Dortmund Holzwickede - Spotting Guide

Dortmund Holzwickede – Spotting Guide

December 10, 2018 - last modified on November 19, 2023

Dortmund Holzwickede (DTM/EDLW) is located 10km east of the downtown of Dortmund city. The airfield was firstly used by light sportaircraft, but the aircraft became heavier with the time and the airport was grewing partly (the runway was extended time by time as well as all needed facilities were built). Back in 1979, DTM handled its first scheudeled service between the city of Dortmund at Bavaria’s capital Munich – this was a big step for its future. Back in 2000, the airport’s runway was extended to its todays length and the airport broke the one-million-passenger-milestone for the first time. But due to 9/11, the passengernumbers sunk hardly again – this was the reason, why DTM opened its doors to the LCC business, which became the most important part of DTM nowadays. Cause of this decision, the numbers were grewing again and DTM broke the two-million-passenger-milestone for the first time in 2006. But after Air Berlin, Lufthansa and EasyJet removed some of their flights to/from DTM, the passengernumbers sunk again and just came back over the two million-mark in 2017.

Today, DTM is mainly used by Wizz Air, which opened a hub at Dortmund Holzwickede airport and are connectting DTM to many destinations in eastern Europe today. Apart from this, you’ll see some Eurowings/Germanwings and Ryanair services as well as a few charterflights over the year. There are even quite a few General Aviation flights at DTM. And last but not least, a police helicoptercorp is based at this airport as well as a patrol of the “DRF Luftrettung” (German air rescue).

Dortmund Holzwickede airport has rules to keep for its activities:

Departures: 6 – 22 o’clock (with delay at most 22:30)
Arrivals: 6 – 23 o’clock (with delay at most 23:30)

Luckily there is a webcam at Dortmund airport, so you can check the apron regularly even if you are far away. The webcam can be found HERE.

Written by Severin Hackenberger in cooperation with Tjorve Henzler, Jan Selig and ‘German.aviation’. Last visit: February 2019

Rating
Movements
Airline Variety
Photo Locations
Weather
Airport Information
Runways
06/24	2000m x 45m Asphalt
Terminals
PAX Terminal	Used by all regular passenger flights nad is the mainterminal, wehre you can find the viewing terrace for example.
GA/VIP Terminal	Located west of the normal PAX terminal and is only being used by business jets and their passengers.
Spotting Information
Ladder	Needed at some spots (see MISC.) But if you use one, there are normally no problems with this.
Car/Public Transport	Needed or at least recommended from the point on, you wanna leave the spots along the terminal, as public traffic around/to the runway ends is quite poor.
Restrooms	Inside the gas stations around the airport or the terminal facilities itself.
Drinks/Food	In the nearby shops and gas stations as well as in the terminal facilities itself.
Hotels	There are a couple of hotels around the airport and there are a lot of hotels inside the city.
Season	There are no real seasons, if you “rate” the traffic.
Runway Usage
06/24	Used in both directions, but no direction is really prefered.

Fieldside - 06 Arrivals

WHERE	This spot is no exact position, rather the are at the end of the deadend street “Zur Alten Windmühle”. Just enter the street, park your car by the roadside and walk to the end, where you might also go on some steps along the fence next to the field into airport direction, if the bushes aren’t too high again – should be possible in winter normally.

WHAT	Arrivals on runway 06.

TIME	From late morning till afternoon in summer. In winter all day.

MISC.	No ladder needed. Nothing really nearby. If you’re walking along the fence, take care and DON’T DESTROY any PLANTS!

FOCAL LENGTH	150-300mm A320 = ~180mm

Arrivallights – 06 Line-Ups + 24 Vacators + GAT

WHERE	This spot is no exact position, rather the area along the fence near the arrival light. Park your by the roadside of the street “Zur Alten Windmühle” and then walk down the farmpath “Donnerstrasse” into northern direction for about ~400m. Then you should have arrived at the fence, which protects the arrivallights – now you have to decide, from which side of this area you want to take pictures from -> north or south! Anyway, just walk along the arrivallights into airport direction, until you face the next fence, from where we took the example shots from. If you didn’t understand these instructions, please use the map, where we marked the way exactly.You can take pictures north and south of the arrivallights. To change the sides, you’ll have to go all around the fenced lights – this will take some minutes.

