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Your aircraft
RAF Waddington plane spotting: the public viewing area
RAF Waddington plane spotting is done from the public viewing area and car park just off the airfield, which the station describes as open to the general public for safe aircraft viewing. The Red Arrows are bas…
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Help
Returns and cancellations
Airport-code prints within 14 days; prints made from your photo; downloads; damaged or wrong orders.
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The gift
Spitfire gifts from your own photo of a Spitfire
Spitfire gifts here start from a real Spitfire: a photo you took at an airshow or a museum, or one you have permission to reproduce. The aircraft print redraws it in one of five styles and shows you a free wate…
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Aviation guides
Stansted airport code: STN and EGSS
London Stansted uses STN for passenger-facing airport identification and EGSS as its ICAO identifier. Both identify the same airport; neither is the code for every London airport.
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The sky
The Concorde aeroplane: history, why it stopped flying and where to see one
The Concorde aeroplane was built by Britain and France under a treaty signed on 29 November 1962. It first flew on 2 March 1969, carried fare-paying passengers from 21 January 1976, and stopped when British Air…
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The gift
The gift
Who it is for, and what lands. One page per recipient, each making only the argument that is its own.
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The sky
The largest aeroplane in the world: wingspan, weight and passengers
By wingspan, the largest aeroplane in the world is the Stratolaunch Roc, at 117.35 metres, according to Guinness World Records. No single aircraft wins on every measure: the Antonov An-225 held the take-off wei…
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The sky
The Lockheed Constellation: history, variants and where to see one
The Lockheed Constellation was a pressurised airliner that Lockheed began designing in the late 1930s to meet TWA's call for non-stop coast-to-coast flights. It first flew on 9 January 1943, as a military trans…
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The sky
The sky: aeroplane facts with their sources
Sourced answers about flight, aircraft, airport terminology and aviation history, free to read.
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The sky
The Spitfire aircraft: a short history
The Supermarine Spitfire aircraft is a family of fighters, not one unchanged machine. Its story begins with a prototype in 1936 and continues through different versions, roles and surviving museum aircraft.
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Your aircraft
Turn a photo into a painting: aircraft photos as wall art
To turn a photo of an aircraft into a painting, upload your sharpest shot, pick the watercolour or oil style, and it is redrawn with a painted look; you see a free watermarked preview before you pay. You can al…
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The sky
What are the main types of aircraft?
The main types of aircraft are aeroplanes, rotorcraft and gliders. The US federal regulations (14 CFR 1.1) tell them apart by one thing: where the lift comes from.
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The sky
What is a knot in aviation?
A knot is one nautical mile per hour, and the international nautical mile is exactly 1,852 metres. Both figures are fixed by agreement, not by measurement.
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The sky
What is a runway?
A runway is a defined area used for aircraft take-off and landing. It can be paved or unpaved. On numbered runways, the number gives a direction, not a name.
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The sky
What is a squawk code? Squawk 7700 and the rest
Squawk 7700 means the aircraft is in a state of emergency, and nothing more: the UK rule behind it, SERA.13005 in the CAA's regulatory library, names no cause. A squawk code is the four-digit code a pilot sets …
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The sky
What is an aerodrome reference code?
An aerodrome reference code is a design classification, usually written as a number and a letter. It isn’t the passenger airport identifier on a baggage label, and it isn’t a universal permission for an aircraf…
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The sky
What is an aeroplane cockpit?
The aeroplane cockpit, called the flight deck on larger aircraft, is the compartment at the front where the flight crew sit and fly the thing.
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The sky
What is plane spotting?
Plane spotting is watching, photographing and identifying aircraft, usually from public ground near an airport or under a flight path.
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The sky
What is turbulence?
Turbulence is rough, irregular air that an aircraft happens to be flying through, a property of the atmosphere and not a fault with the aeroplane. The FAA says the clear-air kind normally occurs above 15,000 fe…
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Your aircraft
Where to see a Spitfire in the UK: museums and flying displays
Where to see a Spitfire in the UK: on display at IWM Duxford, the RAF Museum in London and at Cosford, the Spitfire and Hurricane Memorial Museum at Manston, Solent Sky in Southampton and Thinktank in Birmingha…
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The sky
Why are planes white?
The usual answer is heat, damage inspection and resale: white reflects sunlight, shows damage clearly and is cheaper to keep looking right. We found no regulator or manufacturer that publishes those reasons, so…
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Your aircraft
Your aircraft
One photograph of one particular aircraft, and everything that can be done with it.