I’ve also added some comments about using SBS where I actually had it switched on, it wasn’t always worthwhile..

Friday 6th – Departed Heathrow on TAM B777 PT-MUD for the flight to Sao Paolo, which took just over 11 hours. First time
on TAM for most of us and we were nearly all disappointed. The cabin crew acted as if we weren’t there half the time,
they showed no interest at all. The service was slow, the food portions were even smaller than usual, and drinks were
not served as frequently.

Saturday 7th – After a stopover of just under 3 hours we flew on TAM A330 PT-MVN to Buenos Aires, Ezeiza. The cabin crew
were a little better but we still had tiny portions.

On arrival at EZE we were met (after a fast immigration clearance) by our guide who took us on our coach to Moron for
the museum. We were just about the only visitors, and the visit revealed such gems as a Bristol Freighter standing
alongside a Viking, a couple of BAC-111s, Avro Lincoln etc. It is also a civil GA field, and in all we saw around 70
aircraft which included a few light aircraft doing circuits. I particularly liked the Bandit CX-MAS which is stored
there.

Then it was on to El Palomar where our coach driver, very obligingly, stopped at various places along the main road to
enable us to read off the stored Boeing 707s and C-130s plus some active F-28s and more C-130s, and an F-27 which taxied
past for a photo opportunity.

Then on to Aeroparque where we had two nights in the Microtel (+54 114 8036002), just a few minutes walk from the end of
the runway. A quick check-in enabled us to spend an hour logging the biz on the far side plus a few airliner movements,
45 entering the logbook including two Pluna CRJ900s, Argentinean AF B757 T-01 and F-28 T-03, 8 Learjets plus assorted
Jetstreams, Metros, King Airs etc.

Sunday 8th – Well, you have to spend Sunday somewhere, we spent it at Aeroparque. Sunday’s movements aren’t particularly
numerous, although they were steady throughout the day until about 6pm when they picked up greatly. We spotted from the
viewing area beside the terminal, from here you can almost touch the aircraft taxying past for takeoff and it is
excellent for photos. There were a few locals throughout the day, mainly waving to someone departing, but around 6pm we
were inundated with lots more who had come to just watch. The fence along the road was also jam packed when we walked
back to the hotel, so it is obviously very popular with them. During the day we logged a steady stream of Aerolineas
Argentinas B737s, Austral MD-80s and LAN A320s plus a few more biz, 3 Saab 340s of Sol and, just as we were leaving for
our evening meal the seventh of seven Pluna CRJ900s turned up – all fleeted in just over a day. I was here 6 years ago
so I only logged what I needed, this amounted to 49 and also included 2 Andes MD-80s, a few King Airs and a couple of
Uruguayan twins. A surprise visitor was the Czech Government A319 2801. There is a derelict Twin Commander still
opposite the terminal which was logged as LV-OFX in 2003 and I assume is the same one.

You should be aware that there is virtually no shade or cover here. Although it didn’t seem to bad many of us had too
much sun and started flaking (or worse) over the next few days, you don’t realise it until it’s too late, so take plenty
of protection with you.

If you are staying in the area we can all recommend ‘La Potota’ (yes, that’s the right spelling) for an evening meal. It’s
on a corner near the Eastern end  of the runway and you have to pass it if you are staying at the Microtel. English
menus are available and the prices for a full scale meal are roughly the same as the American style diner we tried the
first night, whose speciality was burgers! They are particularly strong on Steaks but do many other dishes as well, any
meat dish comes with free salad from the salad bar. Although our guide said that Argentina is cheap, I found that the
prices have rocketed in the last 6 years (for example an ice lolly in the terminal was 13 pesos, £2.60!) but a huge meal
plus a drink can be had in La Potota for 40 to 50 pesos, £8 to 10.

So, although Sunday is not the busiest of days it is still a very nice way to spend a day spotting and photographing
aircraft with no security worries whatsoever, in fact we didn’t even see any police or security the whole time.

Monday 9th – After breakfast we spent a while at the end of the runway and discovered that it was not only Sunday that
was quiet. There were very few movements between 7.45 and 9.30, although we did add a missing Aerolineas B737, a
Learjet, Citation 550 plus a King Air. Then it was back to the hotel for our 10.00 coach departure, via a preserved
meteor on a pole followed by an A-4 on another pole nearby, for San Fernando, which meant passing Aeroparque once more
and another 3 in the book including another Sol Saab 340.

