Spotting in Thailand

[John137]

Hi all,

In august I will visit Thailand for an holiday. Are there still militairy airfield where I can go spotting and also taking pictures from planes?
I am then thinking about U'Tapao, Bangkok, Khorat.

How about spotting in these places? You will have trouble with the police?
And is here someone who can tell about some places for taking some nice pictures?

I hope here is someone who can help me.

John de Winter

[Le Addeur noir]

A ban has been imposed on photography at Don Muang in terminal 1, and this is signposted and enforced by CCTV and patrols. The same applies at the other Bangkok airport.

At the military bases, a visit to Khorat is likely to lead to trouble.

At other bases, maintaining a low profile should suffice to avoid any problems.


There is more problems spotting at some of the civil airports than the bases in Thailand.

[darenrose]

John.

Chiang Mai airport has signs on the fences no photos and if you take form the perimeter road your likely to be ask to move off. However there is a road bridge on the runway approach to Chiang Mai Airport between Tesco Lotus and Big C Supermarkets that you can take great shots of both the airliners and military landing and you will not get in any trouble at this spot, i have sat here for hours before with cameras, normally the L39`a and the Casa`s fly from here daily on weekdays.

U Tapao is an active military base and there are active guards at the civil terminal end you will find it hard to take photos from here and the military are parked at the far end and way out of sight so no good for photos here, taking photos when you land is ok and a bus to the terminal from the plane will let you get a shot of the odd few stored navy planes here and the odd civil helicopter outside the hangar, also if biz are parked here you can get a shot of these as you depart your plane(normally no more than 2 biz visit at any one time so do not hope for too much).

if you get to Chiang mai drop me a post here and i can pick you up or you can meet me and I can show you the photo spot at Chiang Mai I use.

There are spots for photos at both the Bangkok airports but they are off airport sites, there is also hotels with rooms that have approach views if you do a web search, also a great military aircraft museum at Bangkok `Don Muang` you can visit and take photos of the static aircraft on the military side of the airport.

There are a few civil small airfields in Chiang Mai both are not very active with aircraft in hangers most of the time, especially during the rainy season when the winds can pick up.

[tatoo]

Khorat: take Chainarong road and at the crossing with the 7 eleven turn left and take the next street left. Stop there and the the planes coming from the right. They fly very low over the houses. This is the westwind side. On the right hand side at that spot is a waterbassin. Stay away from the wall around the base. But at this spot it is at least 500 meters away. It takes at least a half hour to get to the east wind side because you have to travel through town. The southern part of the base is connected with a large military camp.
At this side you take soi sansunk 1 and take the first road on the left just passing the trees. At this side the aircraft are too high. At least you need 500+ mm. Flying times normally between 9 am and 16 pm. Maybe in August the Aussies are there with Thai Boomerang.

Takhli: You can spot on the main (highway 1) road, where you are clearly visible. But I had no problem there. The other side is very quiet. Take the 3329
and turn left in a small village then you cross the landingside.