Meet the 14-year-old plane spotter who dreams of becoming a pilot and is petitioning Stansted for a viewing platform

A young plane spotter who spends his free time photographing hundreds of aircraft is petitioning Stansted Airport to install a safe viewing platform above the “dreaded fence” so aviation enthusiasts like him can have a clear view, and said the hobby is helping get teenagers off their screens.

Angelo Lazarides, from Enfield, who celebrates his 14th birthday on June 28, will be going on a surprise trip to Frankfurt, Germany, at the end of August, for his favourite hobby: spotting planes.

The teenager, who said he dreams of one day becoming a pilot or aviation engineer, has spied hundreds of aircraft over the last year after regularly visiting Heathrow and Stansted Airport on weekends, accompanied by his supportive mum Stav.

But getting a clear view of aircraft coming in to land is not always easy, in particular at Stansted Airport where there is no viewing platform unlike some airports and the “dreaded fence” obstructs the view, which makes taking photographs without climbing a ladder difficult.

Angelo, who is on the hunt for a particular plane, the BAe 146, a short-haul and regional airliner, has now launched a petition on Change.org asking the airport to build a viewing platform to make life easier for him and the many plane spotters who gather at the fence every weekend.

Asked why he loves planes so much, Angelo, who goes by the name Bagel Aviation 737 on TikTok told PA Real Life: “I think plane spotting is good because it gives us something to do that’s not on a screen and brings us happiness.

“I just like the engineering and how they fly.

“Also trying to find different, rare ones, I find that really interesting and fun.”

Angelo’s fascination with planes began with him watching YouTube videos of fighter jets around a year ago.

“July 2023 was the first time I went to Heathrow,” he said.

After doing some research, Angelo pinpointed the best place to view planes landing at Heathrow was Myrtle Avenue in Hounslow, which is near the eastern end of the South Runway and often considered one of the world’s best aircraft spotting sites.

“You get there and you’ll see a bunch of other people doing the same thing,” said Angelo, who has now become friends with several fellow spotters.

“Most of the people I sometimes go spotting with I met through social media and they’re all the same age.

“So it’s not just adults, there are a lot of teenagers who do it as well.”

Angelo brings his Canon 1200D camera to photograph the planes as they come into land.

“I try and find different, rare planes,” he said.

“You need to know all of the camera settings and things like that.

“I’ve got hundreds of photos.”

Over the past year, Angelo has made around two dozen trips to Heathrow and Stansted airport, which is closer to home, and spotted a wide range of planes including Boeing 767s, 747s and Airbus A380s.

Unfortunately watching planes land at Stansted is not easy with seasoned spotters having to use ladders to achieve an unobstructed view.

“At Stansted there’s no viewing platform or anywhere that’s good enough to see the planes properly,” he said.

“Many plane spotters, myself included, at that spot at Stansted have the same issue – the dreaded fence.

“The fence ruins our views of the aircraft and basically ruins all of our pictures.”

Angelo’s mother Stav is not keen on the idea of him climbing up ladders to take photographs, so the young plane spotter came up with a plan.

He has launched a petition on Change.org calling on the airport to install a safe viewing platform.

He said: “I am requesting a small viewing platform at Belmer Road spotting location where you can see over the fence and that we could all enjoy.

“It doesn’t need to be a building or anything like that, just a platform that’s higher than the fence.”

Angelo said the site at Belmer Road, on the northern side of the airport, can often be muddy and there is nowhere within walking distance to grab a bite to eat.

This has not stopped Angelo however, who visited the airport most recently on June 23, but said he will have to pause his hobby for couple of weeks as he has end of year exams.

To date, his rarest sighting has been the Antonov An-124, a large four-engine cargo aircraft designed in the Soviet Union (USSR) in the 1980s, which he spotted from his house.

“It can be used for military operations but the one I saw was a cargo plane,” he said.

He hopes to one day spot a BAe 146, a short-haul and regional airliner that was manufactured in the United Kingdom, which has the capability of making steep approaches into city airports.

“You just don’t see many of them flying around, so it would be really cool to see one,” he said.

On a trip to Tenerife in August 2023, Angelo was given a tour of a cockpit for the first time, although it may not be the last, given he hopes to one day work in the aviation industry.

“I didn’t really get a lot of time in there, but it was cool,” he said.

“I want to be a pilot or an aircraft engineer.”

While Angelo has never been plane spotting abroad, his mother Stav surprised him on Friday with a trip to Frankfurt for his 14th birthday.

The pair will be jetting off in August and plan on doing some spotting at Frankfurt Airport, Germany’s main international airport according to passenger numbers.

For anyone interested in plane spotting, Angelo said TikTok is a good place to start, in particular using hashtags like #planes and #AviationCommunity.

He said: “Sometimes people organise meet and greets with aviation creators where they fly them over and you get to meet them in person, it’s really cool.”

To support Angelo’s petition visit: www.change.org/p/stansted-viewing-platform.