The Wandering Disciple

Englewood, Florida: Buchan Airport (X36) is a grass-strip public airfield located just outside downtown Olde Englewood. The air strip is the highlight of the Buchan Airport Community Park operated by Sarasota County Parks & Rec.  Buchan Airport features a lone runway. Runway 12/30 is a 2,040 grass runway marked my white tires. There are no lights nor tower operations at the airport. Buchan Airport is home to a few single engine and experimental aircraft. They also host an annual fly-in breakfast and is a popular spot for flying groups get-togethers. 2012 Buchan-Dearborn Aviation Day The fly-in breakfast is held annually in October. Pilots of various types of aircraft fly into Buchan Airport for a breakfast and conversation. While the pilots are eating and networking, their aircraft are available to view.  The only drawback to spotting at Buchan Airport is the lack of reliable air traffic. Chance of observing air traffic increases on weekends, even...

Punta Gorda, Florida: Although it lacks in commercial traffic, Punta Gorda Airport (PGD) has plenty of photo opportunities in the air and on the ground thanks to a thriving restoration base and general aviation traffic. The airport is also home to the Florida International Airshow, an annual event that takes place in March. PGD features three active runways. Runway 4/22 is the longest at 7,193 feet and is the primary runway for commercial and jet traffic. Runway 15/33 is 5,688 feet long and is the primary general aviation runway. Runway 9/27 is the shortest runway at 2,636 feet and is rarely used. With the financial problems suffered by Direct Air in 2012, PGD was left with just one commercial carrier, Allegiant Air. But Allegiant stepped up and made PGD a focus city for their operations, offering flights from PGD to twelve destinations. PGD is also home to Trudeau Warbird Enterprises Trudeau is a renowened warbirds restoration company. With their operations at the airp...

Fort Myers, Florida: Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) located in Fort Myers is a busy airport with great spotting opportunities. The airport features just one runway, making it possible to observe all airport activity. Runway 6/24 is the only runway at RSW. It is 12,000 feet long running from southwest to northeast. An average of 228 flights a day operate from this runway, making it one of the busiest single runway airports in the country. RSW is not a hub for any airline, however 19 airlines service the airport. The airlines servicing RSW are: Air Berlin  Air Canada  AirTran Airways  American Airlines  Cape Air  Compass Airlines (Delta Connection)  Delta Airlines   Express Jet (United Express)  Frontier Airlines  JetBlue Airways  Met Jet (Sun Country)  Silver Airways (United Express)  Shuttle America (United Express)  Southwest Airlines  Spirit Airlines  Sun Country...

Sarasota, Florida: For those of you who follow the site on a regular basis, you will have noticed the increase of aircraft photos on the site and the addition of the “Above the Clouds” page to the site. This is in response to my newly found interest of planespotting. Planespotting is a new hobby introduced to me by a friend. What a novel concept, it combined my childhood love of aviation and my adult hobby of photography. The result is a new passion that can be really addicting.  I started by going to my local airport, Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport and have branched out from there. Now it has turned into an adventure, I liken it to collecting baseball cards as a kid. Each day at the airport is like opening a new pack of cards, you know the usual will be in there but you hold out hope for the rare card. In planespotting, the rare cards are the special paint jobs and military jets. As I continued to learn more about planespottting, I have noticed there is a ...