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    Next-Gen Plane Spotter Hits 30,000 Followers on Instagram

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    jan

    Jan Heine is a fairly typical German 15 year-old. He goes to school, hangs out with friends, and like many people his age, is beginning to think about university and what he’ll do with the rest of his life.

    Jan is also a plane spotter and a photographer; and the Instagram account @fraviation that he created to share his spotting photos recently reached 30,000 followers. That number is increasing rapidly with triple-digit daily growth.

    Incredibly, Jan has managed to collect 30,000 followers in the space of a single year by taking stunning images and posting very regularly. It doesn’t hurt, he adds, that the subject matter is naturally attractive to a lot of folks.

    “I actually started the spotting account in the fall of 2013, but back then I only posted one picture and forgot about it for a year,” he explains. “I started another account for typical photography stuff, but just couldn’t get the number of followers I hoped for. I decided to check in on the aviation account in October last year and saw it had many likes and even some new followers, so I started taking more pictures of airplanes and my following grew very fast.”

    Jan now describes himself as a “hardcore” spotter. He travels regularly to Frankfurt Airport to get his fix.

    Social media, Jan says, is the perfect way for airlines to connect with his generation.

    “The variety of airlines and aircrafts at FRA is amazing. That’s why it makes such a great location. Furthermore, I have a special connection to Frankfurt Airport since all of my great travels have started there. It’s like my second home,” he says.

    Jan’s parents have been supportive of his hobby, helping him get to FRA on clear days when traffic isn’t too heavy, and setting him up with some stellar camera equipment.

    “I usually shoot with my Nikon D7100 and D5100. My main lenses are the 80-400mm (which is expensive but insanely great) and the 18-55mm,” he reveals. “My all-time favorite aircraft to shoot are the heavies, I admit; mainly the 747-8, 777 and A380, the big ones!”

    This summer, Jan’s beautiful pictures and good eye for composition caught the attention of Lufthansa, which flew him to Hamburg to cover Airport Days, a celebration of all things aviation in the city.

    Jan doesn’t think his hobby is so unusual, and tells APEX Media that the number of young avgeeks is on the rise.

    Social media he says, is the perfect way for airlines to connect with his generation. “Airlines should really interact with the community. I, for example, like it when airlines comment on pictures on Instagram. They should really have conversations with the people, so… the airline is not just a boring airline, but something more.”