A few months ago, a bunch of people trooped down to the Bangalore International Airport at 2am to see a plane land. The aircraft they were tracking was a Boeing 747-8I, and it was flying in for the first time from Frankfurt. A new acquisition by German carrier Lufthansa, the 747-8I is the world's longest passenger aircraft, and Bangalore was only the third city it counted as a destination. This made it extremely attractive to this group, who thought nothing of going all the way to BIA to catch a glimpse and take a few pictures.
They are the planespotters -- people who spend hours outside airports to catch aircraft in flight and take pictures of them out of a sheer love of aircraft and aviation. The group started in the IT city as an informal club with 10 members who called themselves the Bangalore Spotters. Today, they're organized as the Aviation Photographers India (API), a legally registered trust. It's the only planespotting group in India registered with the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and has 27 members including 15 from Bangalore.
"The main objective was to provide a common platform and voice for the planespotting community in India. We're very passionate about our hobby, but it is also a hobby that is looked upon with suspicion by agencies involved in airport security," explains Siddarth Bhandary, secretary, API.
26/05/13 Shrabonti Bagchi/Times of India
To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline
They are the planespotters -- people who spend hours outside airports to catch aircraft in flight and take pictures of them out of a sheer love of aircraft and aviation. The group started in the IT city as an informal club with 10 members who called themselves the Bangalore Spotters. Today, they're organized as the Aviation Photographers India (API), a legally registered trust. It's the only planespotting group in India registered with the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and has 27 members including 15 from Bangalore.
"The main objective was to provide a common platform and voice for the planespotting community in India. We're very passionate about our hobby, but it is also a hobby that is looked upon with suspicion by agencies involved in airport security," explains Siddarth Bhandary, secretary, API.
26/05/13 Shrabonti Bagchi/Times of India
