Taking photos at Lisbon Portela (LIS)
My first visit to Lisbon was in September 2008 with a group of students from our school. From the moment, I looked down from the Castelo over the Tejo and the whole town I fell in love with this great city. Now I have been there four times in total, three visits with students and one with my friend Michael in summer 2009. This visit of course was not only to visit the city itself but also to take photos at the airport. So we spent the mornings and evenings - as long as there was sunshine - at the airport. Taking photos there is quite easy, at least as long as there's wind from the north, which was the case during all our visits to the airport. There are spots to take photos with southerly winds also, but as I never went there, I cannot tell anything about them.
The best position to take photos is the one marked with A on the photo. This is situated along a newly constructed road that will eventually lead to the new cargo facilities located on this side of the airport. The traffic situation changes a lot due to construction works. While it was possible to walk there from the Metro station Quinta das Conchas (linha amarela) in 2008, this was not possible any more in later years. The best way to get there now seems to be from Campo Grande along 2a Circular or from Avenida do Brasil. It is possible to take photos of planes approaching RWY03 in the afternoon (from 5pm onwards in summer), as well as planes lining up for departure. However, as it's quite warm in summer, heathaze may be a problem.
If You want to take photos in the morning, there are two spots along 2a Circular, each located next to a gas station. The point marked 'C' is a lot nicer than the one marked 'B', as You are a little further away from the street and it's a little more peaceful. This spot is easily reached by walking there from the Avenida do Brasil.
Taking photos at Milan Malpensa (MXP)
We also found a nice hotel, very well suited for spotting trips to MXP: The Hotel Cardano in Campo Cardano. From there most photopositions are easily reached within about 10 minutes. During our three days there runways 35 were used for landing and take off, the pattern changes at 10:30 and at 18:30 and is inverted the next day. So they landed on 35R the first evening, the next morning 35L was used for landings, 35R during the day and 35L again from 18:30. There are some exceptions to this rule, so that some planes always come in on the wrong runway, but these are really rare. Runways 17 are only in use, when southerly winds are blowing, which is not the case very often as it seems. The photopositions at Malpensa airport are good in general. We mostly took photos of approaching aeroplanes. As long as Runway 35R is in use, that is possible without problems on both sides, so in the morning as well as in the evening. With runway 35L it gets a little more complicated, as we did not find a good position for taking photos in the moring.
The positions we used during our stay are marked on the aerial photo.
Positions A and B are for morningphotos of aircraft approaching to RWY 35R obviously. Position A is on a small hill next to the fence, so there are no steps necessary. Aircraft are shortly before touchdown. There is a small parking place here. Position B is on a railway bridge and allows photos of planes in the air at a good angle. Parking is difficult here, so the best option is to walk here from position A. In the afternoon positions C and D are used. These positions are on a bikelane that runs parallel to a small road. Parking along that road is not allowed officially, but during our stay nobody seemed to care about that. It is not possible to take photos of aircraft landing on RWY 35L in the morning from position C, as the view is obstructed by trees and planes can only be seen from behind.
