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General
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Frankfurt is the busiest airport of Germany and in the top three of Europe. For many years it also housed a variety of American military aircraft, like the C-9 and C-130, and was one of the main USAF bases in Europe with frequent visiting C-5, C-141 among others. Nowadays occasionally visiting military aircraft makes this airport even more interesting to visit. A couple of former USAF-aprons are now being used as a cargo terminal. As is the case with most airports, Frankfurt is constantly expanding so parts of the field are now obscured by terminals and piers. But there are still plenty of good places to spot and to take pictures.
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Layout
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Terminal 1
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The oldest of the two terminals, terminal one handles the brunt of the Lufthansa traffic. Especially piers A and B are loaded with examples of this carrier's extensive fleet, intercontinental as well as European- bound aircraft. A mixture of A320's to Boeing 747-400's can be seen. On top of one of the piers is the visitor terrace, which gives a nice view of the airport and the north and south runways. Most of the traffic passes the enthusiast in the south. For the photographers among us, this is not too favourable, the sun being dead ahead during most of the day. To the west lies the facility of Lufthansa Maintenance, and one of the cargo areas. The hard stands here are often used for parking airliners that stay during the day, arriving in the morning and leaving in the afternoon or evening. Opposite (across the runways 07L/25R and 07R/25L) is the USAF Rhein-Main Air Base, with visiting C-5 Galaxies, C-17 Globemaster III's and examples of the aging C-141 Starlifter. KC-10's, KC-135's: almost any type of heavy equipment the USAF uses visits Rhein Main AB. It takes a 15 to 20 times magnifying binocular to resolve the serials of the aircraft. To the east, Terminal Two can be seen, with a lot of visiting airliners from across the Atlantic in the morning and Asians in the late afternoon and evening. In the basement of this terminal is a McDonalds among some other restaurants and a supermarket worth a visit before going upstairs.
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Terminal 2
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Linked to Terminal One by a train, Terminal Two is a modern looking building, with a spacious design. And another McDonald's too! The terrace is nowadays closed. From the McDonald's you have a good view of the alndings and departing traffic on runways 25L/R.
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Around The Airport
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Runway 18W
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When in your car, follow the signs to the Cargo Area. Some entry gates at the Cargo Area gives you the possibility to read off some parked aircraft at the Lufthansa Maintenance and at the Cargo Apron. After passing the cargo area, continue driving on this road. Before crossing the runway (by means of a tunnel) there is a small car park at your right hand side. From here, a short journey by foot reveals a somewhat elevated platform that enables visitors to get close to the runway, and very nice shots can be made here. From mid day on, the spot gets better and better, the sun turning more and more behind your back. There are no facilities whatsoever, though, but during hot summer days an ice-cream car is most of the time resent at the parking. This spot can also be used to get hold of aircraft landing on 07R or 07L, but beware: they come in view late, and changing lenses (a Boeing 747 on 07R takes a lot less millimetres than an A319 on 07L!) is something you should practice before going here... A little back along the road is also a parking where you can take landing shots, but this also takes some practice here.
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The South Side
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Continuing the road that lead you to the spotters corner of runway 18W, and turning left, gives you a chance to identify some of the visitors on the cargo aprons on the north side of Frankfurt Main. It's quite a distance, with a lot of concrete and asphalt (both runways 07/25!) in between: watch out for heat waves. Taking pictures is difficult: a fence ensures no clear pictures can be taken...
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Runway 25
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After exiting the A5, this spot can easily be found: just take the first left to the Recreation Area of Rhein Main AB, park your car near the gate. From here you walk towards the highway and the airfield, crossing the highway with a bridge. From here you have an excellent view of the traffic landing on 25R and 25L. The thing with changing lenses mentioned at the 18W-spot is also applicable to this vantage point... Close to this point is the Berlin Luftbrücke Denkmal (Berlin Airlift Memorial) where a C-54 and a C-47 are preserved. It is at your left when facing the field, with the entrance at the other side.
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Getting There
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The airport can easily be reached from a lot of stations in the city by means of the S-Bahn (local train). The airport has two stations, one for the S-Bahn and one for the intercity trains to the rest of Germany and Europe. Many bus lines also connect the airport with the neighbouring villages and other parts of Frankfurt. The vantage point at runway 25 can also be reached by train, but not directly from the airport. You have to go to Sportfeld with S8 or S9 first and change there for Zeppelinheim on line S7.
An easy alternative is to take bus OF-64 which runs usually every 30 minutes from Terminal 1 (when in you are in Terminal 2 get on the bus at "Hugo-Eckener-Ring" - a bus station at the big road in front of T2). Bus no. OF-51 runs every 60 minutes from Terminal 1 and 2. In both cases you have to exit at the US-Air-Base and walk back a few meters along the airport fence.
To get to point 4, take bus 5514 from Terminal 1. It runs usually every 30 minutes. Get off the bus at "Tor 31", just a few meters from this vantage point. It ist also possible to walk back from this bus stop to runway 18W (point 3) but be prepared for a 20-30-minute walk. Another possibility to get to 18W is to exit bus 5514 at "Tor 26" and passing the threshold of 07L and 07R. This takes also about 20-30 Minutes.
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Photo: Walter Heukensfeld
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Based
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A300
A310
A319
A320
A321
A330
A340
B737-300
B737-500
B747-400
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B747-200F
MD-11F
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B757-200
B757-300
B767-300
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Neighbourhood Airports
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Egelsbach
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Mainly light civil |
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More Info
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www.frankfurt-airport.de
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The official site of Frankfurt Rhein-Main airport |
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www.rmas.de
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The Rhein Main Aviation Society with all kinds of spotters info |
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RMV
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For public transport info. |
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Preserved
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D-ANAF
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This Vickers Viscount has been used as a cabin trainer and now stands in front of the big Lufthansa Hangar on the ramp. It can be seen from the perimeter road after passing the LH maintenance, but beware, it is sometimes parked inside.
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44-09063
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This C-54 is part of the Berlin Luftbrücken Denkmal.
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43-49081
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This C-47 is also part of the memorial site.
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Frequencies
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121.7
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Ground - Apron West taxi
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121.8
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Ground
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121.85
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Ground - Apron West push-back
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121.9
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Ground - Start-up
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121.95
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Ground - Apron East
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122.6
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Ground - Military Ramp
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119.9
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Tower
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124.85
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Tower
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119.15
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Approach
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127.5
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Approach
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120.15
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Departure
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120.425
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Departure
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118.45
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ATIS - South
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120.8
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ATIS - North
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Send Updates !
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Do you have updates ? Or is something not listed correctly ? Please let us know ! Fill in the form and send back to us. We appreciate your help very much. Only thanks to your input we can maintain an up to date information. And you can help other spotters with your information as well !
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