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July 13, 2018Charlotte Douglas Intl. Airport – Spotting Guide
- last modified on June 26, 2024
Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) located in Charlotte, North Carolina, US. It’s one of the largest and busiest airports on the east coast of the United States with 44.9 million passengers one year. It used to be the hub for US Airways and it now becomes the second largest hub (after DFW) for American Airlines after US integrated to AA. CLT services more than 160 domestic and international routes.
CLT is one of the busiest airports in the USA so you will never get too boring there. However, around 90% of traffic will be American Airlines/ American Eagle, American Airlines A330s fly daily and seasonal routes to European cities like Frankfurt and London and Lufthansa A330/ A346/ A350 might be the only foreign traffic services regular flight in CLT. FedEx A300F and MD10 can be seen 5 days of a week. As CLT is a civil-military airport, USAF C-17 and C-130 can also be seen sometimes if you are lucky enough.
Please note, there is an empty space next to the museum which is good for spotting departure in 18L but please avoid it, the armed soldiers will ask you to leave immediately as they think you’re too close to the military ramp. Other than that, the authority is pretty friendly to the spotter and you will have a good time there.
Written by Ruoyang Yan, Jerry Zhang and A.J. Spring. Last change: June 2024 (Spot 1 updated)
| Rating | |
| Movements |  |
| Airline Variety |  |
| Photo Locations |  |
| Weather | |
| Airport Information | |
| Runways | |
| 18C/36C | 3.048m (10.000 ft) Concrete |
| 18L/36R | 2.743 m (9.000 ft) Concrete |
| 18R/36L | 2.645 m (8.677 ft) Concrete |
| 05/23 | 2.287 m (7.502 ft) Concrete |
| Terminals | |
| Concourse A | All domestic flights operated by non-American Airlines, including Air Canada, Delta, Frontier, JetBlue, Southwest, United. |
| Concourses B,C and E | used by American Airlines and American Eagle. |
| Concourses C and D | International flights, used by American Airlines and Lufthansa. |
| Spotting Information | |
| Ladder | Only needed for location 4 |
| Car/Public Transport | Necessary for location 1 and 4 |
| Restrooms | Available in the terminals and can be accessible for location 2 and 3. |
| Drinks/Food | Available in the terminals and can be accessible for location 2 and 3. |
| Hotels | There are serval hotels around the airport and offer a shutter bus from the terminals, but none of them are really close to spotting locations. |
| Season | All year round is fine, in summer you may spend more time spotting there in the afternoon. |
| Runway Usage | |
| 18C/ 36C | Mainly used for departure. During southern operations, international arrivals like American and Lufthansa A330s will also land at 18C. But for northern operation, international arrivals are more likely to use 36R. |
| 18R/36L | Mainly used for arrivals. More traffic will use 36L for northern operations as some arrival traffic will move to 18C during southern operations. |
| 18L/36R | Used for both departure and arrivals. Heavies are more likely to use 36R during northern operations and in southern operations, they prefer 18C. |
| 05/23 | Mainly used for arrivals but there are not many 05 / 23 traffic comparing to the other three runways. |
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Spot #1 – New Viewing Area – 18C/R movements |
|---|---|
| WHERE | New permanent overlook at Charlotte Douglas International. Opened June 7th. Parking on site. No public transportation available. Fences, but can easily get a camera over the fence. Ladders unnecessary. Find a big blue sign that says CLT Airport Overlook and follow the road up. WARNING: NEWLY OPENED! Parking will be hard to find on most days. |
| WHAT | Best for 18 C/R arrivals. Runways 18C/36C and 18R/36L are plainly visible, although some parts of 18C/36C are obscured by ongoing construction of the future parallel runway. Taxiway between 18C/36C and 18R/36L are also visible. |
| TIME | Sunrise to noon: 18R/36L. Noon to sunset: 18C/36C. Expected to be year round. Heat haze doesn’t seem to be an issue in summer, but please hydrate. Taxiway is backlit excpect summer mornings and evenings. |
| MISC. | Restrooms are available on site. Online website lists food trucks, yet none are scheduled for this time. Food trucks are expected to be around Fridays to Sundays when they start showing up. This is a public place, so unless you’re stupid, you will not have any issues with airport security or local law enforcement. Website for more information: |
| FOCAL LENGTH | Not available |
 |
Spot #2 – West side of the hourly parking garage – All movements on 18C/36C |
|---|---|
| WHERE | You can access the hourly parking deck from the main Airport entrance road. The Hourly and Daily Decks share the same entrance point off the main entrance road. Follow the signage and veer to the right to enter the Hourly Deck and drive to the top floor.
