Chasing airplanes

Robert Hobbelman admits he’s obsessed, but that’s OK with him.

What he’s obsessed about: Airplane spotting.

His hobby has taken him around the world as he searches for airplanes. And when he says airplanes, he means he is searching for individual airplanes, such as every F-4 every built or every 737 flown by American Airlines.

“This is trying to achieve something that is absolutely impossible,” he says while driving to his latest find. “It’s crazy, I know, but the hobby has brought me to 40 countries so far.”

He explains that every aircraft manufacturer has a construction or build number they assign to an airplane.

“The goal is to see every one of those,” he says. “For example, American Airlines currently has a fleet of 965 airplanes, of which I have seen 962.”

He explains a bit further: “Boeing produces 737s today and obviously they go to places all over the world. To actually be able to see all of them, you would either have to live right next to the factory where they come off the line or you’d have to travel literally all over the world to see those airplanes. Now, if you multiply that to all of the airplanes that are being built across the world, it is basically impossible to see them all, right?”

“It’s a hobby that will never end, because new airplanes are being created and built. Airplanes, unfortunately, have accidents and are being scrapped, so unless you see them before they’re turned into Coke cans, you lose the opportunity to see them. So, it’s truly a near-impossible task, but it’s a little bit of an obsession — let’s see how close I can get.”

Hobbelman reports he has seen 195,335 unique airplanes and that number continues to climb.

“I will probably be chasing airplanes for the rest of my life,” he said.

He started the chase when he was just 5 years old growing up in the Netherlands.

“My cousin lived about five miles from Amsterdam-Schiphol Airport,” he recalls. “During one of our family visits he and his dad brought me to the airport and we parked along one of the runways. My cousin was making notes so I was interested and before I knew it I was doing the same and I have been hooked ever since.”

Hooked is putting it mildly.

Besides traveling the world looking for airplanes, he is also an editor of an online database, Freebird, that keeps track of every airplane in the world “as best as we can,” he notes.

The subscription-based database has about 700 subscribers.

Most use the database to track their own plane spotting adventures, he notes.

“Some people use it for research just because there’s a lot of historical data in the database, but the true intent behind it is to give you, as an end user, the ability to log your own sightings,” he explains.

Newly retired from his 30-year career as Chief Information Officer at the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Development Services, Hobbelman is passionate about numbers.

For instance, he and his wife, Laura, got married on Feb. 2, 2022, at 2:22 p.m.

“Yes, I am a number geek,” he says with a laugh.

A few numbers from Hobbelman’s hobby: In 2023, he went to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh with a friend. It was his 15th time at the big show and his friend’s 10th visit.

“We logged 5,224 airplanes, of which 1,315 were new to me, so I was very happy with the result since this brought my total of unique airplanes seen at Oshkosh to over 25,000.”

Counting experimental aircraft is a little bit more challenging for plane spotters, he acknowledges.

“I know for experimental aircraft a lot of them carry construction number 001, which makes it hard to make them truly unique,” he says.

What is this plane spotter’s favorite airplane?

“My all-time favorite has to be the F-4 Phantom,” he says. “I grew up in the Netherlands and the US Air Force had F-4s stationed at Soesterberg Air Base. It is just an impressive airplane.”

Many air forces in Europe flew the F-4s so he has had “plenty of opportunities” to see them.

“I have since chased them all over the globe, including Japan, South Korea, and Israel, but I haven’t made it to Greece, Turkey, or Egypt.”

Of the 5,205 that were built, Hobbelman says he seen 2,057, noting “many of them were lost during various conflicts before I had the opportunity to see them.”

Even with the hundreds of thousands of airplanes he’s spotted, it’s the F-4 that “gets my blood pumping a lot faster.”

“When I see an F-4 I have never seen before, it truly puts a smile on my face,” he says. “My friends will tell you that I go nuts about it.”

Speaking of going nuts, many of those who travel with Hobbelman chasing airplanes may tell you it’s not a relaxing time.

“My travels start with rather detailed planning,” he begins, explaining he needs to determine when places, such as museums, are open, if you can see the airplanes in the dark, and how long it will take to drive to each location.

“Trips can be planned to five-minute intervals and my wife will tell you that it means little to no nature breaks,” he says. “My friends will also tell you that sleep is optional. Some of our trips involve overnight flights, followed by long evening drives. On one trip I think we stayed in a hotel for less than three hours to keep up with the schedule.”

Hobbelman’s wife Laura often accompanies him on his mission to spot as many aircraft as possible.

Luckily she enjoys traveling and meeting new people.

“Our relationship is just a few years old, but we’re going all over the world,” she says. “We’ve been to the UK, Cancun, the Netherlands, and we’re getting ready to go to Dubai.”

The couple have also driven a lot of the United States.

“It’s a great way to see America like you are never going to see it because more than likely when you spot, you’re going to fly places, but you’re usually going to be in a car,” she says. “And so you get to see parts of our world and meet people that typically you wouldn’t get to meet, and they’re interested in the hobby as well.”

She recalls one trip during the pandemic when the couple were looking for a Huey helicopter at an American Legion Post in the backwoods of Pennsylvania.

“We happened to be there the weekend of July 4 and they were having a big celebration,” she remembers. “When Robert said he’d like to take a look at the Huey, they were so excited. They were so proud of the Huey, which was put there in 1976 for one of their locals who had been killed in the Vietnam War. To see the pride on their faces that somebody was interested in this helicopter that had been there for almost 50 years was just amazing. And the people could not have been kinder, just welcoming you in to show off their pride and joy.”

Laura acknowledges that having a relationship with an obsessive spotter requires her to “balance out” Robert.

“It is an obsession, so you really have to help balance them, because if I would allow him, he would sit in front of a computer 18 hours a day and do nothing but track his airplanes,” she says.

And that also includes their travels.

So when Robert plans a spotting trip, she’s sure to say, “what else are we going to do?”

“For example, we’re going to Sonoma Valley this weekend,” she says. “We’re going to go do some wine stuff and see a plane or two.”

What’s on the top of his list for future spotting adventures?

It all goes back to the F-4.

“I have literally driven and flown places just to see one more,” he says. “Anytime I can find an F-4 or, more importantly since I pretty much know where they are, can actually make it to that location and see it, that’s definitely a highlight for me. It’s like, ‘One more off the list.’ I’m actually one step closer to not being able to see any others, because I’ve seen every one of them that is left in the world.”

In fact there are just 25 of the 400 preserved in the U.S. that he hasn’t seen.

Interested in learning more about this particular type of plane spotting? Check out FreeBird at FreeBirddb.com or email Robert at [email protected].