Dia Plane Watching

[jeffreyinberthoud]

I have the freqs and so on ,,,my family wants to have a picnic dinner at dia and watch the planes ..............

can someone suggest a good location(s) for this ?
I'd love to do it for free if possible avoid 470

or at least park for free .........................

please help make my daughters day

 

[cstockmyer]

I'll be honest with you Jeffrey. In this post 9/11 world I am not sure there is such a place out at DIA. I could be wrong though. When I lived in Tulsa there was a parking area off the end of the main runway that you could park and watch the planes come in. I have not heard of one here.

 

[n0doz]

I'm running thru all the possibilities and I don't think there is a really good free public place. One problem is that all the land is owned by the city, and they discourage anyone from parking near any fences, along roads, etc. for any reason.
Another problem is that since the place is so spread out, it's difficult to see everything that's going on. There is no "good" place for more than one runway.
That said, my personal suggestion is to park in the east garage on level 5, east end of the floor. At least you can see 17R-35L from there. It's $2 an hour, probably the best you can do.

 

[jimmnn]

And just think of all the places there use to be around Stapleton, I remember those days.

Sat on the taxiway at DIA for 3 hours last night during ground hold, listening to ATC get more and more frustrated with the captains requests does that count?

Jim<

 

[rckydenver]

Of course I was thinking of a tailgate picnic at the free 45 min wait area. Some planes that take off heading west by Pena Blvd..

 

[Troop]

these two places are about as close as you can get. (if they're departing/arriving north/south)

56th Ave Just East of Valley Head (between Imboden and E-470)
120th, take Powhaton South to the Dead-End.....

East/West Departures/Arrivals you're sort of out of luck

 

[jimmnn]

It appears folks are overflowing the 45min waiting area into the old toll booth lots also but am sure Gerry would be around to pay you a visit.

Jim<

 

[jeffreyinberthoud]

these two places are about as close as you can get. (if they're departing/arriving north/south)

56th Ave Just East of Valley Head (between Imboden and E-470)
120th, take Powhaton South to the Dead-End.....

East/West Departures/Arrivals you're sort of out of luck

THANKS GUYS

So how does one know east west vs north south arrival departures

other than compass I know that part

 

[jimmnn]

Based on there arrival or departure runways.

Jim<

 

[jeffreyinberthoud]

well I think Ill try the east parking garage thanks to all

If I dont post for a few days come bail me out..................

 

[Troop]

THANKS GUYS

So how does one know east west vs north south arrival departures

other than compass I know that part

Wind and Weather usually plays a good part in it

 

[abqscan]

Listen to the ATIS and it will tell you what the departing runways are at the current time, from there you can plan where you want to go spotting at. DO NOT park anywhere around the airport to check out the planes, DIA PD will be on your butt in no time. Just remember that planes like to take off and land into the wind.

DIA should have parking lots to watch the planes land, its not like they don't have the room for it...

 

[jeffreyinberthoud]

well I did park in east garage we watched landings and had our PBJ's

then we walked the west terminal watching the plane take off toward 470 on the runway that runs east to west ?

9 year old thought it was cool ,She is flying in a few weeks only the third time so she is
very intrested


trhanks guys for input at least its cured me from air monitoring gosh they talk more than I do........my wife says so

 

[n0doz]

Glad it worked out.

 

[captaincraig44]

Jeffrey,
Just in case you ever have the itch to do such a thing again, I could suggest going to 114th Ave off of Tower Rd. Easy to get to, but kind of a drive. Pena to Tower Rd, north then right on 96th Ave (think there is a light there now). Follow it around and it will go north and then back to the east passing about .5 miles north of the two western north-south runways (16L/R & 34L/R). If you park on the north side of the road, the security doesn't have an issue with it, but if you park the extra 25' closer to the fence on the south side of the road, they will ask you to move. There are signs saying no parking between the runways, but unless it's changed recently, that only applies to the south side of the road. Big shoulders to pull off on also. I don't think that security and DPD will really worry about a family eating lunch and watching airplanes as long as you are not parked where you aren't supposed to be. It's been awhile since I've been out there, but the security people are really pretty nice about the whole thing even if you are parked in a bad spot. Everyone needs to stop being paranoid and living in a state of fear. If you are within the law, you have no worries. Enjoy the jet noise and listen for the wingtip vortices - pretty cool stuff.

 

[KF0SKV]

And just think of all the places there use to be around Stapleton, I remember those days.

My favorite spot at Stapleton was parked off Havana St, where the street curves and becomes Moline. Just south of the Denver County Jail.

I thought going under the runways on I 70 was pretty cool, too.

 

[k0co_5]

Stapleton

Or in the many parking lots of businesses that lined the South side of 26L at Stapleton was my fav. Only about 50 yards from the runway, and a great view of plane tires turning themselves into blue smoke .

I still miss that old airport every $55 cab ride home to Aurora from DIA!