Although Charlotte Douglas International Airport doesn’t have the best variety of airlines compared to other hubs, it has one of the best spotting locations in the United States. The “Airport Overlook Park” at North Carolina’s largest airport draws many aviation enthusiasts daily. The park sits right at the end of runway 18 Center providing great shots of departing and landing aircraft alike. 18 C is usually the most active runway at the airport, which makes it easy to see everything Charlotte has to offer from this location. During the busiest times of day, usually the morning and late afternoon, you will see back to back takeoffs and landing constantly from this location. The city of Charlotte also provides a great backdrop for photographs, as the skyscrapers are easily visible from the park. The park is so close to the runway that a camera with a lot of zoom really isn’t necessary. Pretty much any DSLR camera will allow you to capture amazing shots here. The park is located off of Old Dowd Road, on the airports North side.
Charlotte Douglas International Airport one of the top 10 busiest airports in the world in terms of passenger traffic. It is also the hub for U.S. Airway’s. Most of the planes you will see at the airport overlook will be US’s a320’s, a321’s, a330’s, 757’s, 767’s, 737’s as well as CRJ’s and Dash 8’s operated by their regional carriers. (See Post: US Airways Diverse Fleet) You will also see mainline and regional aircraft from most of the United State’s carriers including Delta, United, American, AirTran, and JetBlue. The most exciting arrival each day is definitely the Lufthansa Airbus a340-600 from Munich, Germany.