+++ UPDATE April 2022: Reservation is needed in advance to use the parking deck. The parking situation on all decks is in general extremely tight. Check the airport website for more information where you can park. +++ |
| WHAT | What you can spot here is the same movement as location 1 and light condition at this location is good in the morning. In the early morning, you may see some interesting visitors to CLT like USAF C17, FEDEX’s A300F. During Southern operations, spotting the movement on the runway is only ideal in the early morning or l in the winter as heat haze will be a problem later. Alternatively, it’s good for spotting aircraft on the taxiway as it’s closer. During northern operations, you can spot all the departures on 36C which you can get a pretty nice background. |
| TIME | From sunrise to noon all year round. |
| MISC. | Restroom or shops are located in the terminal and there is a pathway connecting the garage with the terminal. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | During southern operations: 200mm for aircraft on the taxiway, 300mm for aircraft on the runway. During northern operation, 300mm or longer for departure flights. |
Taxing for 18C departure in the morning:
36C departure:
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Spot #3 – East side of the hourly parking garage – Movement on the ramp and 36R departure |
|---|---|
| WHERE | Follow the same direction of location 2 but please go the east side. |
| WHAT | What you can spot there is the movement on the ramp. 18L movements are only ideal during winter as heat haze will be a problem in summer. During northern operations, you can spot departure on 36R as they are already in the air. |
| TIME | From noon to sunset all year round. |
| MISC. | Restroom or shops are located in the terminal and there is a pathway connecting the garage with the terminal. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | During southern operations: 200mm for aircraft on the taxiway, 300mm for aircraft on the runway, during northern operation, 300mm or longer for departure flights. |
Ramp and 36R departure:
18L landing:
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|---|---|
| WHERE | Update 2021: The airport authority has largely increased the height of the fence, this location is no longer ideal for spotting. |
| WHAT | |
| TIME | |
| MISC. | |
| FOCAL LENGTH | |
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Spot #5 – Wallace Neel Rd – Movements on 18R/36L |
|---|---|
| WHERE | Use Wallace Neel Rd Road and follow the direction of the airport, there are several hills around the runway, just find one and climb on it. You can park your car off the street just make sure it will not block the road and don’t stand too far with your car. Normally the airport authority is fine for people spotting there but the local police may sometimes ask to move your car, so it’s better to come on weekends. |
| WHAT | 18R/36L is mainly used for arrival regardless of the direction of operation. |
| TIME | Note that this location is only available from ~October to ~ April every year from noon to sunset. Otherwise, trees along the runway are too high and it’s tricky to spot between the gaps (See picture below). |
| MISC. | There is no restroom or shops nearby, please bring your own food and water. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 150mm for A320 /B737, 200mm or longer for regional jets. |
Photos taken on Spring:
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Spot #6 – Fuel Farm – 18C line-up, arrivals and 36C departures |
|---|---|
| WHERE | |
| WHAT | |
| TIME | |
| MISC. | |
| FOCAL LENGTH | |
Do the a330s still fly to Charlotte? I have been spotting a few times and have never seen one…
EDIT: American Airlines retired their A330 fleet during the pandemic… very sad 🙁
If you are talking about American Airlines, the don`t have them in their fleet anymore. And Lufthansa uses the A350. So I can’t image that you will see A330 there.
-Julian
A little piece of advise. There are a lot of awesome plane spotting locations, but be careful. There is a gravel lot next to runway 36R which is awesome for morning arrivals. It’s on Piper Lane and Commander Road. I have been taking pictures there 3 or 4 times with no issues. I even had Cops drive by and wave to me. However today I had a Cop pull up and tell me this was restricted property and I had to leave. Just in case anyone was going to use that spot.