San Fernando was a late addition to the itinerary and, unfortunately, the police want details of everyone at least 30
days in advance so we were unable to have a ramp tour, but they had no objections to us logging from outside the fence.
This resulted in another 60 in the log, including a Mexican Jetstar XA-TVK, 4 Learjets, 2 Sabreliners, a CL600, Global
Express and derelict Westwind and Metro among others.

Then back to Ezeiza for our 17.30 departure to Sao Paolo on a TAM A320. Ezeiza is pretty quiet during the day with only
a few movements noted during our wait, although it does pick up after dark like many airports.

The food was slightly larger in quantity but no better in quality, and the flight attendants still seem to have the same
couldn’t care less attitude. They broadcast an announcement just before landing reminding us to fill in our immigration
forms (which apparently they had handed out to some people on boarding) but when we asked for ours they just said ‘we’ve
run out, you’ll have to get them after landing’ – no apology, and no announcement to that effect over the P.A.

On arrival at Sao Paolo (Guarulhos) we were met by our guide with a luxury coach for the transfer to our hotel for the
next three nights at Congonhas, the domestic airport for Sao Paolo. Previously, Aeroprints have used the Golden Flats,
but that was closed for refurbishment a while ago and there was no guarantee that it would be open in time so we were
booked into the Ibis (+55 11 50973737), with rooms requested overlooking the airport. This was the first problem – they
hadn’t reserved the right rooms for us so we had to change a number of rooms, but be aware that the majority of rooms
overlooking the airport are double bedded, so one slept on the mattress and one slept on the bed base, which was still
surprisingly comfortable. Floors above 9 (there are 13) give views, but the higher the better, with (even) room numbers
ending in 52 to 62. But it’s still a brilliant airport, one of my favourites, and plenty of action to keep you occupied
for a day. A second day will still produce a fair number of new aircraft but, as many are route dedicated, there are
lots of repeats. On the plus side also, I must say that, despite the room problem, the Ibis is much better than the
Golden Flats used to be, and the cold buffet breakfast had a good selection too.

Tuesday 10th – We spent the whole day at Congonhas, spotting from the rooms at first, and then off at 10.00 for a tour
of Lider, the biggest of the FBOs. It’s a pity they don’t allow photos at most of their 19 FBOs because we logged 37
biz/turbos and 20 choppers.

Back to the rooms for another hour, then we were met by our coach to take us to Guarulhos via Campo de Marte. This
latter is a military/GA field and is very hard to spot at. Two sides are impossible, leaving just the main road and a
side road but, even so, there are security gates at frequent intervals all the way down and not too many gaps between
the hangers. Only 24 were logged here but that did include two of the three stored Buffalos, 2362 and 2368.

Then it was on to Guarulhos for a few more hours to try and fill in some of the TAM and GOL gaps. Here you will also see
a few Webjet 737s, Aerosur 737-200s (and maybe a 727), Passaredo Brasilia, TACA A320 and Ocean Air Fokker 100s.

Spotting continued from the rooms back at Congonhas until the airport closed at 11.00. It opens at 06.00 and among the
first departures are three Cessna 208s which sometimes taxi to the end of the runway so they are ready to lift off at
06.00 – these return late evening.

I had the SBS on while in the room but it seems that, in Brazil, the aircraft either track AND show altitude or else
they do neither – no in between as in the UK or even most other countries. The ones that do track are in the minority,
probably about 20%) and are more usually the ones going into Guarulhos, so you get lots of landings at Congonhas without
prior warning. This is fine during daylight but not so good at night as the runway is just too far away to read them off
and you have to be content with getting them as they taxi past. On the other hand, a number of departures from Guarulhos
fly directly overhead Congonhas so that on a clear day you can see quite a good number of them. There is also a small
lounge on the 12th floor of the Ibis which looks out towards Guarulhos so it may be possible to see some of the
approaches there too. Virtually none of the biz in Brazil (except those that travel to Europe) even transmit a hex code
so it is no help in identifying them.

