Photography Question

MatthewPHX · 07-05-2004, 02:23 PM

Is it illegal to take pictures of aircraft sitting at the gate, or anywhere else on the ramp?

The story behind the question:
Last night my wife and I went to the parking garage at PHX's Terminal 4 to watch the fireworks. While there I thought that I'd take a couple pictures of aircraft sitting at their gates. There were a lot of airport/airline staff up there too. When I tried to take a picture of a SW 737 sitting at the gate some guy came up to me and told me that it's illegal to take pictures of aircraft sitting on the ramp. He was wearing some sort of SWA shirt (he looked like maintenance). He told me that it's for the ramp's security. He said that if I took the picture that terrorists could study my picture and learn the ramp's weaknesses, if I put the picture online. He told me that this new law went into effect after 9/11. He told me that pictures anywhere else were ok. I don't know that I believe all that.

LAX1983 · 07-05-2004, 02:56 PM

You know what you should of done? you should of told maintenance worker "Hey look is that superman next to your car" and then you should snapped some pics of the SWA plane on the ramp will he was distracted

MarinerOne · 07-06-2004, 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MatthewPHX

Is it illegal to take pictures of aircraft sitting at the gate, or anywhere else on the ramp?

Not to my knowledge, but these days, anything is possible, or in this case, maybe impossible.

I was flying back from Washington DC through Denver and during the layover at DIA, took out my digital video cam and video-ed the pushback of a British Airways 777. All in all, maybe about five minutes of continuous video, until they started the engines and taxied off under their own power. No one stopped me there, but perhaps they didn't notice? I was kind of in a lowly inhabited area of the gate area, but I wasn't hiding either. Nonetheless, perhaps different airlines have different rules/regulations. I was flying Frontier and in that area of the terminal building.

Any other experiences?

07-06-2004, 01:28 PM

No, it is not illegal to take pictures of aircraft on the ramp. Unless it's the local police department, or other government agency, I wouldn't worry about it.

MR. GSE · 07-06-2004, 05:52 PM

My Uncle's friend flies planes and he said he doubts it is illegal

Anything is possible though

DavidMich · 07-06-2004, 08:17 PM

No way is it illegal to snap photos from a public facility. I was there at PHX back in March. I took about 4 rolls of pics from atop Term 3, and Term 4 over a 3 day period, and not once were we (some other DACers were there too) hassled, or asked to leave by security, police, or airline personnel. Apparantly this egotistical SWA employee never heard about airliners.net, and basically he was full of sh*t talking about a law forbidding it.

07-05-2004, 02:56 PM	#2
LAX1983 ~Don Widgetlioni~ Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Southern California Age: 25 Posts: 1,172	You know what you should of done? you should of told maintenance worker "Hey look is that superman next to your car" and then you should snapped some pics of the SWA plane on the ramp will he was distracted __________________ ~A. J. R~

07-06-2004, 05:52 PM	#5
MR. GSE Senior Collector Join Date: Jun 2004 Age: 32 Posts: 428	My Uncle's friend flies planes and he said he doubts it is illegal Anything is possible though __________________ REMEMBER TO ASK ME ABOUT MY ! FREE ! FOILS Lets go Herpa make me a AA Super-80 Long live... Continental United Airlines Southwest Airlines Northwest Airlines American Airlines American Eagle Air Canada CAN NEVER HAVE ENOUGH GSE MR.GSE

07-06-2004, 08:17 PM	#6
DavidMich Registered User Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Back in MCO! Posts: 3,626	No way is it illegal to snap photos from a public facility. I was there at PHX back in March. I took about 4 rolls of pics from atop Term 3, and Term 4 over a 3 day period, and not once were we (some other DACers were there too) hassled, or asked to leave by security, police, or airline personnel. Apparantly this egotistical SWA employee never heard about airliners.net, and basically he was full of sh*t talking about a law forbidding it. __________________ "So if man is 5, and the devil is 6, then that must make me 7,,,this honky's gone to heaven!"

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07-06-2004, 01:28 PM	#4
JohnnyB Guest Posts: n/a	No, it is not illegal to take pictures of aircraft on the ramp. Unless it's the local police department, or other government agency, I wouldn't worry about it.