Hi, I’m Jamie and I started AirportNerd.com as a way to record and share all of the weird facts and interesting oddities of airports and airplanes.
We have a very talented team of authors who come from all kinds of backgrounds including pilots, engineers, airport personnel, cabin crew as well as just regular folks who are enthusiasts of aviation. Each week our team explores and answers the curious questions people have about airports and airplanes.
If you are passionate about aviation and are interested in contributing to AirportNerd, please see my contact information here.
Growing up near an airport
I?ve always been fascinated with airports and air travel. I grew up in Etobicoke (now part of the City of Toronto) and our house was almost directly under a major flight path for Canada?s largest airport, Lester B. Pearson International.
When I was a kid, my neighbor was a complete airline fanatic. From his bedroom window you could see each plane perfectly as they came in for landing. As a hobby he kept a log of each plane that would fly by and would record the specific airline, airplane model, time & date, etc. He was an avid photographer & artist and would often sketch the really rare planes that he would see through his window.
This is definitely how I got the airplane bug and as kids we would often ride our bikes to Pearson’s old Terminal 1. This now demolished terminal parking garage was a blessing to airplane enthusiasts as we could go right up to the top level to have a wonderful unimpeded view of the entire airport.
It was on top of that parking garage that I would observe all the airport vehicles, baggage handlers and various airport personnel moving about in a constant motion. My neighbor was mostly interested in taking photos of planes as they took off (something he couldn?t see from his house) and I did find that cool as well, but I was mostly interested in how the airport actually worked.
As time went on, I became occupied with my golf management career and family but I always kept an interest in airports. Obviously I couldn?t visit them as often as I wanted (yes, I would love to travel more) and security after 9/11 made it extremely difficult to get as close as I once did as a kid.
Today I enjoy airplanes with my family
Even though we now live north of the city, whenever we get the chance I still like to take my wife and two boys to view airplanes landing at Toronto Pearson. There are a couple of great parking lots that are directly under the landing path across the road from the airport. These vantage points get you extremely close to each plane landing and it’s fun to see the different airlines and their unique branding & colours.
My goal for this blog
My goal for this blog is to make it an outlet where other like minded aviation enthusiasts can share their interest in airports and airplanes but also learn something as well. Diving into unique and compelling aviation topics is going to be fun and I hope you find AirportNerd a valuable resource.
Thanks for visiting!