Spotting at HPN

I went to Westchester County on Monday 1/15 to meet up with a friend from CT.

The weather was horrible and the viewing deck was closed. We sat just inside overlooking the gate area for about 30 minutes.

Some guy who worked at the airport (I think he was a skycap) wanted to know what we were doing. We tried to explain, but could see he wasn't getting it. I told him it was a hobby and he left.

About 5 minutes later a cop came up and asked what we were doing. He wanted to know where we were from and where we were born.

He never asked for ID or anything, but asked us to leave (to stop people bugging him!"

He told us to go round the other side of the airport alongside the GA area and we could watch the aircraft from there because there are less people around over there.

We just agreed and went where he suggested and had no hassle for the next hour or so we were there.

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Originally Posted by markg

I went to Westchester County on Monday 1/15 to meet up with a friend from CT.

The weather was horrible and the viewing deck was closed. We sat just inside overlooking the gate area for about 30 minutes.

Some guy who worked at the airport (I think he was a skycap) wanted to know what we were doing. We tried to explain, but could see he wasn't getting it. I told him it was a hobby and he left.

About 5 minutes later a cop came up and asked what we were doing. He wanted to know where we were from and where we were born.

He never asked for ID or anything, but asked us to leave (to stop people bugging him!"

He told us to go round the other side of the airport alongside the GA area and we could watch the aircraft from there because there are less people around over there.

We just agreed and went where he suggested and had no hassle for the next hour or so we were there.

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HPN is tough indeed. I was over there on the 6th of this January and got this shot off http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=5903465 from the observation deck, which was actually my first and only success on jetphotos :D . Anyway, I guess you were sort of looking at a "sensitive area" being that you could sort of watch security procedures, etc.. As for going over to the west end of the property near some of the local FBO's, that's not so safe either--you're almost guaranteed that some personnel will see you and call the police immediately. If you have a [legitimate] way to get inside the fence that guards the tie-down area, you'd likely be able to get your shots (as Senga has done in the past). As for options around the airport, the SUNY Purchase property is very nice for watching rwy 34 landings, but you may get harassed by cops (I had a particularly unpleasant experience last summer). Good luck next time but realize that HPN is one of the region's more paranoid airports.

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Originally Posted by syrup217

Good luck next time but realize that HPN is one of the region's more paranoid airports.

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Due to the Westchester County officials...unfortunately, so.