WHAT	Aircrafts leaving runway 24 after landing or those ones lining up for 06 departure. You can also see parts of the GAT if you walk down on the southern site of the runway axis.

TIME	From early afternoon till sunset.

MISC.	Ladder needed. Nothing nearby, take everything you need with you. Walking to the spot can be terrible on wet/rainy days, when the dirt is totally squishy! Heat haze IS a big problem!

FOCAL LENGTH	100 – 400mm A320 when leaving the runway via the last taxiway = 230mm

P5 Parking – 06 Arrivals + 24 Departures

WHERE	This spot is located on the third/top floor of the parking “P5”. Just enter the parking garage, go up to the top floor and search your favourite position along the front, which faces the runwayend. Carpark can easily be entered from “Chaussee” street and just leave your car in the area here somewhere (which is a bit tricky though as most places are preserved).

WHAT	Arrivals on runway 06 as well as 24 departures and some nearby taxiway activities.

TIME	Midmorning till afternoon in summers; in winter all day.

MISC.	No ladder needed and recommended. Nothing really nearby. Heat haze might be a problem on hot days. Plus there are some poles/sensors on the rooftop in front which disturb your view at some points. You have to pay the daily price (22€), also if you are parking just for an hour. Official website

FOCAL LENGTH	150-350mm B738 = 195mm / A320 = 220mm

Chaussee – Western Apron + nearby Taxiway/Runway

WHERE	This spot is located by the roadside of the mainroad “Chaussee”, which is running a bit higher than the apron. Just park your car somewhere around here (airport carpark or nearby company parkings – McDonalds for example offers 2h parking free of charge), then go back to “Chaussee” street and search your favourite position along the sidewalk.

WHAT	From here you can see the apron (Positions 0-4) as well as the taxiways around here and a part of the runway. And you can even see most aircraft taxiing from/to the GAT.

TIME	Taxiway/Runway: Late morning till sunset in summers; in winter all day.

MISC.	Ladder not needed, but might be helpful to be a bit higher for a better angle. Everything like restrooms and shops can be found inside the terminal. Heat haze is a big problem here – especially if the gates infront of you are blocked by aircraft whom APUs are active!

FOCAL LENGTH	70-300mm A320 on apron infront of you = 85mm / A320 on taxiway to runway = 150mm / B717 takeoff on runway = 190mm

Viewing terrace – Apron + nearby Taxiways/Runway

WHERE	Just enter the terminal, go up to the second floor, cross the terminalhall at its middle via one of the bridges and follow the signs to the terrace. Once reached this, search your favourite spot along the glassfront. This terrace is located before the security check and doesn’t require any security checks or similar. Entry is free of charge as well.

WHAT	Literally you can see every activity at Dortmund airport, just some parts of the GAT apron are hidden from here. As said, you can see almost everything, but however the possibilities of taking pictures are limited! Sometimes, mostly during the peak hours, there is parking an aircraft infront of the terrace, whose heat emission (created by its APU) can disturb almost all pictures!

TIME	Depending on what you wanna shot. Taxiway/Runway: Late morning till sunset in summers; in winter all day. Apron: Depending, if it’s west or east of you!

MISC.	Ladder might be useful, too shot over the glassfront, but we don’t know if it’s allowed. Everything like restrooms and shops can be found inside the terminal. Heat haze is a problem here on warmer days! The whole terrace is glazed!

