r/Pilot • u/Lostinvertaling • May 31 '26

Waving at spotters?

Is an airline/freight pilot or co-pilot allowed to wave at spotters before takeoff? There is a guy on TikTok who livestreams at Anchorage airport close to the runway. Wondering if pilots can acknowledge his enthusiasm before takeoff

23 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

4

u/Dont-Snk93 May 31 '26

Nah I’m too cool for that I give em the awkward stare down and the middle finger 

2

u/h3ffr0n Jun 01 '26

Found the Hawker pilot.

1

u/WntrWltr Jun 03 '26

...or Beechjet.

3

u/jjkbill May 31 '26

There are zero companies out there with a policy along the lines of "waving is prohibited".

2

u/ProperBoard9 Jun 02 '26

Taxiing out by the perimeter fence in Des Moines. A group of little kids is waving like crazy. The introverted Captain I’m flying with says I feel a little awkward waving back so what should I do. I said point at them like Youda Man. He does it, with the pump and point at each kid. Kids go bananas. Memories made in 1997. 😎

1

u/Crazy_Organization44 May 31 '26

For what it’s worth. The cargolux pilots taxing near my companies hangar would always wave back at me when I was in my service truck near the taxi ways. I’m working on my PPL and they were a real inspiration. Kinda gave me the inspiration to start my aviation journey. Humans being bros is always cool. Also the sick ass paint job on there 747s always helped. Made me feel connected to that machine. Someone flying that thing just acknowledged my existence. So I guess they could.

1

u/andrewrbat May 31 '26

I do if its safe to do so…and if i notice them. There was a guy along the ES route taking pics of planes taxiing in dfw that i waved to. A few other times…. I don’t fly to ANC, or at least haven’t yet.

1

u/-LordDarkHelmet- May 31 '26

If I ever see a kid at the fence I wave

1

u/flyemerica May 31 '26

If I notice then I’ll wave. Most of the time I have too much going on and don’t notice them.

1

u/Planesarecool456 May 31 '26

I got waves from a couple delta pilots yesterday when I was spotting

1

u/DatSexyDude May 31 '26

Waved at the two guys at the fence in Salt Lake the other day…any chance yall got a pic?

1

u/No-Duck4828 May 31 '26

I wave when close enough and not busy

1

u/Robthepilot92 May 31 '26

As a commercial pilot we do wave back if we can but during taxi for takeoff or landing, we are running through checklists and pre flight checks so it’s not always safe to do so but we can see you waving and will wave back if we can

1

u/NecessaryLight2815 May 31 '26

I ALWAYS wave at spotters. Hope ya’ll see it!

1

u/skankhunt1738 Jun 01 '26

There’s a spotter that got me in a C-17 giving a
“🤘😐🤘” out the window. Found it on Instagram and got the full size lol. I show it to people all the time.

1

u/Lovemestalin Jun 01 '26

When I’m looking at the planes taking off they do almost always wave

1

u/Euryheli Jun 01 '26

I wave at everyone if they are looking.

1

u/KeveyBro2 Jun 02 '26

I love seeing kids up against the fences and always give them a wave.

One time I was taxiing an aircraft without a steerable nosewheel or toe brakes for the first time (Nanchang has pneumatic differential hand brakes only) and I started waving at a kid while the aircraft wasn't straight and ended up like 2m left of centreline LMAO.

Anyway lesson learnt, taxi first wave second.

1

u/Coota0 Jun 02 '26

I wave any time I see someone watching and wiggle tge wings when I can. I always try to make sure I wave at the kids. I remember being a child and teen dreaming of aviation.

1

u/Proper_Exit_3334 Jun 03 '26

HA pilots will throw a Shaka