A little history...

It all started the end of Basel-Mulhouse airport main runway where I was lucky to grow up. Depending on the wind, I was able to see planes taking off or landing from my room. Like many neighbors of the airport, walks with my parents around the perimeter fence were frequent. Especially on Sundays to see the impressive takeoff of the Korean Air Cargo Boeing 747 which shook the whole region.

I was about ten years old with my faithful bicycle, fascinated by these steel giants. I was looking for trees around the runway threshold to overhang the fence. Little by little I started to note and recognize the planes I saw: airlines, aircrafts, registrations, ... With the rise of the internet, the expected flight list was available online. Some days there were unknown airlines or aircraft noted on the list. I had to go to see what it looks like. The passion began to take shape. Over the years, I dropped my notebook and pens and started taking pictures so I could keep a memory of planes that passed in front of my me.

Every afternoon Swiss Intl Airlines Airbus 340’s flew over the region to Zurich. Looking up I told myself that one day I would go and catch them. In 2007, I was not yet 15, and that day has arrived. It was my first trip with the sole purpose of plane spotting. 2008, Frankfurt, Geneva or Paris were added to the list. 2009, first flights for planespotting trips: London, Brussels, Copenhagen, Stockholm, ....

Since, the list of spotted airplanes has never stopped growing. And we had to start organizing our trips to spot new planes. Which airlines flies with which aircraft type at which airport? We started following more closely the aeronautical news to know if airlines will withdraw planes from their fleets or paint some with special liveries, to plan our next trips. We built a planespotter network in many different countries to be aware of all ongoing activities. Even with plan trip, you can’t always win. We can sometimes travel hundreds of kilometers and the plane to spot lands on another runway when we are so close to the goal. But that's what makes the catches even more beautiful. After almost 15 years of planespotting, I visited more than 100 airports in more than 30 countries on the 5 continents and I have listed around 20,000 planes.

A few memories

... and what does it serve ?

I am frequently asked this famous question. And I think like many other collections, the answer is absolutely NOTHING!

Planespotting offered me many travel opportunities and allowed me to meet amazing people over the years. Often people with the same hobby but also people with a totally different culture who ask themselves 'what can this European do looking at planes?'.

Since a few years, I am lucky to combine my passion with my job as an aircraft dispatcher. More than offering airside pictures opportunities, being an everyday actor of the aviation business is for me an invaluable privilege.

So it might serve nothing, but I wish everyone to have as much fun as I have.