FOCAL LENGTH	50 – 250mm ATR72 on runway = 210mm / A320 on runway = 165mm

Go through this door and follow the floor…

…then you will end up on this terrace:

Terminalfence – Nearby Taxiway

WHERE	This spot is located just next to the terminal, outside of it at its eastern end. It can be found right at the fence by the roadside of “Flughafenring” next to the (ATC-)Tower. Parking here is not possible, you need to leave your car anywhere else – in the expensive airport parking or on another parking you can find around here; there are some possiblities on the other side of “Chaussee” street.

WHAT	Normally you will see all activities on the taxiway infront, so aircraft taxiing to the runway for departure on 24 or the ones, taxiing to the terminal after their landing on runway 06. The runway is a bit lower then the taxiway here, so all runway acitivities “will have no gear from here”! Sometimes there is an aircraft parked just infront of the spot, so you can’t shot anything!

TIME	From morning till afternoon in summer; in winter all day.

MISC.	Ladder needed. Anything you need can be found inside the terminal. The nearby parking possibilities are quite expensive – even for airportprices!

FOCAL LENGTH	70-200mm

Aircrafts taxiing to the runway look like THIS and the ones taxiing to the terminal like this:

Spot is located on the walkway right at the fence:

P3 Parking – 24 Movements + Heavy 06 movements

WHERE	This spot is located inside P3 Parking area which is quite a bit to the east from the terminal. Can be entered without any problems from the south from “Flughafenring” – even with your own car – and then just search your favourite position along the fence infront.

WHAT	Arrivals onto and departures from runway 24 as well as taxiing aircraft to 24 treshold. Low 06 departures may also be possible. In the morning you can shoot Charlie (second taxiway from the east) vacators, too and in the evening then Delta (most eastern taxiway) vacators – photo position has to be adjusted a bit.

TIME	Runway/Taxiway – Summer: From later morning till afternoon. / Winter: All day.

MISC.	Ladder definitely needed. Nothing nearby as restrooms or shops. Heat haze is a problem on hot days!

FOCAL LENGTH	50-250mm Taxiway: A320 = 80mm

Bulge – 24 Arrivals

WHERE	This spot is located by the roadside of “Chaussee” and can be found inside a stoppingbulge. Just stop here with your car in the bulge and take your pictures from here. For your own safety, go some steps away from the busy street and stay at the fieldside!

WHAT	Arrivals on runway 24.

TIME	From late morning till afternoon in summer. In winter all day.

MISC.	No ladder needed. Nothing nearby as restrooms or shops. Heat haze is a problem on hot days! Parking here for a long time is not wished! Take care of the busy street next to the bulge!

FOCAL LENGTH	250-400mm A320 = 310mm

Roadside – 24 Arrivals

WHERE	This position can be found north of the airport’s eastern end just along the roadside somewhere. Parking is very hard here, but may be possible on the nearby farmer path or for a short time by the roadside. Then just search your favourite position around here next to “Zeche-Norm-Strasse”…

WHAT	Arrivals on runway 24.

TIME	Late afternoon till sunset. Only useable in summer months.

MISC.	No ladder needed. Nothing nearby as restrooms or shops. Parking also hard… If you’re walking along the fieldsides, take care and DON’T DESTROY any PLANTS!

FOCAL LENGTH	70-400mm Piper = 340mm

Pictures were taken from different positions, thereby they show various angles:

Field road – 06 Arrivals

WHERE	This spot is located north of the runway’s western end. It can easily be reached from “Steinbrinckstraße”, where you can also park your car by the roadside qithout any problems as it is a deadend street. Then just go by foot to your favourite position along the field road depending on the angle and subject you wanna shot. Positions variety is quite limited due to the low number of field roads around here- due to this it is difficult to get around here as we don’t want to cross the fields.

WHAT	Arrivals on runway 06. 24 Departures are probably too high, but we didn’t test yet.

TIME	Late afternoon till sunset. Maybe also sunrise till early morning. Only useable in the high summer months.

MISC.	No ladder needed. Nothing nearby as restrooms or shops. If you’re walking along the fieldsides, take care and DON’T DESTROY any PLANTS!

FOCAL LENGTH	100-300mm