Hay River (Jan 31/05) - There is a small number of people in the NWT who look to the sky as a hobby.

They enjoy plane spotting - watching for unusual flying objects at airports.

The plane spotters include Hay River's Poul Osted, who began the hobby five years ago when he started working as an observer/communicator at the community aerodrome station.

Poul Osted, a plane spotter in Hay River, stands in front of a DC-3 with the books he uses to help identify unusual aircraft. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

Like other plane spotters, Osted, 31, takes pictures of notable aircraft "if it looks like it's something that would be interesting."

Osted estimates he has seen about 150 different types of planes at the Hay River Airport, even though not many unique-looking planes land there.

The most unusual was a Piaggio P180 Avanti, which landed about 10 months ago. Its propellers are backward on the wings, which are further back on the airplane than normal.

"When it flies, it looks like it's going backwards," Osted says.

Like other plane spotters, he has several books which help identify aircraft.

Another Hay River plane spotter is Doug Henderson, who began the hobby in the late 1950s in his native Scotland.

"I always keep an eye open for something unusual landing at the airport," Henderson says.

Occasionally, an unusual business jet may land, he notes. "I'd go out and take a photograph of that."

Henderson, 58, says the hobby is all about seeing rare planes, not compiling the biggest total of sightings.

His most prized sightings were in the U.K. - a Breguet Provence, a double-decker French transport plane, and the Bristol Brabazon, a passenger jet he saw over Glasgow.

"There was only one ever built," he said.

Henderson said the hobby originated during the Second World War, with designated aircraft spotters in England watching for enemy aircraft on bombing raids. Plane spotting is now one of the most popular hobbies in Britain.

It is unknown how many people in the NWT are plane spotters, since there is no organized club.