Wednesday 11th – A day return to Belo Horizonte (Confins) had been booked necessitating an early start for our 07.20
departure, the flight lasting just under an hour. Breakfast on internal flights is not exactly substantial, just a very
tiny  cheese and ham roll, a small bowl of fruit and a yoghurt with crispy sprinkles, although the latter was enjoyed by
just about everyone. We were met on arrival by our guide and coach, but we stayed there for another hour on the large
viewing deck (far larger than the airport warrants) logging a few TAM and GOL that hadn’t visited the other airports –
this is one of the airports where the GOL 737-300s can still be seen.

We then boarded the coach for the trip to the other Belo Horizonte airport at Pampulha. This used to be the main airport
but the traffic outgrew it, so eight years ago all the jets were moved to the brand new airport at Confins, leaving just
ATRs and Brasilias as the scheduled flights. Needless to say, there aren’t too many of these.

Our arrival at the airport was anticipated by the staff there, the security gate rolled back just as we arrived and we
drove straight out onto the ramp. A brief presentation preceded our ramp tour, the coach dropping us off at the top of
the hangar line and we made our way back down with access granted to most hangers and most also allowing photos,
although some were a little tightly packed for good shots. The (very friendly) police were even persuaded by one of our
team (cheers Martin) to drag their Bandeirante out of the hangar into the sun for our photos, and as if that wasn’t
enough they then brought out two cooler boxes full of cold water for us as well.

We returned to the terminal for an hour’s lunch, then back out on the ramp for another hour looking in some more hangars
before our scheduled tour of Lider. This is the head office and we were greeted by three staff and various other
department heads who explained their respective part of the Company and we were taken through all their hangars. On
leaving they presented us all with Lider caps and brochures. We then boarded the coach again for our return to Confins
and flight back to Congonhas.

Thursday 12th – Up fairly early for our TAM A320 to Brasilia where we arrived at 10.05. We were met by our guide and a
coach where we deposited our luggage before going to the huge (but badly signed) viewing deck here, in fact the last
time I came (with a different tour operator) we didn’t even know there  was one. Head for the Info desk in the centre of
the upper level, then turn towards the aircraft, go up a few steps and then up an escalator to the food court. The whole
of this floor is a gigantic viewing window with views over both runways, although in practice you only need to stay at
the landing end.

At noon we were met by some airport staff who took us through security to board an airport bus for our ramp tour. They
took us round to the stored aircraft - 3 Transbrasil B767s, 3 Vasp B737-200s and an F-27, then to the end of the runway
for a couple of shots (although the tour was arranged for 12.00 because this is a quiet time) and then we drove down the
length of runway 11R to get to the GA area. A number of stops were made during the slow drive-by for photos, but we were
unable to leave the bus which meant that a number of aircraft in the back of the hangars went unidentified.
Nevertheless, we managed around 100 altogether, mainly biz and turbos. If you are on your own and do not have the luxury
of a ramp tour, you can walk the fence opposite the GA hangars and will be able to read off many of them, but it is a
very long walk, especially in the sun.

We spent the rest of the day on the viewing deck. It is not particularly busy but there are brief flurries, such as 5
Webjets within a short period, and there is a steady stream of Air Force EMB-120s and 145s. Shortly after 18.00 all the
airliners appear in rapid succession, apparently there are around 40 airliners on the ground at one time, and this is a
huge number for Brasilia where the usual number averages around 6 or 7. Again, this is mainly TAM and GOL, but there
were 5 Ocean Air F100s.

At 19.00 we boarded our coach for transfer to the Manhattan Plaza hotel in the city centre as there are no hotels at the
airport. This is very luxurious and we all had suites with 3 separate rooms and a kitchen/bar area – not what we are
used to at all :-))

Friday 13th – An early 5.30 breakfast, then back on the coach for the 20 minute journey to the airport for our TAM A320
07.55 departure to Rio de Janeiro (Galeo Intl) which, as if the date wasn’t bad enough, had a gate change to 13. It was
just as well we had breakfast at the hotel because the one on the plane was bad, not even a yoghurt. By now we had only a
few gaps in our fleet lists, but still managed another couple of TAM plus BETA Cargo DC-8 PP-BET, and B727s PR-TTP of
Total, PT-MTC of TAF and PP-VQV of Variglog. Also entering the book were yet another Air Force Legacy 2581 and Bandit
2339.

