Hi all,

Following an internal discussion for clarification on some gray areas, we have revised the priority screening rules a little. Since I don't know how fast we can update the rules on the upload page and the fact that we want people to be aware of these changes, I'm posting them here.

Sometimes we see 1st flight shots, but AC is on the ground with all the gears (take-off roll), like a static shot. Is it acceptable?

First flights will now have to be rotation or airborne photos.

>New type of aircraft for airline – hybrid.
>New aircraft for airline – in full scheme (new registration or manufacturer reusable registration).
New type or new reg for an airline in all white color but with title. It is ok?

This is OK.

Business, helicopter or single engine AC with new paint? Prio or not?

These will be screened as priority.

When is a new sticker large enough to qualify for priority?

Anything larger than say the span of 3 windows (not the actual windows, but from far side to far side with the space of 3 windows in between). This is also applicable for small changes in a (special) livery.


In addition, we now also offer priority screening to local newsworthy events. This also includes newsworthy first visits to your airport. Basically, any type of movement that is the talk of the town. To further increase your chances and since we are not always aware of the things that might be happening at your local place, we really need you to write a comment to the screeners with an explanation as to why you think the photo should be screened with priority. For these local priority photos, it is our intention to also offer more social media exposure to them (but no banner). Sometimes this may be with a delay due to timezone differences of the crew.

That's all for now. Feel free to comment or ask questions if you have them!

write a comment to the screeners with an explanation as to why you think the photo should be screened with priority.

Hello Kas,
Regarding to this point. I always write a comment to SC when i apply priority but it seems that this function will limit the number of words.Thus, i am wondering that is it possible to cancel this limitation ? because sometime the comment might be very long to explain although i try my best to write as short as i can.

Cheers,
Harry

Hi Harry,

Could you give an example of when the message to the screeners is too long? Because I think the field is probably fine for the majority of the messages,

airkas1 wrote:

Hi Harry,

Could you give an example of when the message to the screeners is too long? Because I think the field is probably fine for the majority of the messages,

Actually i haven't encountered this situation yet. But it seems that it'smy problem as i always describe lots of detail to the photo and everytime i will delete some detail but it works. So i think it's my problem and i will represent the majority next time

Cheers,
Harry

A simple message is enough, no need to be super detailed. As long as it's enough to give us an idea why it should be considered as priority.

airkas1 wrote:

In addition, we now also offer priority screening to local newsworthy events. This also includes newsworthy first visits to your airport. Basically, any type of movement that is the talk of the town. To further increase your chances and since we are not always aware of the things that might be happening at your local place, we really need you to write a comment to the screeners with an explanation as to why you think the photo should be screened with priority. For these local priority photos, it is our intention to also offer more social media exposure to them (but no banner). Sometimes this may be with a delay due to timezone differences of the crew.

That's all for now. Feel free to comment or ask questions if you have them!

This is a big deal and I applaud this step being taken to help keep a.net relevant in a fast paced world.

Of course I am now going to start poking at what is newsworthy events... Here's what I think are examples. I'm sure if Kas or others want to strike these and say why they aren't it would be helpful to know to avoid stressing out busy screeners.

* Inaugural flights of new service, as mentioned (e.g. the first flight of a new route of note)

* Final flights of otherwise ordinary jets (e.g. the last flight of an airline at an airport)

* Rare visits from head of states or foreign dignitaries (e.g. Air Force One or other head of state jets in areas not usually expecting them)

* Sporting event charters (e.g. playoff jets)

* Rare military jet visits (e.g. fighters showing up at a civil airport that rarely sees them)

* Diversions of jets from other airports due to weather or other events (e.g. international widebodies stopping by BDL when JFK has nasty weather)

* Unusual visitors due to mechanical substitutions (e.g. a widebody sub coming in to pick up slack after cancelled flights)

* New additions to local air museums (e.g. events adding a major exhibit or completion of a restoration)

* Media events (e.g. 787 Dream Tour visits)

* The opening of a new terminal area for airport overviews.

Those ones above are what I think would be cut and dry.

Would scheduled special events for touring flying museums qualify? They are unusual for locals, but those planes are fairly well-covered.

What about airshows? The sheer volume of material because of the number of global airshows may mean that it may not be feasible, and if that's something that doesn't qualify then I understand.

airkas1 wrote:

Hi all,
In addition, we now also offer priority screening to local newsworthy events. This also includes newsworthy first visits to your airport. Basically, any type of movement that is the talk of the town. To further increase your chances and since we are not always aware of the things that might be happening at your local place, we really need you to write a comment to the screeners with an explanation as to why you think the photo should be screened with priority.

I remember it happening a few times like Airbus formation flights in TLS, Lufthansa hijacked aircraft returning to Germany, double A380 flyover at Sydney, etc

I think this is a correct move, because many people don't bother to upload "local news" because it would take at least between 6-9 days to be accepted and shared to their local friends, so people just share on flickr, facebook or even whatsapp groups.

About being the "talk of the town" does it need to be among av geeks or the general population? I've a few pictures of an aircraft that received press attention and even front page of the main journal, does it qualify to priority?

