Aircraft reg's. Why do you collect them??

[MarkL]

Why is it every interesting discussion on here always ends with someone getting peed off with someone elses opinions, i thought plane spotters were light hearted, can't we actually have a laugh on this damn forum without someone ruining it? God knows what some of you are like down the pub, sitting on your own moping?

What's up Chris ? You don't like banter when its aimed at you ???

[ArabJazzie]

Well it was fun while it lasted!!!

As an aside, there are some people who question my sanity while collecting numbers only to turn around and ask my opinion on UFOs! Well at least i can identify what im looking at!
Arabest,
Geoff.

[RichC]

Chris who?
I love it when banter is aimed at me (I'm Rich by the way). As it then turns into proper micky taking and its all FUN!
Which this thread was!

Love the signature though, you must have calmed down a bit and starting to enjoy the party? I promise i won't bite at it, as it's true, cause i'm a sap, my missus told me so!

Geoff,

You could always start a UFO thread, they've never lasted very long

[MarkL]

OOOOPS Sorry. Getting a name wrong really is bad form, do forgive me.

[RichC]

OOOOPS Sorry. Getting a name wrong really is bad form, do forgive me.

Sorted, from one geeky sap to another, can we be friends?

[turbosix]

All aspects of our hobby could be easily argued to be geeky. I don't see this as a good or bad thing though. I get called a geek for being a computer programmer too! It doesn't matter. Embrace your inner geek. We are what we are.

[RichC]

Keiron,
http://www.facebookstatuses.co.uk/wp-co ... r_geek.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



I even looked like a geek recently on SPTA. Dressed in cold weather gear with a scanner attached to my coat pocket (my chest pocket) and it kept poking me in the eye when i turned my head but it was the only way of hearing the radio when i was near the helicopters!

Bakc on topic, can those spotters in question carry on answering the original question and i will stop taking the micky, promise.
I've grown up since the thread started

[gazza196310]

Nnow what "pigeon hole" would i be in.
I like to listen to what's going on (despite being in my "black hole" here on south coast). I have photographed what i can when "airborne" happens here in August. I have tried to collect all the G-DOC? reg numbers while decoding
ACARS.
While looking at what is happening on PP i have noticed a high level C17 or AWACS heading my way got my binoculars and tried to spot it, succesfully on three occasions, then put an "S" in the user tag box. If I've heard aparticular callsign on the scanner I've put an "H" next to that aircraft in the box, not got an "S" and "H" against the same airframe yet :-( .
This aviation hobby is multi-faceted and to label anyone as a "geek" really is to label us all as "geeks". Not one of us is normal, including the stamp collectors, train spotters etc. Either that or we are all normal but some of us are more normal than others, to paraphrase "Animal Farm".
Regards to all (and keep it good natured) Gary

[MarkL]

Yes..we always were and yes, I had a crap day at work. However I really am glad this thread has come up because I find it incedibly interesting. For myself I am guilty on many fronts as I do the whole lot, collect reggies, take thousands of pics and monitor comms. I just love aviation, you will find me at airshows, flyins, civvy airports, museums etc etc. I did misunderstand the 'banter' in your post and went into defensive mode as I often find myself with the uninitiated.

For what its worth I try and define a hobby or interest as something that is absolutely of no value to anyone but yourself. It serves no other purpose than to give pleasure, however aimless it may seem.

My intention was not to derail this thread only to defend my passion.

I apologise for misunderstanding the light heated nature of the thread.

Geeks United !!

Mark

[RichC]

At the end of the day, all i wish for is a light hearted conversation that *lasts* more than 20 posts. Afterall, this section is called the "Mess". What happens in the mess?

I love aviation full stop, the sight, smell (including spotters) and everything that goes with it.
Yes i monitor, but i take photos and like looking at my PP screen when i feel really nerdy.
I for one, as Gazza mentioned do not find myself normal. Nor does my other half, but then she isn't either, she likes karaoke.

I'm finding the thread interesting as to what certain members phrase themselves as and why they have taken up the hobby part of taking serials/registrations.

I hope it will bring more people out of the closet (maybe the wrong word ) on this forum (those who don't post) and perhaps hear their views on the subject as to why they feel the need to take numbers.

I might do it for one day next time i am at an airshow just to see what i am missing!

