunderstorms

I'll come back to you, as soon as I edit some of my photos.
So far, I wasn't able to even see all of them...
So, please be patient

Finally, I would like to underline the special care and support by Vali.
Once more, a BIG thank you to all of you.

Cheers!
Rui

Nice retrojet photo Jorge. I was not able to edit my photos either because of some problems with my PC. Once again it was a pleasure having you in Bucharest and hope we'll meet again in Madrid in June. Enjoy editing your photos and thanks for your comments on my 100th photo on JP.net Keep in touch!

Hi guys!

I'm back to this thread in order to share some photos.
I've made a first upload to my photoblog,
so I'll invite you all to take a look there
http://www.photoblog.com/ruialves/2009/05/01/

Meanwhile, here you have 2 examples




I hope you enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed my visit to OTP!

See you soon,
Rui

Lovelly pictures Rui, the 767 looks good but Tarom's 737 is better

Hello Again!

Here you have a larger version of the El-Al's B763
http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=6560217

For those willing to see more photos from OTP,
here you have my Jetphotos URL, where some of them will start pumping
http://www.jetphotos.net/showphotos.php?userid=5604

Best regards,
Rui Alves
Madeira Spotters

What was a 767 El Al Israel Airlines doing in Bucharest on May 1st?