Spotting in Israel 3

Airplane spotting in Israel is a common hobby, there are many Israeli spotters that spend a lot of time around the civil airports and "hunt" the airplanes with their camera.

Important – it is strictly forbidden to take pictures of any military activity or military zones, so if you a see a sign that restricts photography – don't take out your camera there.

The biggest and busiest airport is TLV/LLBG – "Ben-Gurion airport", located near the city of Lod, about 20min from Tel-Aviv.
Ben-Gurion airport has 3 runways : 08-26, used mainly for takeoff (26), 03-21 used for landing (according to season, wind and hour), and 12-30 that used both for landing and takeoff (again, according to season. wind and hour).

There are several good location for spotting airplanes around Ben-Gurion airport, here are the best three:

1. A new spotting place located in parking lot No. 26 (also known as "Temech-Maaravi" or "Mirpeset tazpit") – you can get there by car, or take the train from Tel-aviv (or Modiin) to the airport and then the free internal shuttle. It's an official spotting point, and has a good view on RWY 26 takeoffs or RWY 12 landings.
2. "Airport-City" parking – a business area located East of the airport, it's a very good location for landings on RWY 30.
3. Bnei-Atarot is a Moshav located North-East to the airport and it's a good location for landing on RWY 21 in the morning, until 13:00, due to the position of the sun.

There was also an airport in Tel-Aviv it's the Sde-Dov airport (SDV/LLSD), located near Reading Power Station, and has a nice promenade with a small bridge that gives a good view on the single runway.
**update: Sde -Dov is not active since 1-JUL-2019, and will be replaced by new buildings**