Spotting From Deer Island, Boston Massachusetts, May 7, 2023

by Ken Kula · Published June 19, 2023

A-330-202

ITA A-330 arriving to Boston’s Logan International Airport

Story and photos by Ken Kula

An early Springtime spotting trip to a new location (for me) east of Boston’s Logan International Airport (KBOS) yielded some pretty good results on an early Sunday afternoon outing. Winds were out of the northwest, and an unfamiliar RWY 33L/RWY32/RWY27 configuration yielded some great photo opportunities.

Backlit Lufthansa A-340-300 on the flare for RWY 33L at Boston

I had never ventured too far east of the airport, but decided to go out to the Deer Island water treatment plant’s small park, which lies in between the final approaches for RWY 33L and RWY27. The lighting for the westerly runway was fine for the noontime through 3PM timeframe I was there, but the longer, RWY 33L photography was heavily backlit the later in the afternoon it got. Even so, I got a few decent photos of heavy jets arriving on RWY 33L.

The shorter, “one-way” RWY 32 was used for mainly Embraer 170/175/190 arrivals, with a few Cessna 402s, Q-400s and Pilatus PC-12s thrown in. Too far away for decent photos and also backlit, good photo opportunities for that runway evaded me.

Air Canada A-220-300

Air France A-350-900

International arrivals were my prime photo subjects, and many twins were present, arriving from Europe. Newer A-321NEOs were abundant, as were a pair of A-350-900s. Delta Airlines arrivals included A-330-900 and A-330-300 versions. Iberia and ITA Airways operated A-330s too. Air Canada flew their new A-220-300s several times during my stay. Finally, Lufthansa operated a rare A-340-300, which was backlit as it arrived to RWY 33L.

Delta B-737-900ER “The Spirit of Seattle”

Domestically, A-220s of both Delta (both -100 and -300) and Jet Blue made appearances. A Delta B-737-900ER “Spirit of Seattle” was the lone, specially-marked jet I saw during the trip.

Part of Boston Harbor in the foreground

The Deer Island Public Access Area is administered by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority and has bike and walking trails around a small area. A limited-space parking area is next to Boston Harbor, and benches allow for sitting between arrivals. Some bird spotting and boating photo opportunities present themselves from this spot too. All in all, a great three hours with good lighting on most aircraft.