LGA 5/13 Soundview Park

With all the stress Ive been going through for the last few days, I went and took the Bx39 bus to Soundview to catch a few shots of the planes coming in on rwy22. About 12 minutes later some guy who was with a fisherman came and approached me and yelled out

(Guy) "Hey, what the hell are you doing

(Me) Im taking pictures of plane, why is that a problem?

(Guy) What u doing is illegal,

(Me) Oh yea, how is it illegal?

(Guy) You cannot catch anything coming in or out of the airports under the rule of TSA. I work for the TSA and there is a rule about it

(Me) Dude, thats a bunch of balony, TSA doesnt own the airports, its by PA, and PA doesnt have a rule saying that airplane photography is not allowed, the only thing u cant take photos of is the Checkpoints and People. You dont believe me, look it up, I know what im talking about.

(Guy) Well im telling u sir, the rules fall under TSA juristiction, not PA or the police, dont u know wats happening now, or are looking to take a plane out because u look very suspicious and if I call the police, they will tell u the same thing im telling u, you sir do not work for the TSA, i know the regulations.

(Me) You can call the cops, I have no problem with that, I rather talk to them anyway,

The guy walks away, he went straight to his friend and told him what I was doing and went straight to his phone. I hoped he would have called the cops, this was a bunch of BS how this guy came down on me, Im out there trying to take my mind off things by enjoying my hobby and this dummy had to mess it up for me like really? I got a problem with that, Ive been spotting from there since I was 14 years old and not once I had to have a fake like that dude approach me like he did

That sucks, Sergio. I would have threatened to call the cops on him for harassing you.

He lucky I didnt, this guy really PXXXed me off today and I was not in the mood for it!

Sorry to hear about your day. The guy appears to be an idiot and probably isn't even associated with TSA. I hope you were able to get a few good shots.

When he said he was with TSA, I would have asked to see his ID. When he didn't produce it, I would have threatened to call the police and report him for impersonating a federal officer...

^^^ what Moose said.

I still didnt believe all the non sence this guy kept telling me, he said something about calling the cops, i really hope he did. I waited for at least 15 minutes, but nothing happened. I wanted to stalay to him "SHOW ME YOUR POLICY!!!" sorry i did get nasty with him, he had no athority talking to me like he did

Sergio- I can imagine how frustrated you must have been- as you said, you were out there to enjoy yourself and take your mind off your troubles, and this guy comes along and tries to ruin it. Moose has a great point about asking the guy to ID himself. Personally, with everyone being amped up about terrorism after what happened in Boston, I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often.

As you said, you stuck around to do what you knew was legal. So...unless the law comes around, you're good to go. Let them call whoever.

I'm sorry sergio, you didn't deserve that!
And i would like to make a south park reference, if anybody knows what I'm talking about, you'll get a laugh out of it!
he thought he worked for the Transportation Safety Administration, but he really worked for South Park's TSA.

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Originally Posted by Jared Blech

I'm sorry sergio, you didn't deserve that!
And i would like to make a south park reference, if anybody knows what I'm talking about, you'll get a laugh out of it!
he thought he worked for the Transportation Safety Administration, but he really worked for South Park's TSA.

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I know exactly the clip you are talking about, and had half a mind to post a link to it several months back. It's one of the most hilarious moments of that show. But, better judgement prevailed

Soo sorry to hear about your encounter with ingnorant people, You were not far from my old neighborhood. I wish I was there. The world is unfortunately full of people who are all too willing to prove just how uneducated and ignorant they are. What time of day was this?

This encounter was about 15 minutes after Ive gotten there, it was around 3pm

Sergio next time actually call the cops yourself and tell them someone is harrassing you. Harrassment is actually a pretty heavy crime. He will learn a lesson not to bother other citizens. Actually, threatening someone in any way is also a criminal offense under state and federal law... Oh how I would have toyed with this " " " officer " " "

And DO ask next time "What [is] happening now? " I wonder what they will come up with. As far as I know, the only incident involving a camera and a plane was when I got rejected for an upload of a picture to A.net about 5 minutes ago... THAT is the latest news :tongue:

The thing I don't understand is how people even have the nerve to confront other people...especially in a public park.
Were people ever taught to mind their own business?
When I am walking in public, and I see someone doing something abnormal or suspicious, I simply say to myself, "If what they are doing is illegal, I am not the one to confront them." I walk away and let a police officer deal with it. The only time I call 911 is when someone is injured, or that persons actions can harm others.
The nerve of some people!

All of this talk about trouble during spotting has gotten my imagination to start churning. So 2 nights ago I had a dream I was spotting(@JFK, for some reason my dreams are never at any other airport), I was over by a spot to watch 22R departures(that doesn't exist in real life), I see 2 787's taxying for departure and start getting excited- because one is a British Airways/JAL hybrid, and the other is some kind of private job with stripes like the old Aerolineas had. And just before they take off, this yahoo in an unmarked Crown Vic screams up to me and actually headbutts my car with his and starts shouting all this ridiculous nonsense. I remember saying "Sir, have you even ever heard of planespotting???" He ended up taking me somewhere for questioning, boy was I pissed off. I had to wonder if I was muttering 'show me the policy' as I was waking up

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Originally Posted by Jared Blech

The thing I don't understand is how people even have the nerve to confront other people...especially in a public park.
Were people ever taught to mind their own business?
When I am walking in public, and I see someone doing something abnormal or suspicious, I simply say to myself, "If what they are doing is illegal, I am not the one to confront them." I walk away and let a police officer deal with it. The only time I call 911 is when someone is injured, or that persons actions can harm others.
The nerve of some people!

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Take a look at this classic youtube gem:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VM9CiywyTk

i saw this video many times, it did made me laugh.. illegal photographers? give me a break!

I'm still surprised that the TSA or PA don't harrass any of us at Planeview Park where the aircraft are about 300' above just before T/D on Rwy. 4. Have any spotters been harrassed there?

I've never been harassed at Planeview Park, but NYPD has stopped by once or twice to see what I was up to.

2008 PAPD showed up at Planeview while i was spotting and I got detained.

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Originally Posted by Delta777LR

2008 PAPD showed up at Planeview while i was spotting and I got detained.

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Wow really ? Even though the name of the park is Planeview ? A lot of people use that park for airplane spotting.

yea, from wat i understand, someone called it in, and the one officer was very nasty about it, saying that im not allowed to take pictures from there that it was PAPD juristiction and boy did it turn ugly.