Taking photos at airports- illegal?

saxman

saxman

Well-Known Member
This brings up the old question again, about photographers getting harassed about taking photos of airplanes or the airport.

I was going to work one day at JFK getting off the Airtrain and walking across the skywalk to the terminal and a family had gathered by the window with a really nice view the of the terminal and sun setting in the back ground and probably a couple heavy's sitting in the background making for quite a good picture. Just to their luck, National Guard who sometimes patrol the airport walks up and announces taking photos is illegal at airports and to put their camera away. They were nice about it, probably just doing their job. But I really had to bite my lip, because I wanted to tell that family, that was a bunch of BS and they could go ahead and take the photo and I'd even volunteer to take it! But, I think that would be frowned upon in front of the Guard, and didn't think they would appreciate that. :laff:

Sometimes I like to stand on the ramp and take picture of aircraft. Wonder what they say to that? Of course how do all the photos on airliners.net get on there too? I'm a big fan of railroading too and enjoy taking shots of trains too. I know lots of those guys too, get some flack from LEO's when they stand on a PUBLIC place to shoot photos.

So whats the deal? Have some airports really banned photography or is it one of those myth's everyone thinks is illegal. We do live in a post 9/11 environment I know. Once, the MTA (NYC Transit) tried to pass a law banning photography of any MTA trains or stations. That never came through fortunately.
 
Ask them to show the proof.. As an old aviation photog who 'hammered' a lot I can tell you that taking pictures is NOT illegal. They are just abusing their power.. that's all..
 
The only time I got barked at for taking pictures is when I was in Romania.

I even asked the guy, "So it's illegal to take pictures of the airplane I'm about to fly? Nice."
 
WalterSobchak said:
I'm going to have to bring my camera more often so I can get yelled at. I just bought a new one too. :rolleyes:
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Do you see what happens when you f with someones legal right to..... Do you see? :laff: This is what happens:D Shut the f up Donny... wait....they posted the team schedules? lol Great movie Dude.
 
They can get you for loitering depending on where you are but if you're on the AirTrain pointing the camera out the window I think it is important to let them know you are allowed to take pictures of things like that. We don't live in a police state, yet.
 
Yet another case of someone not knowing their job as well as they should. The Guard guys may have been trying to apply some sort of local ordinance, but they were incorrect in their application. Technically, it's not illegal to take pictures of "airplanes and airports", but the family may have been in the wrong place. I can't stand it when someone tries to tell you not to do something and it's not even for the correct reason. Nice job, Farva.
 
It's prohibited on most military ramps, maybe that was the source of their confusion.

Then again, it's kinda dumb to argue with people carrying automatic weapons.
 
SD3Dog said:
Do you see what happens when you f with someones legal right to..... Do you see? :laff: This is what happens:D Shut the f up Donny... wait....they posted the team schedules? lol Great movie Dude.
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My Buddies didn't die face down in the mud so......
 
One of my pet peeves is someone who doesnt know the difference between illegal and against policy. And yes, there are various authorities who can make policy, but photographing planes is not illegal, but may not be permissible.

The national guard troops don't enforce the law anyway due to posse comitatus restrictions.
 
And how is the general public going to know about Local Ordinance / Policy number 08-2432454a(1)(ii) that states it is against local ordinance / policy to photograph _____ (insert item).

You won't.

Also, if it's a policy that is internal to an organization, an outside member can never be held for breaking such a policy because the policy was not written with them as an audience.

Furthermore, if the policy is in public view, and is written in such a fashion to indicate that the public is to abide by such a policy then within that document / sign it must reference the controlling organization/association/office, etc. for further reference and guidance.
 
aloft said:
Then again, it's kinda dumb to argue with people carrying automatic weapons.
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It's the National Guard . . . kinda like being yelled at by The Air Force . . . almost make-believe. Just tell them there's a monster coming and that their per diem will be canceled. . . that'll keep 'em occupied for hours.
 
granlistillo said:
The national guard troops don't enforce the law anyway due to posse comitatus restrictions.
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Not quite,

National Guard troops are effectively State militias, and therefore under controll of the state governers and therefore CAN enforce state laws.

Regular Army (USAF, USMC, or USN) including reserve units, belong to the federal govenrment, and can't be used to enforce laws inside the state.
 
mtsu_av8er said:
It's the National Guard . . . kinda like being yelled at by The Air Force . . . almost make-believe. Just tell them there's a monster coming and that their per diem will be canceled. . . that'll keep 'em occupied for hours.
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:D
 
No, it's not illegal.

You're allowed to take pictures at airports and anyone who tells you otherwise is just plain wrong.

I would file a complaint with the commanding officer of that unit if you can find out who that is. There's absolutely no reason for their troops to be so uninformed and they need to know about it.
 
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