About diversions, one airline that never landed at the airport qualify?

Cheers

Well that talk of the town is surely limited to av-geeks.
Be aware as far as I can remember in the last 20 years the only time that an aircraft landing was really the talk of the town (for non av-geeks) was the first landing of A380 in FRA or the first delivery of a Lufthansa 380. Otherwise it is non-existent. Even the first landing of a Lufthansa 350 barely attracted anyone here.
So I am sure Kas speaks about av-geeks.

Well, it usually goes a bit hand-in-hand. By the time the media picks up something aviation related, it will have likely been the talk of the town in the avgeek community for a while already. For example, when the An-225 came to visit AMS a few years back, it did make the national headlines. But by that time, the avgeek community was already well aware of the visit long before the news broke for the media.

dvincent wrote:

* Inaugural flights of new service, as mentioned (e.g. the first flight of a new route of note)

Yes

dvincent wrote:

* Final flights of otherwise ordinary jets (e.g. the last flight of an airline at an airport)

No (unless with ceremonial salute)

dvincent wrote:

* Rare visits from head of states or foreign dignitaries (e.g. Air Force One or other head of state jets in areas not usually expecting them)

Yes

dvincent wrote:

* Sporting event charters (e.g. playoff jets)

No

dvincent wrote:

* Rare military jet visits (e.g. fighters showing up at a civil airport that rarely sees them)

Yes

dvincent wrote:

* Diversions of jets from other airports due to weather or other events (e.g. international widebodies stopping by BDL when JFK has nasty weather)

Yes

dvincent wrote:

* Unusual visitors due to mechanical substitutions (e.g. a widebody sub coming in to pick up slack after cancelled flights)

Yes

dvincent wrote:

* New additions to local air museums (e.g. events adding a major exhibit or completion of a restoration)

No

dvincent wrote:

* Media events (e.g. 787 Dream Tour visits)

Yes (banner for the first flight of the tour)

dvincent wrote:

* The opening of a new terminal area for airport overviews.

Yes

dvincent wrote:

Would scheduled special events for touring flying museums qualify? They are unusual for locals, but those planes are fairly well-covered.

No

dvincent wrote:

What about airshows? The sheer volume of material because of the number of global airshows may mean that it may not be feasible, and if that's something that doesn't qualify then I understand.

Stays as is

trevisan26 wrote:

About being the "talk of the town" does it need to be among av geeks or the general population? I've a few pictures of an aircraft that received press attention and even front page of the main journal, does it qualify to priority?

Yes

trevisan26 wrote:

About diversions, one airline that never landed at the airport qualify?

Yes


-----
Please note though that these are guidelines and sometimes exceptions to the above answers will be made. In some cases (e.g. if priority for airshows change) it will be announced in this subforum. We hope the above gives a good indication of what we are now allowing and also thanks for asking about all those specific examples!

Hey Kas,

acutally it is not very clear to me.

So I will ask directly with some examples:

So when Air Azores sent their 330 instead of the usual 320 some weeks back, it was a big thing for the av-geeks and certainly one of the best visitors we’ve had in a while. But few people outside the av-geek world would have noticed nor cared. In the real world we could hardly speak of an event.

So would this qualify for prio screening or not?

Same when American will send their Dreamliner the first time to FRA in some weeks?

Would that qualify or not?

Cheers,
Julien

Hey Julien,

JKPhotos wrote:

So when Air Azores sent their 330 instead of the usual 320 some weeks back, it was a big thing for the av-geeks and certainly one of the best visitors we’ve had in a while. But few people outside the av-geek world would have noticed nor cared. In the real world we could hardly speak of an event.
So would this qualify for prio screening or not?

Yes.

JKPhotos wrote:

Same when American will send their Dreamliner the first time to FRA in some weeks?
Would that qualify or not?

Yes.


But be sure to write a message to the screeners with an explanation why you think it deserves priority screening. We don't always know what's going on in local areas.

airkas1 wrote:

dvincent wrote:

* Inaugural flights of new service, as mentioned (e.g. the first flight of a new route of note)

Yes

I guess this only applies to "outstations", right? E.g. a photo taken at AMS of a KLM aircraft departing to/returing from a new destination is not that special for AMS.

dutchspotter1 wrote:

airkas1 wrote:

dvincent wrote:

* Inaugural flights of new service, as mentioned (e.g. the first flight of a new route of note)

Yes

I guess this only applies to "outstations", right? E.g. a photo taken at AMS of a KLM aircraft departing to/returing from a new destination is not that special for AMS.

Correct.

I've a question. May also an emergency (or priority) landing qualify for a priority screening even if there aren't "visible signs of failure"?

Dear Screener:

Regards, I would like to ask about the priority screening, If theres no picture of an airplane in the DB its consider a priority screening? I am asking this because I upload today a new plane in the DB but it was depreoritized, last week I upload some and they were accepted as priority. Please let me know

LuisPortillo wrote:

I would like to ask about the priority screening, If theres no picture of an airplane in the DB its consider a priority screening?

Correct.

