Taking Pictures Of Planes In The UAE Could Land You In Jail

Not sure if "plane sight" is a pun or an accident. 😉

@ betterbub -- Hah, pre-coffee pun which I've corrected. 😀

Modernity is an illusion in the UAE. You should be equally wary as a gay man as a plane spotter.

The UAE is a modern economy with business law adopted from the English but the rest of their legal system has far more in common with Saudi Arabia than the UK/US model.

I am guessing they wouldnt do anything for people taking pictures in the terminal since it would not be good PR for Emirates if some of its customers randomally got thrown in jail for three months, while transitting in Dubai, for taking a picture of an A-380. These people were outside the airport. Should not make a difference but it is clear it does.

I think it's not just the airport either. I think famous photographer Trey Ratcliff was just in Dubai and detailed some of his run-ins with security and cops when he was out about taking pictures.

Personally I have no interest in visiting any of those Gulf countries. Too many messed up situations like the one you describe here. That poor American couple who were in jail in Qatar for like a year for no good reason. Their whole society seems really weird to me.

Just type emirates or emiratescabincrew under instagram's hashtags.. You will see boatloads of EK crew take pics of planes or stuffs like that in DXB.. Hopefully, they can update law with better clarification...

2 clarifications here:

A: Fujairah airport is not a commercial airport (not right now and not at the time they were there) and is strictly being used for military purposes. The aircraft they were spotting was an extremely rare military aircraft and just in case you don't know, the military is very secretive in the middle east and doesn't want anyone knowing anything about it.

B: By taking pictures, they clearly mean spotting for a purpose that's against the country (or one which they suspect is for that matter.) The average selfie/"crewfie" is definitely no problem

I figured there was something more to this than just being thrown in jail for taking a selfie. Being arrested for taking photos of "rare military aircraft" at a restricted military base gives this story a whole different slant.

Still it's best to remember when you are in a dictatorship to be on your best behavior. You have no rights there, only the privileges they chose to give you.

How about Venezuela? I wanted to get a AAL 757, but had to do it with tablet. Photography with a camera would be viewed with suspicion. Nb, this was from the Admirals Club and of an un-repainted 757 in January!

@Abdel Rahim Abdallah

On Fujairah International Airport wikipedia page it says that Rotana Jet have been flying passengers to AUH since 2012, and there is also a cargo ops. Plus being used for aircraft recycling?

Agree with you about taking pictures of mil aircraft can get you in big dodo a number of places in the world.

I wouldn't complain if the prison is similar to the EK First Class lounge in DXB! 😉 jk

@Robert Hanson

The UAE/Dubai in particular is NOT a dictatorship. I am not ashamed to call my country (Egypt) a dictatorship, simply because it's not my fault that the army had a coup here. In fact, the UAE is our regional "democracy idol". The guy ruling Dubai is a really cool guy and without going into details, he is very democratic in his workplace and only hires people under 40. Read more about him.

@No Name

This information is outdated. The route didn't last a year. Check Rotana Jet's website and Al Fujairah Airport arrivals on flightstats/flightradar24/etc...
Cargo ops are on charter basis and are therefore rather rare. This is basically a military airport that gets the occasional cargo aircraft and is also a place for aircraft scrapping. Still, it's filled with military aircraft and training on a daily basis.

(Only hits people under 40? Doesn't sound very democratic...)

Maybe there is a process to get a press permit to take photos?

Without disclosing too much information here, they made the naive mistake of taking pictures of aircraft operations in Fujairah that *ahem*, don't actually exist and then trying to argue about it. They are guilty of being naive rather than of espionage. Remember that the UAE is presently involved in two very active military operations - against IS in Syria/Iraq and against the Houthis in Yemen. All airports are on high alert - especially the dual use military/civilian fields in Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah where some of the intentionally lower profile traffic comes in and out.

You can arrange photography permits at UAE airports quite easily - I've done them many times for clients and for myself. Just talk to the airport PRO, pay the fee and voila - all is kosher/halal.

@ Sean M. -- Interesting stuff, thanks for the perspective!

"The UAE is quite a modern country"

lol
hahhahahahaha

I had to stop reading after that.

smoke and mirrors

From Wikipedia:
"Established in December 1971, the country is a federation of seven emirates. Each emirate is governed by an absolute monarch who jointly form the Federal Supreme Council. One of the monarchs is selected as the President of the United Arab Emirates."

I guess we could split hairs and say it's not a dictatorship, it's a monarchy. Not a distinction that matters to me.

As for Egypt, I, and as far as I can tell a majority of the citizens of Egypt, heaved a huge sigh of relief when the Military kicked out the Islamofacists that were progressively imposing an Islamic Theocracy. They didn't campaign on that agenda, and had no mandate to do that, as the massive protests that lead to their overthrow demonstrated. As with most Fascist governments, which as I use the word includes not only Nazi Germany, but also Cuba and Hamas, their approach to "democracy" was 'one election, one time, then never again'.

You should read about what they are doing to people in the Maldives.

@Robert Hanson - "I guess we could split hairs and say it’s not a dictatorship, it’s a monarchy. Not a distinction that matters to me."

So the UK, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Norway are dictatorships?

i am wondering what about taking pictures of the plane they have come off from and the one they are going to their next destination on.is that allowed?i love photographing planes as such but this dumb rule on the way to and from europe is enough to make me switch to an asian carrier(i am from australia)