San Carlos de Bariloche Airport - Spotting Guide

San Carlos de Bariloche Airport – Spotting Guide

November 4, 2024 - last modified on November 21, 2024

San Carlos de Bariloche Airport (BRC/SACS) is a small airport in the southwest of Argentina, which was opened back in 1954 but renewed in the early 2010s. It is one of the gateways to Patagonia and handles roughly 1,8 million passenger a year with some daily services to Buenos Aires, Ushuaia, El Calafate, Cordoba and other Argentinian cities.

The airport is named “Teniente Luis Candelaria” after the Argentinian pilot Luis Candelaria who was the first person to pass the Andes on a plane back in 1918.

Written by Maximilian Kramer (@Flymaxiair) and Bruno Chiesa. Last Update: November 2024

Rating
Movements
Airline Variety
Photo Locations
Weather
Airport Information
Runways
11/29	2350 x 50m
Terminals
T1	There is one terminal handling all flights.
Spotting Information
Ladder	Not really needed as the area around the spots is a bit elevated with some hills from where you can clear the fence. Otherwise try to stand on your car’s top/back.
Car/Public Transport	A car is a must have here, but people flying to BRC will mostly rent a car for driving around patagonia anyway. In the worst case if you come by bus to the terminal or if you just have a layover here, you can also walk over here, but it will be a long hot walk.
Drinks/Food	There is nothing around the spots, but once you head to the terminal or into town there will be enough options.
Hotels	No spotter hotels around, but yet again some around town.
Season	The Argentinian summer (September-March) offers good light from the south allowing beautiful pictures. Plus these months are the ones tourists mostly come to BRC.
Security	Spotting is absolutely no issue here. But be aware that you are alone on the fields, so maybe keep a low profile once foreigners/strange people approach you.
Runway Usage
General Info	From late September till March they seem to use 33 direction more often. We cannot say how it looks like from April to August.

	Spot #1 – Eastern Dirt Road 80 – 29 Arrivals + Line-Ups
WHERE	Once you head to the airport/from the airport into town, you will pass a small dirt road “80” turning off the main road to the south some 800m west of the terminal. Enter that dirt road, drive around the runway head onto the airport’s southern site. Now continue down this road till the eastern end of runway 11/29 roughly, but feel free to search your favourite position along the fence or on the road here a few meters away from the fence

WHAT	From here you can see arrivals and line-ups onto runway 29.

TIME	Depending on the time of the year, but this spot is gonna work at most (in december) the last 3 hours of the day: so from late-afternoon till sunset.

MISC.	Nothing around here. Heat haze is a constant issue here somehow, not just around noon on hot days unluckily. For arrivals we recommend to stand on your car to clear the fence completely. For Line-Ups, walk up to the fence and shoot thru/over it with live view.

FOCAL LENGTH	100-400mm B738 = 200mm

Line-Up:

Arrivals:

	Spot #2 – Middle Dirt Road 80 – 29 Departures
WHERE	Once you head to the airport/from the airport into town, you will pass a small dirt road “80” turning off the main road to the south some 800m west of the terminal. Enter that dirt road, drive around the runway head onto the airport’s southern site. Now continue down this road till the middle of runway 11/29 roughly roughly on the opposite side of the terminal/ATC tower.

WHAT	From here you will mainly see 29 departure plus the ramp/terminal in the back. Close to sunset you can also shoot onto the ramp without haze.

TIME	Depending on the time of the year, but this spot is gonna work at most (in december) the last 3 hours of the day: so from late-afternoon till sunset.

MISC.	Nothing around here. Heat haze is a constant issue here somehow, not just around noon on hot days unluckily.

FOCAL LENGTH	100-400mm A320 rotate = 260mm

	Spot #3 – Western Dirt Road 80 – 29 Departures + 11 Arrivals
WHERE	Once you head to the airport/from the airport into town, you will pass a small dirt road “80” turning off the main road to the south some 800m west of the terminal. Enter that dirt road, drive around the runway head onto the airport’s southern site. Now continue down this road till the turning pad of runway 11/29 roughly, but feel free to search your favourite position.

WHAT	From here you can see aircraft departing 29 and arriving onto runway 11.

TIME	Depending on the time of the year, but this spot is gonna work at most (in december) the last 3 hours of the day: so from late-afternoon till sunset.

MISC.	Nothing around here. Heat haze is a constant issue here somehow, not just around noon on hot days unluckily. Here the area is not that elevated anymore, so standing on your car is recommended to clear the fence completely.

FOCAL LENGTH	100-400mm A330 side shot = 180mm

	Spot #4 – Dirt Road – 29 arrivals
WHERE	by the end of the airport’s fence there is a path to the north, taking it will let you reach the other side of the airport, which is great for morning spotting. Continue from the previous spots/terminal on road 80 until you have passed the runway. Then turn into the very small and bumpy dirt road made by locals. Drive carefully along the airport perimeter fence northwards until you have passed the approach path. You can stay anywhere in this area for plane spotting.

WHAT	From here you can see aircraft arriving runway 29.

TIME	All the morning is great for this location, afternoon leads to backlit. In winter, the light is at this side the whole day.

MISC.	There is nowhere to buy food or drinks, neither bathrooms. Police is not usually seen here, but they can sometimes reach you to ask what you are doing, not a big deal though.

FOCAL LENGTH	100-300mm