Witnessed an emergency landing or incident? How to behave as a spotter

It often starts unspectacularly: on the flight tracker, a transponder code jumps to 7700, the big crash tenders of the airport fire service pull up at the edge of the runway, and all the cameras at the fence swing in the same direction. As a spotter, you’re often closer than any other onlooker in such moments. That’s exactly why it pays to know beforehand how to behave during an emergency landing or incident: what you should do, what you’d better not do, how to photograph responsibly and what happens to your footage.

The short answer

If you witness an emergency landing or an incident, a clear order applies: your own safety, clear paths for the emergency services, an emergency call only for unknown danger, and only then the camera. Stay on public areas, clear access roads and gates, follow instructions from the police and security staff. Photograph the aircraft and the response, but not injured people. If you recorded a real accident, offer the original files to the police or the investigation authority before anything ends up on the web.

An emergency landing is not the same as a disaster

The term “emergency landing” sounds more dramatic than most cases are. When a crew declares an emergency, it secures priority in the airspace and on the runway – no matter whether an engine was shut down, a warning lights up in the cockpit, a bird strike has been reported or a passenger urgently needs a hospital. Which radio calls are behind this is explained in the article Mayday and Pan-Pan; you’ll find the matching transponder codes under Squawk 7500, 7600 and 7700.

On the ground, this usually means: the airport fire service takes up standby positions along the runway, the aircraft lands and rolls out, and the emergency crews check things like brakes and landing gear for overheating. In the vast majority of cases, the jet then taxis to its position under its own power or is towed, and operations continue. For you as a spotter, that means: stay calm. Anyone at the fence who loudly speculates about crashes or posts “emergency at …” live creates excitement that is usually completely unfounded.

Situation	Typical signs	What it means for you
Precautionary landing with fire service on standby	Squawk 7700 on the flight tracker, vehicles at the runway, normal landing	Watch, keep paths clear, don’t dramatize anything
Rejected takeoff or return shortly after takeoff	Aircraft brakes hard or returns in a wide turn, possibly fuel dumping at high altitude	No reason for concern, often technical caution
Evacuation on the runway or taxiway	Emergency slides deployed, passengers on the surface, many emergency vehicles	Keep your distance, don’t photograph people, follow instructions
Accident outside the airport	Aircraft comes down next to the grounds, smoke, fire	Call 112 immediately, your own safety, don’t obstruct helpers

Step by step: what to do in the first minutes

The first minutes decide whether you’re part of the problem or part of the solution. The following order works at any airport.

Keeping rescue routes clear – not a side issue

Around big airports, there are gates and access roads through which emergency vehicles drive out in a real emergency – for example when an aircraft touches down before or beyond the runway. These are exactly the places where cars often stand on spotting days because the view is so good. In everyday life, that’s annoying; in an emergency, it’s dangerous. More on the rules outside an emergency is in the article Parking at spotting locations.

Legally, this is no minor offense. Under § 323c para. 2 of the German Criminal Code (StGB), anyone commits an offense who, in an emergency, obstructs a person who is helping or wants to help a third party – the penalty goes up to one year in prison or a fine. Anyone who obstructs emergency workers of the fire service, disaster response or ambulance service with force or threats also falls under § 115 para. 3 StGB. A badly parked car is not automatically a crime, but it can be towed if in doubt – and the trouble falls back on the whole spotter community.

Distance from the fence and the grounds

During an incident, this applies even more strictly than usual: the fence is the boundary. No climbing, no reaching through, no “just getting a little closer.” What you’re generally allowed to do at the edge of an airport is summarized in the articles Proper behavior at the airport fence and Landside, airside, security area. If an aircraft lies outside the grounds, you don’t go to the wreck: there is a danger of fire and explosion, and the accident site matters for the later investigation. You don’t touch wreckage parts, and you certainly don’t take them with you.

The emergency call: when, how, what you say

Many spotters are unsure whether they need to call at all in an emergency. The rule of thumb is simple:

When you call, you answer the dispatcher’s questions calmly and in order: where it happened (street, district, landmarks, if necessary the GPS position from your phone), what happened, how many people affected you see, and who is calling. Don’t hang up on your own before the dispatcher ends the call – they often have follow-up questions.