[gazza196310]

And I am quite excited because there is a bit of "lift" (enhanced reception range) on VHF at the moment and can hear the ground controllers talking to the pilots, not just the pilots.
"Geeks anonymous" welcome me with open arms, Gary

[POL]

I love...the sight, smell (including spotters)

Rich, your perversions have no place on this forum!

(Sorry, I'll shut up and don the tin hat now!)

[Chef_uk]

I've wondered what the pleasure was in taking down serials. I don't have any feelings either way, each to their own etc etc. But the way I see it is its more hardcore than my hobby of photographing aircraft. I could quite happily have just 10 photo's of planes if they were the best shots I had taken but serial collecting has no stages of pleasure. You would have to gain an astronomical number of serials to feel gratification in what you have achieved? I could take 200 shots in one day and have only a handful to satisfy me whereas every serial would have to be jotted down to gain the same level of achievement. Collecting serials is for the hardcore player in my opinion.

That's probably not the reason why people collect them, but its certainly the reason why I don't

[CHINOOKER]

Isn't it just purely a case of everyone to thier own "desire/passion"......my interst in aircraft started off in the 60s by getting a saturday job at Fairoaks washing aircraft for Doug Arnold...this got me onto spotting/number crunching...then joined the ATC so added military aircraft to my resume. Then managed to get an apprenticeship at Vickers/British aerospace working at Weybridge/Wisley,so the "spotter seed" grew and grew inside me. Eventually found myself entrenched in a group of equally minded people who would spend all thier spare time chasing mil aircraft all over southern england. It would not be uncommon for four of us in those days to leave west london at around 5pm on a weekday and route Alconbury-Wyton-Mildenhall-Lakenheath-Bentwaters-Woodbridge-home again chasing just a few aircraft/serials. Within a few years our hobby had turned into an "addiction" of sorts,and we found ourselves doing all sorts of crazy things in the name of our hobby.....climbing on the roof of a hangar in Colmar to get some Mirage serials....jumping over a small barbed wire fence at Ljungbyhed in Sweden in the middle of the night to get serials of parked aircraft etc. Reality check came when several of my mates were caught/locked up in Greece for spotting at a mil base. After that,took stock of everything and decided it was all getting a bit too involved/silly/expensive! Nowadays,i still love aviation just as much,whether it be yet another 747 departing LHR,something unusual going ott or simply following Rich c and others with thier well informed postings on FC. Daft as it may seem,i will sit quite happily in the garden or shed with the scanner on and my trusted Hilkinson scope at the ready and if something interesting comes across,i will either watch it or listen to it,but nowadays that's about it! Do i think spotters are "geeks"...no!.....Was one once, and now can't estimate how many times since giving up,i have been on the inside of the fence at LHR talking to some guy on the outside who is trying to find out the reg of an aircraft in the hangars! Just takes me back 30+ years! Whatever all of you out there do in the guise of "aviation enthusiasts",just simply enjoy doing it,if it's what you want to do.....Simples!


PS If any of you are seeking an alternative to aircraft spotting/watching etc....i do know someone at work who is heavilly into Eddie Stobart trucks.......what a Geek!!

[Squire of the Gate]

Good thread
Everyone is different (thank god), In my mispent youth riding around on trains we used to have a saying for Joe Public , A 'Normal' , it wasn't a effectionate term, it meant exactly what it said on the tin a normal boring bloke who (usually) followed what everyone else did because he had no interests, His job was his life and he usually followed whatever was 'fashionable' at the time as he was incapable / too scared to think for himself, back then you you could call me a anorak or anything - call me a 'normal' and I'd be offended

As the railways became bland I returned to my other interest which was Aircraft , Couldn't afford to jump on all the aircraft to have a flight in them all (would be a tad difficult in a Single seat Typhoon) so it was back to 'spotting'.
Why ?
I like records and like to look back on what I've recorded as it helps bring back memorys of a good (or bad) day out so looking through what I've logged is a nice way of looking back through time (throw in the fact I can't remember what I did yesterday let alone last year and, we'll you get the picture )
Photographs help record a trip or event but pre digital I would imagine I'd take 5 graphs per trip so hardly a record of the day, ironically it hit me a while ago that whilst I was photographing the aircraft I wasn't actually enjoying watching them.
Its the same for videoing, (banging my own drum ) I've got some fantastic photage of various bits worldwide, but I saw it all through a small viewfinder...., still enjoyed it and like the logbook now provides a visual memory of a good(bad) day out.

