With Aviation Nation 2010 quickly approaching, I thought it would be a good time to blog about Plane Spotting around Nellis Air Force Base. This will be a brief over view covering the where and how areas. For a deeper guide on plane spotting at Nellis Air Force Base, visit the Photography by Hank Plumley website. Many other locations are also listed there.

There are two main areas to plane spot at Nellis, Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Cheyenne. Let’s start with the Speedway.

(clicking on the photos will take you to the Photography by Hank Plumley Zazzle Store.)

North Las Vegas Blvd. Looking Towards the Strip Thunderbirds Breaking to Land

The above photo is taken from an entrance gate at LVMS. The gates are perfect areas to park as they set back a bit from Las Vegas Blvd. and are paved, so rental cars are ok for the area. Of course I have seen many a rental car in the drainage ditches also, lol.

This view is looking towards the Las Vegas Strip, the speedway is on the right side and Nellis is on the left. NEVER, EVER park on the base side. That is the quickest way to end the nice relationship plane spotters have with Nellis. There is more than enough room on the speedway side and that side offers better views of the planes as you are not near the base fence ! Why people stop on the base side is beyond me, especially when there are 20+ cars on the speedway side . . .

Nellis AFB Area II Sign on Las Vegas Blvd.

A great point of reference is this Area II sign. I believe it is almost directly across from Gate 5 at LVMS. You can stop here to watch a few planes and get a feel for the ops that are going on, and where to move to get the angle you want to photograph.

Try your best not to take any shots of the base itself or the flight line, general rule is top of the fence and higher. If the base security should decide to do a security check, you don’t want pics of the base on your camera.

Here are a few shots taken from this location:

F-22 Raptor Landing Against Mountains during Red Flag 10-2

A squadron of four F-22 Raptors fly over Nellis Air Force Base

The second great location is Cheyenne Road. It is on the opposite side of the base from LVMS. Take Las Vegas Blvd. south to Nellis Blvd., make a left. At Cheyenne make another left. It’s maybe a mile from the LVMS spot.

Cheyenne Blvd. Las Vegas Nevada-5213

If you want the feel of power, the smell of freedom, then Cheyenne is the spot for you. Providing they are launching to the south the day you are there.

While Cheyenne is the closest you can get to the flight line, it’s views are come and go. The winds rule the days where Cheyenne is king. If you are lucky and a recovery takes place from the south, you will fill your memory cards in an instant. Otherwise, it’s usually weapons academy training flights taking off over Cheyenne, which is pretty cool to capture as well, don’t get me wrong here !

Cheyenne is an industrial area, with a good deal of heavy truck traffic. Using the above photo, you want to park on the left side (base side) for safety. Keep your head on a swivel, don’t think the guy driving the 18 wheel dump truck can stop on dime as you try to get a good pic of an F-16, not gonna happen and most likely you will be the subject of someone else’s pic !

At the end of the road(very center of picture), is a nice area to park, not so nice to plane spot as the bushes have blocked any views of the base. Walk a bit on the base side to get a better view.

Also on Cheyenne are 2 side streets that offer nice views of the planes on approach, again traveled by heavy trucks so be careful !

Here are a few pics from Cheyenne:

EC-135 Taking Off From Nellis AFB

USAF Thunderbirds Solos Returning to Nellis AFB Jan. 2010

F-15 Strike Eagle Head On Approach Feb 2010

For more info on plane spotting in Nevada, visit the Photography by Hank Plumley website.

Feel free to contact me with any questions you may have !