Spotting at SCEL/SCL, Arturo Merino Benitez Int'l

So today, very early in the morning, I went plane spotting at SCEL for the first time… ever. It was my first time using a camera instead of a phone or something, and that was very noticeable in my results. I cought most traffic inbound at SCL in the morning. However, as this was my first time spotting with a camera and outside of an airport, 90% of my photos either had terrible focus or was generally very bad. However, as I took 150 pictures, that 10% I think are OK. There definitely is a lot of room for improvement, but as this was such a nice experience, I will definitely repeat it. From now on, the quality and hopefully quantity of pictures will only go up. Keep in mind that the pictures aren’t in any particular order.
This is when I would tell you to click for full resolution, however even if you click the resolution won’t be too good.

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United coming in from Houston

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LAW 737-300 in the hangar

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TAM A320 from Sao Paulo

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Sky A319 at the gate with the new colours.

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Air France 777-300ER from Paris.

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Delta 767-300ER touching down from Atlanta.

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Same Air France 777 taxiing to the gate.

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Landing lights at the end of runway 17L

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Aerolineas Argentinas 737-800 from Buenos Aires about to fly above me

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Same plane after flying overhead.

Now on to some takeoffs!

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LAN A321 rotating. Runway 17R.

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TAM A320 bound for Sao Paulo holding short of runway 17R.

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Sky A319 starting the takeoff roll.

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TAM A320 bound for Rio de Janerio lined up on runway 17R.

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LAN Cargo 767-300F bound for Quito taxiing.

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LATAM 787-9 bound for Lima holding short.

That’s all! As I already mentioned, I took about 150 pictures and most of them were really bad quality, but if you want any specific plane don’t hesitate to ask. Again, from now on the quality of these spotting pictures will only increase.

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Nico, dare u to get the AVA 788

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Well, unfortunately the daily Avianca 787 to Bogota left 20 minutes too early for me to catch it. Next time I suppose!

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Any a350 or 787 pics please me! Great spotting. Added “Santiago international” as SCEL is a lesser-known ICAO

p.s @nicochile2 as it has multiple names wasn’t sure which one to use 😉👍

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Fixed the title!
Didn’t get any A350 pictures, but I did get ton of 787 photos. However, most of them fell subject to my inability to focus with a camera, and I focused the fence instead of the plane. Here are some of the few I think are worth showing:

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Good enough for me! Definitely the prettiest airliner in existence

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Important detail: The Air Canada 787-9 from Toronto (the one you see in the last picture), touched down just as my camera died because of a lack of battery…

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That’s a pretty good variety of shots. What is your opinion on the new Sky Airlines livery? Apparently, all that spare white space is meant to be for advertising!

Also what camera are you using, and do you know the settings you had it on?

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Well, and those are only the aircraft that I was able to photograph. Among the non-photographed are:

A Chilean Air Force 737
BA 787-9
Iberia A346
AC 789

I think it’s all right. Regarding advertising, sure, it looks weird and bad, but it makes money!

Canon PowerShot SX50 HS. I know I am not very professional.

Nope.

Great pictures, that Delta 767 looks cool coming into the picture like that. Happy birthday as well :)!

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Oh yeah. It looked even better in reality. Some of these picture look as if the aircraft were a bit far away, and you could really feel them, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Thank you! That’s the reason I went to spot in the first place.

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Ahh well, we’ve all got to start somewhere! I used to use a SX510, and I know you can still get good photos with a bridge camera like that.

Unfortunately, SCL doesn’t exactly seem like the most spotter friendly airport. Maybe invest in a stepladder😂

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If I ever master the focus on this thing 😂

Indeed. We had to park the car in the very corner of the very narrow road, the side was full of trash, not many places were you don’t have a huge post blocking your view, etc. But it does seem feasible. Hopefully it will get better.

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I think better weather might help too!

And the focus will be generally quite slowish because of the type of camera. Something you have to master indeed! Also look at using TV mode or shutter priority. Turn that up to 1/800 or above to try and rule out blurryness.

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Seems like a lot to learn. Thankfully, Google exists.

Yeah. Today definitely wasn’t an ideal day for spotting. Winter, sun comes up at 7:45, a LOT of fog during the first half an hour, etc. In the summer I am sure it will get better.

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Those are some beautiful photos there :)

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I would sort of disagree. Alright photos, but the overall experience is more important I think 😉

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Okay, so I just got the missing pictures of the Air Canada 787-9 landing that I couldn’t get because of the camera battery. My dad took them on iPhone SE.

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Love the photo’s angle 😉! Wish the visibility was better and the picture would be awesome! Awesome shots btw 😊

Thanks alot Nico for sharing it with us 😊

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