Photographing during an incident: where the line is

An aircraft with a fire truck escort, a jet standing on the taxiway with its emergency slides deployed: such pictures document aviation history, and eyewitness footage can help reconstruct events. Photographing is therefore not wrong in principle. What matters is what you photograph and how.

The legal line is drawn mainly by § 201a StGB. Under it, even the unauthorized taking or transmitting of an image that displays another person’s helplessness is a criminal offense if it violates that person’s most personal sphere of life. Since an amendment to the law, the provision also covers images that display deceased people in a grossly offensive way. Passing on such images is also prohibited; the penalty goes up to two years in prison or a fine. Details and borderline cases are explained in the article Photos of aircraft accidents and emergency landings. For people who are only recognizable at the edge of the frame, the general rules we’ve summarized under People in spotter photos also apply.

On drones, there is a clear line: they have no business over an operation. Strict no-fly zones apply around airports anyway, and a drone over an accident site can endanger rescue helicopters. More under Drones at airports.

What happens to your footage

After a real accident or a serious incident, eyewitness images are valuable to investigators. They show the attitude of the aircraft, landing gear position, smoke or parts that have come off – often from angles that no airport camera covers.

In Germany, the Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation (BFU) in Braunschweig investigates accidents and serious incidents involving civil aircraft. The framework is set by, among other things, EU Regulation 996/2010 and the German Aircraft Accident Investigation Act, and the reporting duties are in § 7 of the German Air Traffic Regulations (LuftVO). Under these, the people required to report are mainly the pilot in command, other crew members, the operator, as well as flight operations units, air supervision and air traffic control units. As a spotter at the fence, you are not among them. That doesn’t mean your material is unimportant, though.

Here’s how to proceed:

• Secure the originals. Copy the unedited files including metadata to a second storage device. No cropping, no filters, no compression through messengers.
• Check the time. Compare the camera time with the real time and note the deviation. For investigators, the exact moment is often decisive.
• Take notes. Where were you standing, in which direction did you photograph, what did you hear and see? Write it down while your memory is fresh.
• Offer it. On site, you turn to the police. Later, you’ll find the BFU’s contact details on its official website. In Austria and Switzerland, separate state investigation bodies take on this task.

The same principles apply to tagging and archiving as for any sighting; tips are under Metadata for aircraft photos.

Social media: think first, then post

The strongest urge after an incident is often to post immediately. This is exactly where most of the damage happens – not legally, but humanly.

• Relatives first. A photo with a legible registration or flight number can reach families before the airline has informed them. Wait until official information is available.
• No hunting for causes. “Engine exploded,” “pilot error” – such snap judgments are almost always wrong or incomplete. Describe what you saw, not what you suspect.
• No live streams from up close. A stream from the scene may show injured people in real time, without you being able to step in.
• Answer media requests deliberately. Newsrooms quickly reach out to spotters after incidents. You decide whether, what and on what terms you share. What to keep in mind legally when selling pictures is under Selling aircraft photos.

Anyone who sticks to these points shows what separates spotters from gawkers. That pays off: airports that find spotters reliable treat the scene as a partner. How that can look is described in the article Spotters as security partners.

What you can prepare beforehand

You react best in an exceptional situation if you’ve thought through the procedures beforehand.

• Know the escape route and access roads. At your regular spot, look at where gates and fire service access roads are. At the Affenfelsen in Hamburg or at the Munich Airport visitors’ hill, you’re on designated visitor areas – at informal spots outside, you have to memorize access roads and gates yourself.
• Be able to give your location. Save the position of your most important spots in your phone. In an emergency, that saves time when describing the location.
• Battery and storage. A full phone battery matters more for an emergency call than the third memory card.
• Radio only passively. Anyone listening in on aircraft radio sometimes learns of emergencies earlier. What is legally allowed and what isn’t is explained in the article Listening to aircraft radio: the legal situation. You don’t pass on content from the radio.

Conclusion

An emergency landing at an airport is a special moment for spotters – and usually less dramatic than it looks from the outside. The order is what matters: first safety and clear paths for the fire service, ambulance service and police, then an emergency call only for real, unknown danger, and only after that the camera. Photograph the aircraft and the sequence of events, not the people who need help right now. And if you really did capture something important, your originals belong with the investigators first. You’ll find the general rules for everyday life at the fence in the Code of conduct for plane spotters and under Is plane spotting allowed?.