New hobby: Plane spotting at Gatwick
The Meek Family
Forum Participant Posts: 336
The Caravan Club at Gatwick is exactly that...at Gatwick, the airport, located beside the runway! Now, not surprisingly this means noise. We had read reviews from other members that warned of the expected noise levels of the planes as they take off so we were prepared for it although when we arrived were surprised by how close and how loud they were.
We treated the location as a learning opportunity. Being close to the airport and the runway seemed to fascinate and excite the girls so one evening we walked from the Caravan Site along the road to the end of the runway where we could see the planes taking off. They passed over our heads one after another, as we watched in awe. To add to the experience, we used a Plane Finder app on Tim's phone which located passing planes and provided a series of information about each one: model, age, destination, number of passengers. The girls' even felt a bit of pressure (like that of the traffic controllers) as they tried to keep up with the numbers of plans that were taking off as they jotted down the information for each plane.
In the short time that we were there we saw 13 planes pass over and found out the following:
2258 people flew over
12 were made by Airbus and one by Boeing
Destinations included: Canada, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Italy, Prague, Luxembourg, Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man.
For the rest of the time we were there, we frequently looked out of the motorhome window to spot a variety of planes taking off. You don't have to be a plane spotter / enthusiast to appreciate how amazing planes are!
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Comments
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Dear Meek family, that was a lovely story and lovely video. Whilst we were there in Gatwick almost opposite your pitch it was nice seeing you for the first time in real life having heard so much about you and your travels but never actually having seen you before!
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