Spot 1 is awesome for take offs from 1C as well. There is a second area with less cars. A little under the aircraft’s for a perfect side shot but definitely not bad at all.
Hey, can you provide some photos and more details through our form please: https://www.spotterguide.net/guide-update/
How do you add photos? I would love to help.
Send me a mail to support@spotterguide.net
-Julian
The road leading up to spot 6 has been destroyed. It is completely gone and there is no way to get there anymore.
I left a note. Maybe it is just temporary and they are build a new one? -Julian
Does anybody know a place near runway 36R where I can catch traffic( mainly wide body’s like cargo jets)?
I visited CLT week of May 9th and spots #2 & 3 are a “no go” at this time. Right now the hourly parting is by reservation only and is typically always full.
The spots are still available but indeed the parking situation at the deck is tricky and you need a reservation.
-Julian
Anyone familiar with the overlook at Charlotte-Douglas, can you comment on when you might be able to view military aircraft taking off or landing?
Hi, military traffic (C-17s) will normally use 18L/36L as it’s closer to military ramp. The roof of hourly parking garage will be the best spot.
Think I found a new spot this weekend…if you look due east of the northern end of Runway 18C/36C, you’ll see the jet fuel pumping station (labeled on Google Maps as “Menzie’s Aviation CLT Fuel Farm”) Directly across the street there is a sidewalk along a grove of trees where I stood for a while taking takeoff shots from both 18C/36C and 18L/36R. On the day I went operations were northbound, but I would imagine you’ll get some really great taxi shots during southbound operations as the hill is only about 250 yards from the end of the apron, which is a hair closer than the runway is to the Overlook.
You will need a long lens…mine went out to 300mm and while that’s good enough for the planes coming off 18C/36C, if you want good shots of the wheels leaving the ground on that runway or anything at all coming off 18L/36R you’ll need longer than that. Quite frankly your shots of 18L/36R are probably too far to be excellent, but you should be able to get some really good ones off 18C/36C, particularly the first half of the day when the sun prevents you from taking good ones from the Overlook (Spot 1) (this spot also has the advantage of offering plentiful shade, a huge bonus on the morning I was there as the temp was already above 90° by noon). I also think this is a nice alternative to the parking garages to watch takeoff action from both runways. Again, that’s all during northbound operations…during southbound operations you will not be able to see anything on 18L/36R but you should get some great taxiing shots of 18C/36C, in which case 300mm will be more than enough.
To get there, I just walked from the Observation Area as there’s a sidewalk that goes around the northern end of 18C/36C. It’s about a mile and you can get some shots from really interesting angles along the way, although the fence and the terrain prevent that coveted straight on takeoff shot. I saw a few people walking and jogging for exercise along the same sidewalk so I don’t think they’ll mind an unattended vehicle parked at the Overlook. Looking at the walking route I highly doubt there’s anywhere that airport security would allow you to park closer.
Hi AJ, thanks for the info about this location. I think I see where it is on google maps. The option to shot the line up on 18C sound interesting too.
Can you provide us some sampel shots you took there and send them over to support@spotterguide.net
Thanks
Julian
Hey! Thanks for the info. I was wondering if there are any good spots besides location 4 and the parking deck to go plane spotting for 18L/36R? Location 4 seems a bit too outgoing if you know what i mean. Thanks.
Hi Kavi, as far as I know, there is no more spots for 18L/36L except for those two locations. Actually location 4 is almost gone now since the airport built a high fence last year. There is a parking lot at the south end of of 36R but it’s in private property, last time my friend went there and someone just called the police, so it’s not that ideal.
I LOVE plane-watching! I would love to know if in Charlotte airport, can you view ANY airplanes as they are about to leave the runway on departure? This is my OBSESSION for some reason. I would appreciate your help as I plan to go there soon. Thank you very much!
PS: I needed to edit this message above. I meant “at” the airport and, what if any runways could I view the close takeoff mid-way of the departure…as it is leaving the ground! tks