On arrival at Galeo we spent the first couple of hours in the food court. The one in T2 has very limited views but the
one in T1 is higher and gives much better views of the runways. The problem with Galeo is that it is fairly quiet at
this time, and then at 12.00 it gets even worse, although this is the only place you can see the TAM B767s. So, at 12.00
we boarded the waiting coach and transferred to the domestic airport, Santos Dumont. We checked in at the Ibis (+55 19
21055200) just across the road from the old terminal (but no views due to tall buildings in the way) for the next two
nights. This is modern, nice and clean, and the restaurant is reasonable value. We were told that no rooms had views but
we had a very limited view of part of the Lider ramp from 151, and I think that any room ending in 51, 53 or 55, and the
higher the floor the better, will give limited views of some sort.

The vast majority of airliner flights here are to/from Congonhas. Gol, Varig and TAM all have a couple per hour and
there are also a few Ocean. The main interest here in a smallish number of biz, with yet another Lider, though this time
on a much smaller scale. We walked the fence initially to log as many as we could, which amounted to 15 biz, a few King
Airs and Air Force 125, Bandits (2) and a Brasilia.

There used to be a viewing deck upstairs in the terminal alongside a restaurant which also gave excellent views. Since I
was last here they have built a second terminal and extended the upper departure floor out onto the ramp in order to
utilise air bridges. This has rendered both the viewing deck and restaurant useless for spotting, although the viewing
deck sign is still prominent. We found that the only place with views was a two-storey window halfway down the old
terminal. There are a few fixed seats, though at right angles to the window, and it gets very hot as there is no aircon
(a situation found in a number of terminals on the trip because the locals don’t feel the heat the way we do. As
mentioned above, airliner movements are few and are mainly the ones we had logged previously so, apart from a few biz,
you may need to take a book.

At 16.00 we had a short tour with Lider and this time, surprisingly, we were allowed to take photos, although they only
had 11 aircraft there, 10 of which we had read from outside. This tour also encompassed a visit to the control tower for
those interested. We spent the next couple of hours waiting for a couple of TEAM Let-410s which have been here for a few
years but, after the first one had landed, we had the worst storm we have ever experienced, the most and brightest
lightning and the loudest thunder, so much of it that it was just about non-stop. This led to all the arrivals being
delayed by over an hour so we ate in the terminal restaurant to save getting drenched by returning to the hotel.

I logged 56 here in 5 hours, all of which were biz/turbo plus a few GA. Once again, it was not worth switching the SBS
on as virtually nothing displayed.

Saturday 14th – A relatively late 8.00 departure by coach took us to Galeo where we spent nearly two hours viewing from
the food court in T1. Once again we managed to pick up a few more domestics, a COPA B737 HP-1521CMP, Air Brasil B727
PP-AIB, another couple of Air Force Brasilias and (although I don’t think anyone needed it) the B757 being used on the
Iron Maiden tour, G-OPJB.

At 10.00 we left for the museum at Campo dos Afonsas, although a few of our crew stayed at Galeo all afternoon and there
was one period of 42 minutes without a movement, pretty poor for an international airport. Regrettably the thunderstorm
the previous night had resulted in a power cut there so they had closed the museum for the day and sent all the staff
home, so we only managed to see a few aircraft which are stored outside plus 3 Air Force C-130s and a CASA 295. At the
nearby Parachute school there is also a C-119 Boxcar preserved in a field, no. 2304.

Following this disappointment we headed for Jacarepagua, a GA field. They had rejected our request for a ramp tour but
Lider had agreed to a visit so we went anyway. We asked again if we could gain access at the terminal but to no avail so
we visited Lider who mainly have helicopters here, all in one hangar. We also managed to log a few over the fence but no
biz jets and only one King Air went in the book for a total of 31.

The coach then returned to Galeo for the rest of the afternoon but it was very quiet.

Sunday 15th – A 4.00 coach departure to Galeo for our 5.45 TAM A330 back to Guarulhos, then a TAM B777 at 8.45 (c**p
breakfast again) landed us in Santiago, Chile at 12.48. We transferred to the Diego de Almagro Hotel (+56 2 2305600)
which is a couple of miles away and from where you can monitor both runways from your air-conditioned room (we had 522,
but any even numbered room on the 5th or 6th floor will give good views, the higher the  number the better, 4th floor
will also work but not quite as good, you can’t look down on the nearest runway). They were departing overhead while we
were there and it was easy to read them off under the wings.

