Plane-spotting Aficionados: At Long Beach Airport, a Front-row Seat to the Skies
Updated: 11 hours ago
By Caden Choi
The first thing you notice isn't so much the planes as the low rumble that builds into a roar, then rattles off into silence as jets touch down and take off on Runway 12/30.
Families, aviation enthusiasts and anyone who enjoys watching airplanes can get unusually close to the action at the airport’s viewing area, tucked into the northwest corner of the parking lot at Aero Long Beach—formerly Kilroy Airport Center.
The area was established in 2022, according to Darrick B. Lee, public affairs officer for the Long Beach Airport. The improvements were completed in phases, with the bleacher-style seating installed first, followed by the canopy, signage and other amenities.
Long before its existence, however, local plane spotters had mapped their own geography of the airport, and this site had become a go-to destination. “It’s been there for only four years, but that was the area where spotters would go mainly before that was even built,” says Cypress resident Roy Rausch, an administrator of the popular Facebook group, Long Beach Aviation Spotters. Rausch has been one of the group’s administrators for over ten years and has noticed its membership steadily increase over the years and now stands at twenty-seven hundred. Members share information on real-time sightings, rare or special aircraft, and community gatherings.
Rausch notes that military planes drum up considerable excitement among group members. One example is the C-17 Globemaster III, a military cargo transport aircraft that was produced at Long Beach Airport for decades. Although Boeing ended new-builds in 2015, maintenance continues at the airport facilities. “There’s a lot of passion for C-17s,” Rausch says. Besides cargo freighters from companies such as FedEx and UPS, LGB also sees a steady stream of corporate, private, and commercial jets. Southwest, Delta and Hawaiian all currently fly out of LGB, and Alaska recently returned with twice daily service to Seattle.
Jason Clingan has been chasing planes most of his life. Now, the viewing area gives him a long-anticipated place to share that passion with his son. The 49-year-old North Long Beach native grew up near Daugherty Field. His father worked in aerospace at McDonnell Douglas, which once operated a 200-acre facility on the northwest corner of the field. Clingan remembers the company's annual family picnics, held right next to the flight line, where children could get close enough to touch the aircraft. "We loved getting right under the DC-10 engines," Clingan reminisces.
Today, Clingan operates a fueling tanker and is a member of Teamster Union 572. He carries on his family tradition by taking out his own son for plane spotting at LGB. Last year, the two of them also joined a team representing the union at the 2025 Special Olympics Southern California Plane Pull at Long Beach Airport, where more than two dozen teams dragged a 124,000-pound Boeing UPS cargo jet down the tarmac and raised over $200,000 for the cause. “Hoping to do it again this year,” Clingan says.
This kind of pull is exactly what Long Beach Airport officials say they had in mind when they built the viewing area. "The viewing area was designed to provide families, aviation enthusiasts and members of the community with a safe and welcoming place to watch aircraft and create lasting memories," says Darrick Lee, airport spokesman. "It also provides an opportunity to introduce young people to aviation and potentially inspire future aviators."
Lee says the idea started with the Airport Advisory Commission, which pushed for a dedicated public space where people could watch aircraft operations safely. Airport staff, current and former commission members, and the team at Aero Long Beach worked together to build it out.
The viewing area replaced a historic second-floor restaurant near the terminal that once had its own observation deck, but Lee says that view was largely lost once the airport's passenger concourse was built in 2012. The deck is no longer open to the public.
One added draw at the new viewing site is a QR code, installed in 2023, that allows visitors to access real-time air traffic control communications through LiveATC.net. Lee says the airport doesn't track exact visitor counts, but the code alone has logged thousands of scans, an indication of how much interest the space has generated. Click below to hear a sample recording of actual communications from LGB control tower.
Amanda Turner, a security officer at Kilroy, says she sees a steady stream of visitors to the viewing area. “It’s a mix. A lot of people come with their families. Seniors, too," she says. The area is open daily from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. with the late afternoon hours drawing the biggest crowds. "Lunchtime tends to bring in a smaller, steadier trickle.” Turner estimates two or three guests around that time on an average day, with a larger number arriving between 3 and 4 p.m. Some of the regulars are plane buffs, Turner says. “They bring their ladders to get some pictures of unique aircraft.”
Roy Raush, an administrator for the Long Beach Aviation Spotters Facebook Group, visits the area once every one to two weeks, “depending on what’s coming in.” “There’s some people who go much more frequently,” he says. Rausch has also noticed the site become more family friendly after the canopied viewing area was installed. “Before, you wouldn’t see many kids out there, because it can be hot and [the area] was exposed,” he says.
The viewing area also attracts visitors from afar. Thomas Hilliard was driving home to Los Angeles from San Diego with his wife, Kristin, and their daughter, Sky, when an online search for "best plane spots" led them to the Long Beach viewing area. "I know there are certain FAA security requirements that guide viewership, so it's nice to have public access at an airport like this," Hilliard says. "It's super cool to be this close. I love this stuff."
Hilliard is a private pilot who flies recreationally, logging time in a Cessna 172 Skyhawk and a Cirrus SR20 out of Santa Monica Airport. He contrasts the setup at Long Beach with large airports such as LAX, where the sheer scale makes it harder to get anywhere near the runway. Long Beach's setup, by comparison, puts spectators close enough to feel it.
Among aircraft, aviation enthusiast Rausch has a clear favorite: the NOAA Lockheed WP-3D Orion. The fifty-year-old aircraft’s primary mission is monitoring and measuring storms. It is operated by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration. NOAA runs two of them, nicknamed “Kermit” and “Miss Piggy.” “It’s really unusual, a quad turboprop... a fascinating aircraft,” Rausch explains. They are based out of Florida, “but when there is a hurricane, they will stay in Long Beach, often overnight, then depart for destinations like Hawaii.”
During the Orion’s recent Long Beach stop, Rausch arranged an inside tour of the aircraft through a NOAA communications specialist, who accompanied him aboard. See below for a video walk-through of Orion with Rausch providing commentary from behind the camera:
High-traffic stretches, such as the Grand Prix of Long Beach, which returns April 16-18, 2027, typically draw a wave of private jets. The airport doesn’t publish a calendar of prime viewing windows, but when something notable is scheduled to land, the airport tends to post about it on its social media channels ahead of time. For now, the draw doesn't require a special occasion. Just a bleacher seat and the next plane to roll down the runway.
To learn more about Caden Choi, go to our contributor page.
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