New to Sydney- a few spotting questions

[Nick Peterman]

Hello! My name is Nick Peterman, and I'm an American photographer/spotter who will be spending the next 5-or-so months at university in Sydney. I wanted to briefly introduce myself in case I bump in to one of you out there (I'll probably be the guy who looks hopelessly lost and/or excited to see "boring" things like Qantas 737s). As a moderator on a photography site here in the USA, I know how annoying these questions from newbies can be, so I have tried to avail myself of the info here on the site, and wondered if someone could answer a quick few questions for me.

1st- in the mornings at Qantas drive, how much lense is too much? I'm shooting with a 7D and a 100-400 & 28-135.

2nd- is there any noteworthy rule for determining runway usage other than prevailing winds, such as time, day of the week, etc? (It seems to me that most heavy arrivals land on 16R for example)

3rd- is there somewhere good to shoot 34L departures in the AM, and somewhere good to shoot 16R arrivals in the PM while they are still in the air (so not from the beach)

That's about all I can think of for now, but I'm sure I will think of something else when I get down there in a few weeks. At any rate, I'd really appreciate any help you guys might be able to offer. I look forward to hopefully meeting some of you out there!


Cheers,

Nick

[Grahame Hutchison]

Hi Nick,

Welcome to Sydney, and YSSY.

You will bump into many of the regular photographers on any weekend, so just make yourself know to them.

My son and I run www.16Right.com and you will find a YSSY Spotting menu with details of the many photo locations around the airport (it needs a bit of an update - how time flies). It also has live ACARS and ADS-B options so you can become familiar with the aircraft and movments here in Sydney.

Your Questions:

1. Your 100-400 will be fine for Qantas Drive.

2. Early morning tends to be 34L & 34R because of noise, but later in the morning there is normally a change to 16R & 16L, or whatever the wind dictates. Runway 25/07 is only used in strong wind conditions.

3. 34L departures in the AM would need to be from The Mound. 16R arrivals in the PM would be from the International Terminal Observation Deck, or the Ikea car park in Tempe.

I hope this is a helpful start for YSSY, maybe see you out there in the near future.

Grahame.

[Stephen Brown]

http://www.spotterswiki.com/index.php/Sydney_Airport

Its a little out of date, but none the less a good place to start.

[Grahame Hutchison]

Nick, Here is a link to images taken from the Ikea car park in Tempe. The day was overcast and dull, but it will give you a good idea of the location.

[Nick Peterman]

Thank you all for the replies! I think I should have enough information now to make this work!