In Chile, many more airliners transmit hex codes so it is much better with the SBS, although there are still some which
don’t show altitude and you can’t be sure of the ID of a few aircraft – I think we missed 3 or 4 during the afternoon,
and this includes the B737-200s of Sky and a Twin Otter. A few of the biz do transmit so they are a bit better.

During this period until it got dark shortly after 19.00 I logged 32 LAN plus a few others, you can see that this is not
one of the busiest airports, and repeats start fairly quickly.

Monday 16th – A busy day was in store for us. Logging from the room was followed by a 9.30 departure on our coach which
took us to the museum at Los Cerillos, around half an hour away. This is normally closed on Mondays but they had opened
specially for us. Among the approx 75 mainly military and GA exhibits were Boeing 707 CC-CCG which is in the process of
being repainted, BAC 111s CC-CYL and CYM languishing in a field and F-27 CC-CBS.

After an hour or so we then visited Tobalaba, the big GA field for Santiago. We had prearranged our visit but were only
allowed to visit some of the hangars, there were still a huge number of locked hangars which must contain several
hundred more than we saw. We still managed to log well over 100 although, disappointingly, only 2 bizjets. Surprisingly,
one was in the Police section where they opened the gates for us and said we were free to take photos of their Citation,
Cessna 208 etc, and then, further down the road, we were also welcomed in their helicopter hangar. We could probably
have logged a few more but time was running out as we had to return to the international airport for our ramp tour.

This was on one of their buses and they drove us to a point alongside the runway for a few photos and then a drive
through the stored airliner area, although a little too fast as we were struggling to log and photograph at the same
time, but I think we managed most of them and the rest were picked up from outside a bit later. Among those logged were
B727 CC-CPV of Star Air, both Aerocardal Dornier 228s, Catalina CC-CDT plus a few biz, turbos and large twins.

Straight after the ramp tour we headed for the military area where we were expected, but we didn’t expect what we found!
They had lined up a selection of aircraft in the sun for us to photo, Gulfstream G4 911, Beech 99 301, Boeing 707 903,
Learjet 35 351, Twin Otter 939, Jet Ranger H-21 and UH-1 H-90, and all had their pilots standing by each one. There aren’t
too many military bases in the world where you get that sort of welcome. A couple of Hercs and another couple of
hangars, one of which contained B737 921  rounded off a very successful visit.

Finally, we drove down the road to check the rest of the stored airliners and were lucky enough to chance on another
hangar which was just about to be closed. This yielded Sabreliner CC-CTC, Citation 550 CC-CLC, Learjet 40 CC-CMS and
Beech 200 CC-CDY. Then it was back to the hotel for a bit more spotting, but by now we were running low on new aircraft.

Tuesday 17th – The final morning allowed for only a short spell from the room before checking in for the return flights.
The first leg Santiago to Sao Paolo, Guarulhos) was on TAM B777 PT-MUB, the final leg from Guarulhos to Heathrow was
once again on B777 PT-MUD. The food on both these flights was again well below average, although the final flight did,
at least, have a decent cabin crew.

I came home still needing (I think) 9 Aerolineas/Austral (although some were probably stored at Ezeiza but
unidentifiable), 3 LAN Argentina, 11 GOL, 8 TAM, 1 Varig, 3 Ocean F100s and 11 LAN Chile – perhaps I’ll find a few more
in my logs and photos that I forgot to check off my hit list. All the Sky B737-200s were seen at Santiago. So, it was an
excellent trip with plenty of reggies in the book, though goodness knows when I will get round to logging them all.

I hope I haven’t bored you too much, I suppose that if you’ve got this far then I haven’t. In summary let me say that I
hope I never have to fly TAM again or pass through Guarulhos again, every time we did there were huge queues and very
little information. For the final departure they changed the gate twice, finally herding three full aircraft loads of
passengers into a tiny area so that some were left standing on the stairs and escalator, with not a word of explanation
as to why we were still standing there over an hour after boarding should have started. It transpired that the crews had
been delayed by a heavy storm, so why they couldn’t have told us and dispersed us I don’t know. Thanks TAM, I also
missed two buses thanks to you and got home 3 hours later than expected!

I would recommend all the hotels we stayed at as being good for spotting, especially with an SBS, even allowing for room
problems which we were able to overcome without too much difficulty.