Since the early days of aviation people have always been curiously looking at airplanes in the sky. No matter what was the aircraft, its appearance and sound were attracting thousands of eyes. Even though more than a century has passed since the birth of aviation people still lift their eyes towards the sky when they hear an airplane. Some people are so passionate about those iron birds that watching airplanes became part of their life: for some it's a hobby and for others it is a profession. Such people are called spotters and both the free-time and professional activities are named spotting.
Plane spotting originated as a special profession in the UK during the second World War. During that time spotters had to detect aircrafts of German armed forces heading towards London and report such. After the end of the war spotting became a very popular hobby among the civil population, especially young people.
Nowadays there are multiple commitments of spotters around the world and spotting is considered to be almost as important as public media. Leading airlines, airports and air forces of the world cooperate with spotters. Spotting has huge social impact, which can be easily seen in Uzbekistan.
On 26th January 2022 Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan adopted the resolution №43 «On measures to create conditions for the development of aircraft spotting». It would be an understatement to call this day an official birthday of spotting in Uzbekistan. Since the resolution was adopted official spotting events began to be held first at Tashkent Airport and later at airports of other regions. If just five years ago the number of spotters didn't exceed 20 people, after the adoption of the resolution this number began to significantly rise and now it reaches a few hundred people.
Furthermore, after spotting was officially recognized spotters fro the USA, Germany, France, Brazil, South Korea, Japan and other countries have visited Uzbekistan to photograph aircrafts of our companies. Spotting didn't just attract younger generation to new professions and interests, but also contributed to increase of touristic potential of Uzbekistan.
In 2019 Uzbekistan Spotters Team community was created. Our members tend to follow the idea that spotting should be available to broad range of people wanting to enjoy the beauty of the sky and airplanes (as well as other types of air transport) and cooperate to spread this amazing hobby, especially among younger people.
We are proud to be even a small part of Uzbekistan's Aviation and thank administration and workers of airports, airlines, air traffic control services, Uzbekistan Air Force, and all aviation enthusiasts for understanding. Thanks to those people official spotting tours that not only members of our community, but also our foreign colleagues participate in are being regularly organized in Tashkent since 2021. Since 2022 regional airports with Samarkand being the first one and later Fergana and Namangan also joined this tradition. Most airlines in Uzbekistan invite our members to cover important events equally as much as public media. Representatives of the community participate in events abroad, communicate and cooperate with foreign colleagues.
Our youngest members beginning from just 9 years old during the official autumn spotting tour at Tashkent Islam Karimov International Airport in 2022 became the first ever non-adult spotters to officially be invited to such events in post-soviet countries.
Uzbekistan Spotters Team community is opened for everyone interested in aviation photography and tends to unites both professional and enthusiasts to further popularise favourite activity.