I know lots of people who travel purely for the reg or serial (and travel far......) I've been there and done it and propably still do (was at Prestwick for a Indian AF C130J recently, admittedly it tied in with a day on the beer in Glasgow but would probably have still made the journey).
I also know lots of people that take little interest in a aircraft once its been 'logged / bagged / scored', I've always had a interest in what the things do and inparticular have always loved watching certain aircraft (don't 'need' any UK built Typhoons but will NEVER tire of watching Typhoons bang out, equally was 'uptodate' with Buccaneers but it didn't stop umpteen trips out just to watch them and as for BAC 1-11's or 707's. ).

I've often found on my travels that the most boring people are the ones who have no interests or hobbies , they are also usually the ones that take the mick out of what you enjoy doing and dream up stereotypes......they somehow think every football fan dresses smartly , or every fisherman talks commonsense , or that every set of blokes going for a few beers doesn't have a complete 'plank' with them or that all golfers.....well you get the drift, our hobby does offer firepower for the 'normals' to ridicule, but trust me (as someone who attends a lot of football / rugby matches) you see as many 'socially challenged' people at those events as what you do at any Airport or Airfield.

With all my many interests I find I have a fantastic social life (in fact life in general is enhanced by my interests - lets not forget its my interests and each to their own), I've got pals all over the world (many funnily enough made through my various hobbies) and having a fairly 'hectic' job means my hobby is a destress, time for me to enjoy.
Will it matter if I see every C17 , Probably not.
Am I aiming to do that - most definatly
Am I called a 'anorak' - possibly, but remember I'd rather be called a anorak than a 'normal'

[wokka]

I've wondered what the pleasure was in taking down serials. I don't have any feelings either way, each to their own etc etc. But the way I see it is its more hardcore than my hobby of photographing aircraft. I could quite happily have just 10 photo's of planes if they were the best shots I had taken but serial collecting has no stages of pleasure. You would have to gain an astronomical number of serials to feel gratification in what you have achieved? I could take 200 shots in one day and have only a handful to satisfy me whereas every serial would have to be jotted down to gain the same level of achievement. Collecting serials is for the hardcore player in my opinion.

That's probably not the reason why people collect them, but its certainly the reason why I don't

Says the man with a "Veg growing blog"!

I looked down the forum to see the different types of hobbies we have, and its remarkable how we all do it differently but at the end of the day it comes down to AIRCRAFT.

RichC have you had an answer yet? The reason is surely that for the individual who does it, it makes them happy! I dont know about Mark though. You want to aim your banter at Flaps. He's characterised 3 different groups and you're not included in any of them! Do you take your radio everywhere in case someone starts talking to someone?

[RichC]

Well, i think i've had my answer but has Pete has his? I must apologise for hijacking his original question

As for taking my radio, i try and take my radio and camera everywhere if i am out (and allowed). Last summer when we took the girl out for a picnic, i laid down on the blanket listening to my radio! I got told off

'tis a good thread, it is nice to know what others think of the hobby.

[wokka]

yes, my apologies to Pete. But you see what I mean, the radio thing could be seen as very err, different.

Interestingly we seem to have kept this limited to Mil because we are a mil site. But I have watched civvy number crunchers roll up at Farnborough while I sit waiting to watch something loud climb out and they will be frantically shuffling about trying to get a reg of something that you can only see a cockpit of. but then do they wonder what I'm doing sitting in the car barely moving my eyeballs as the next King Air buzzes past? zzzzzzzzzzz

[flat cap]

Perhaps the whole thing could be covered with a family tree kind of affair, with 'enthusiast' at the top and then everything else branching off it?

It could be worse though......


http://www.pylons.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Arthur Tee]

I think (perhaps) you (or we) need to look at the title of this thread - take a step back then ask these two questions...

Do you collect the numbers of aircraft?

OR

Do you collect aircraft numbers?

They are two very different things!

Just take a look at ZJ157, ZJ301, ZJ490, ZJ575, ZJ695, ZK006, ZK100 and ZK201 but to name a few...

Arthur