LuisPortillo wrote:

I am asking this because I upload today a new plane in the DB but it was depreoritized, last week I upload some and they were accepted as priority. Please let me know

That's because the registration is already in the database, a photo dated from October 2017.

Hello,

I uploaded a picture of Qatar Airways Cargo on its first visit ever to the airport, which was quite a big event for the av geek local community since we don't receive 777's regularly (maybe 2 or 3 specific operations year round, but never of Qatar Cargo). It has been deprioritezed an hour later. Its my understanding that it should qualify by being the talk of the local community for a while and maybe for being the first time this airline landed at POA. Should I reupload with priority?

There was also an 737-300 operation bringing the Green Day band with special livery which was the talk of the town (between spotters, of course). There are two pictures of it on DB but none on my airport, does it qualify?

Happy holidays everyone,
Thiago Trevisan

LuisPortillo wrote:

Dear Screener:

Regards, I would like to ask about the priority screening, If theres no picture of an airplane in the DB its consider a priority screening?

Also for General Aviation?


No Tax On Rotax

notaxonrotax wrote:

Also for General Aviation?

Yes. This has been the case for a while now. Any new registration is eligible for priority screening.

airkas1 wrote:

notaxonrotax wrote:

Also for General Aviation?

Yes. This has been the case for a while now. Any new registration is eligible for priority screening.

Thank you.
I wasn`t aware of this.
My market is actually "new registrations", as you know.

No Tax On Rotax

Just a quick question.

Why were 3 shots of G-ZBKS given priority yesterday? They were taken on 5/31 and accepted on 5/31. Two of the 3 photos were taxi shots and one was a "delivery flight" ground to air shot.

There was already a photo in the database of that (new) registration taken on 5/24.

This was not a new type for the manufacturer and not a new type for the airline.

thanks!

The shots in question were delivery flights which are also given priority.

Jehan

Hello, how do you say an inaugural flight and a photo with priority because they put mine as not priority before the screener's visualization? I left the comp note being the inaugural flight and route number. thank you

Doncaroline wrote:

Hello, how do you say an inaugural flight and a photo with priority because they put mine as not priority before the screener's visualization? I left the comp note being the inaugural flight and route number. thank you

Hi Rui, it will be taken care of. Sorry for the inconvenience.

I just uploaded a newsworthy first visit of a rare aircraft to Ayers Rock in central Australia and sadly as I feared would happen it has been deprioritised without explanation.

Many thanks to whichever screener sorted this out. Regards.

jelpee wrote:

The shots in question were delivery flights which are also given priority.

Jehan

thanks Jehan!

Would a picture of a aircraft that has no active passenger operation pictures, but has shot of it on test/delivery flights. Count for priority if its operating on a passenger flight?

Hi, I've a question regarding Priority Screening. Is still PS allowed till to 24 hours after the first shot was added? Thanks.

airkas1 wrote:

Sometimes we see 1st flight shots, but AC is on the ground with all the gears (take-off roll), like a static shot. Is it acceptable?

First flights will now have to be rotation or airborne photos.

So what if we happen to see the landing but the wheels are on the ground, although clearly on a runway?

I'm seeing Priority Screening for N101DU 9 days after the first photo was accepted. None of them are first flight, they are familiarization flights. Any change to the guidelines we should know about?
thanks!

Same with P3 160610. Seems pretty run of the mill to me unless I’m missing something.

unattendedbag wrote:

I'm seeing Priority Screening for N101DU 9 days after the first photo was accepted. None of them are first flight, they are familiarization flights. Any change to the guidelines we should know about?

Likely due to the newsworthy nature, although the priority for the photo at Dallas is debatable. I'm assuming you did see the updates to the priority guidelines which went in effect December 2017?

johnr wrote:

Same with P3 160610. Seems pretty run of the mill to me unless I’m missing something.

Likely to do with the different (new) livery/logo on the tail.

airkas1 wrote:

unattendedbag wrote:

I'm seeing Priority Screening for N101DU 9 days after the first photo was accepted. None of them are first flight, they are familiarization flights. Any change to the guidelines we should know about?

Likely due to the newsworthy nature, although the priority for the photo at Dallas is debatable. I'm assuming you did see the updates to the priority guidelines which went in effect December 2017?

johnr wrote:

Same with P3 160610. Seems pretty run of the mill to me unless I’m missing something.

Likely to do with the different (new) livery/logo on the tail.

I've had two photos of N101DU in the que for over a week and one was marked for priority screening taken on 11/1 but yet other photos of N101DU were added after mine were added to the que. Did I do something wrong?

I’ve just uploaded the first shot of Air New Zealand’s first A321 NEO in All Blacks livery in Australia for priory screening. It created quite some interest at the Gold Coast Airport. Within minutes it was deprioritised. Recently one of the screeners had a shot of a Qantas A380 in the new livery priority added despite there being dozens of QF A380 shots in the new livery in the DB. Am I missing something here?

Image added.

Thanks Kas, much appreciated.

With the amended rules in mind, I was curious why the following is not classified as priority: first visit at my local airport of a widebody of airline X, which otherwise only sends narrowbodies to my local airport.
In this case photo ID 5454273.