Plane spotting, a niche hobby with a sizeable social media following catches on in Kerala

Anamika, a young aviation enthusiast, defies stereotypes as the only female member of Plane Spotters Kerala.

They spot the big birds — not the tiny feathered and winged types but the giant ones fashioned from aluminium alloy, powered by thunderous jet engines and fabricated to ferry valuable lives in their cavernous bellies.

Anamika, a 17-year-old Plus Two student and aviation enthusiast in Thiruvananthapuram, is the youngest and perhaps sole female member of the niche group of plane spotters in the State, Plane Spotters Kerala (PSK).

The PSK is a small collective of flying enthusiasts who pursue the “nerdy hobby” of photographing and video recording aircraft landings and takeoffs.

Its members regularly post airline trivia on its much-followed social media handles, including jetliners’ tail fin numbers.

For the uninitiated, Ms Anamika’s pastime risks appearing exceedingly eccentric.

However, the general perception of the hobby’s unconventionality did not deter Ms. Anamika, accompanied by her father, Gopakumar Mathrika, a plane-spotting veteran and school teacher, from making a beeline for the Ponnara Bridge near the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport on Monday morning.

The bridge lies directly beneath the final approach path of airlines looking to land at the airport, providing a vantage point for plane-spotting hobbyists.