Yes it is sad.
My greatest plane spotting memory is of being stuck (luckily as it turned out) in a London bus because of a protest march and looking up to see the Shuttle Enterprise strapped on to it's 747 doing a low flypast over London on it's way to Stansted from the Paris Airshow in 1983. Total surprise and absolutely brill!!!!!
No camera to hand of course!!! I was heading back to Cork later that day and couldn't get to Stansted.