They have their own bus stops and food trucks - and they're nearly all men. How planespotting became cool

Plane spotting has grown into a structured hobby with its own viewing infrastructure, expanding far beyond casual curiosity at Tullamarine Airport in Melbourne. On a clear Sunday morning, a spotter known as Kevin Alexopoulos used a retractable stepladder to photograph a Delta Airbus A350-900 departing from runway 34, leveraging Flightradar24 for tracking and Live ATC for listening to Air Traffic Control. Alexopoulos, a logistics officer at LaTrobe University, said airside patrols now require spotters to stand 2–3 metres from the boundary, compared with an earlier “tiny hole” position. He typically goes out a couple of times weekly and bought the ladder just before Christmas after a tree damaged his previous vehicle setup. The article describes dedicated bus stops, a memorial mound, and major food-truck activity around plane spotters in Melbourne.