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Birmingham is a small airport and there is not a lot of variety. The most dominant airline is Southwest, so you’ll see their familiar orange and blue planes all day. Others include Delta (MD-80 and Regional Jets), USAirways (Regional Jets), and American Airlines (MD-80).
There is a 2 lane road that runs nearly parallel to the main runway (6/24, 10,000ft), East Lake Rd., which is basically on a hill which overlooks the runway and entire airport. You can pull off on the shoulder right by the fence and watch what little action there is. Also, this spot is close to the business and general aviation hangars so most of that traffic will taxi very close to this fence if they are going to take off on runway 24. The spots along this road for viewing are pretty much near the middle of the runway so to photograph planes at either end you’ll need a long lens. From this location you are facing southeast so available light for photography is only good during the afternoons from spring to fall.
Other decent spots include the roof of the parking garage and a food court inside the terminal, which has full windows for a closeup view of the ramp. From both of these locations you will be looking to the northwest so photography can be difficult in all but the early morning hours. There is another spot not shown on the map which is the road that runs around the west end of the runway 6-24 where you can get a close up view of planes approaching for landing on runway 6. To get here you would make a right at the light on East Lake Rd and it will curve around the end of the runway leading to the FedEx terminal.
I should also mention that on the north end of the airport there is the Southern Museum of Flight with an outdoor display area containing some old military jets as well as several more displays inside the museum building. The Alabama National Guard has the 117th Aerial Refueling Squadron based here at BHM, so you may see KC-135 tankers coming and going occasionally.
Click for photos from East Lake Rd.
Click for photos from the terminal food court
Click for photos from the parking garage